Little League World Series Baseball 2022: The Little League Baseball World Series has returned to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with the foreign teams playing at Volunteer Stadium and the domestic teams playing in Howard J. Lamade Stadium, as it has done for the last three decades. ESPN has made significant modifications to its production approach for the tournament’s coverage, including the reintroduction of the 1080p format, the relocation of the broadcast complex, and a new location for onsite studio programs.
Joe Rainey, ESPN’s senior operations expert, explains, “2021 was a bit of a diminished year, without crowds and the foreign teams, so we had to depend on our REMI model.” We’ve got a significantly greater level of execution across the two fields now that our production staff that’s only responsible for games at Volunteer [Stadium] has returned.
🏆Honolulu LL, Hawaii are your 2022 Little League World Series Champions🏆
Hawaii beats Curaçao in 5 innings 13-3. pic.twitter.com/C94r8K8t4r
— 2022 LLWS Updates™ (@UpdatesLlws) August 28, 2022
Video Games in Full 1080p HD Resolution; Operations Team Updates to 2019 Standard Defining Features
For the 2019 season, the last tournament before the pandemic, ESPN upgraded to 1080p distribution for all games, up from 720p the previous year. Every game could have been filmed at this resolution if the tournament had been shown in its entirety in 2016, however, due to budget constraints, the broadcaster switched back to 720p. As a result of COVID-19’s lasting effects, last year’s competition largely used REMI and REMCO (remote-controlled) processes.
Rainey explains that since “games at Volunteer were REMI [productions],” the overall number of transmission lines exceeded what was truly needed to support 1080p. I’m not in charge of as many satellites as I was last year due to our move to a REMCO model, but I am responsible for somewhat more route distribution.
While 1080p events have their own unique set of requirements, Rainey and his team also coordinate the activities of their remote personnel. For instance, a few distant routes are needed for each given game at either stadium. When it comes to playing back content, ESPN has two EVS operators on hand at its Bristol, Connecticut, headquarters. In addition, Bristol is home to the viz and graphics operators who create the show, and the score bug is made either in Bristol or at the operator’s house.
Jigsaw Puzzle: The Cast And Crew Get Used To The New Digs
Rainey was responsible for both the upkeep of the broadcast compound’s layout and the transmission of distant signals. Over 150 certified workers were brought in, requiring greater living quarters on the premises. It was resolved by permanently setting up both a double-wide operations trailer and a single-wide operations trailer. For future tournaments, ESPN will have fiber and cable in place, but it will come at the expense of some prime real estate.
He continues, “The compound is a little bit tighter.” We were limited to three trucks instead of the usual four across. One truck is at the front, and two are parked side by side. The truck may leave the complex early after games at Volunteer Stadium. The benefit of these long-term structures is that they will provide a quicker and more effective installation next year.
Both the EN3 A and B mobile units from NEP and the Supershooter 5 unit are present at the remodeled facility for competitions in Lamade and Volunteer, respectively. As an added bonus, Creative Mobile Solutions Inc. (CSMI) is supplying not one but three physical edit bays at the location, up from two in 2021.
Among The Available Onsite Cameras Are 4dreplay, Ump Cam, And Outfield Jib.
All 36 broadcasted games will use cutting-edge broadcasting tools. The most notable change is the introduction of 4DReplay, which allows for slow-motion replays of at-bats and pitches from both batters and pitchers. Fifty separate cameras are set up behind the fence on the lower level, with their lenses focused on the batter’s box and the pitcher’s mound to capture a 360-degree view of the action.
The umpires at the home plate each have an Ump Cam. The player’s point of view (POV) gadget is attached to the mask and provides in-game visuals in real-time. To prevent damage from close-range foul balls, the Ump Cam’s body is encased in protective material.
Behind the left-field fence of Lamade Stadium, as part of the 27-camera display, is a Technocrane that provides panoramic views of the whole facility. Volunteer Stadium often employs a jib camera in productions. All during the tournament, ESPN’s own in-house drone crew will be up in the air capturing aerial video from above.
Centerfield Platform Becomes The New Host For Studio Programming
Changes in logistics and the position of various parts of the jigsaw are not unique to the broadcast facility. In earlier tournaments, a studio set halfway between the two arenas was used for studio programming and transitions between the broadcast games. An independent building was built by Tom Engle, Kevin Negandhi, and the rest of the operations team to house the physical set.
“Our studio coverage is now coming out of our centerfield platform with an extra camera from last year,” explains Leigh Michaud, ESPN’s operations manager. “We’ve used that arrangement in our live game broadcasts and in several portions for SportsCenter.”
Studio-production staff lives in Supershooter 5 inside the property. Karl Ravech and Mike Monaco call the plays for the telecasts, while Todd Frazier, Tim Kurkjian, Jessica Mendoza, Eduardo Perez, Kyle Peterson, and Xavier Scruggs provide analysis, and Julie Foudy and Sabastian Salazar provide reporting. In honor of the 75th anniversary of Little League, ESPN had Little League great Mo’ne Davis serve as an analyst for the first weekend of games.
The MLB Little League Classic features a matchup between the Orioles and the Red Sox.
The broadcaster’s Major League Baseball product, Sunday Night Baseball, joined in the celebrations on August 21 from Williamsport. The SNB crew of Ravech, Perez, David Cone, and Buster Olney called the 11 a.m. game between the Midwest and Mountain regions, and the day culminated with the sixth MLB Little League Classic, featuring the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox. Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field, home of the Williamsport Crosscutters of the MLB Draft League, is situated 5 miles west of the Little League World Series facility, and the SNB team managed operations there.
The broadcaster provided not one, but two different versions of the game, both of which included live aerial footage filmed by a drone. ESPN’s staple show featured the hosts in numerous mic’d conversations with players, including Orioles outfielders Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays in the top of the third inning, Boston Red Sox infielder Christian Arroyo in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ex-President George W. Bush sat in the dugout with the players for the first two innings.
The ESPN2 show Kidscast is back, and this time it’s aimed squarely at a younger audience. The all-kids version included Max Wallace, 18, Leo Roth, 14, and Pepper Persley, 11, along with special guests including President Bush, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Davis, Frazier, and Baseball Hall of Famer and Williamsport-native Mike Mussina. Alex Verdugo (Red Sox) and Ryan McKenna (Orioles) and Spencer Watkins (Pitcher, Orioles) were three of the players that spoke with the announcers while wearing microphones. Earlier in the day, Ravech conducted a pregame broadcast of Baseball Tonight from the stadium.
NEP’s ND5, ST11, and NCP11 mobile machines were a crucial part of the MLB production within the compound. The Little League Baseball World Series was directed by Vice President of Production Phil Orlins, who also oversaw the regular season matchup between these two American League East rivals.
Little League Softball World Series Retrospective, Part I: The Girls’ Tournament
On August 15, Midway Little League from Hewitt, Texas, defeated Delmar Little League from Delmar, Maryland, to win the Little League Softball World Series, which was held for the second year at Stallings Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina. Since ESPN started airing more of the tournament in 2017, this one has easily topped the ratings for all of them combined. The championship game was the most-watched of the tournament on television since 2018.
There were many levels of on-site participation for this year’s competition. Six standard hard cameras were used for the live streams on the broadcaster’s digital platforms, but once coverage moved to linear television, the crew added a slow-motion robot for close plays at the plate and the delivery of certain pitchers, as well as an internally-operated aerial drone, Ump Cam behind home plate, an outfield jib, and a handheld connected via TVU Networks to the compound.
On average, 14 cameras are set up by the production and operations staff, who operate out of NEP EN2 A and B units during games. Graphics operators in Charlotte, North Carolina, for example, used REMCO processes for the Little League Softball World Series much as they did during the Little League Baseball World Series.
The broadcaster was able to showcase even more joy and excitement because of the event. Jarrett Baker, ESPN’s manager of remote operations, acknowledges that “the days are hard,” but praises the “amazing” team he works with. We’re already planning for next year’s Softball World Series and are excited to bring you even more coverage of this summer’s most anticipated sporting event.
In A Novel Turn, A Larger International Contingent Will Be Present At Llbws This Year.
For the second year in a row, Williamsport has played host to an international baseball event, with a modified double-elimination structure and a field of 20 teams from all over the world. Fans of baseball have been treated to a whole extra day of viewing thanks to the inclusion of Puerto Rico and Panama in the tournament, as well as the Metro and Mountain divisions on the domestic side of the bracket.
ESPN Director, Remote Operations Dennis Cleary; Senior Operations Specialist Terry Cook, leading games at Lamade; Senior Operations Specialist Kevin Wendling, leading games at Volunteer; Operations Coordinators Carson Kenney and Sam Majewski, handling critical logistical and shipping needs; and the rest of the production team.
“We’re incredibly excited to stage this event onsite,” adds Michaud. “Growing up in Bristol, I made it a point to attend the Bristol Regional every year, so I was thrilled to be invited to participate in an event that has such fond memories for me.”
On Saturday, August 27 at 12:30 p.m. ET, ABC will broadcast the International Championship game of the 2022 Little League Baseball World Series. The U.S. Championship game will follow at 3:30 p.m. ABC will broadcast the final game at 3 p.m. on August 28th, Sunday.
Final Words
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