The sports broadcasting industry is poised for a significant transformation as it gathers at IBC 2025 in Amsterdam. The move from traditional on-site production trucks to cloud-based, remote workflows is no longer experimental; it’s becoming the standard. Yet, as broadcasters adopt these technologies, issues concerning reliability, timing, and integration persist.
This migration signifies a complete overhaul of live sports content production, processing, and distribution. While the advantages—reduced costs, increased scalability, and global talent access—are clear, cloud-native production presents its own operational difficulties. Cloud-based and remote workflows have dramatically altered the economics of live sports broadcasting. The need for massive on-site crews and infrastructure has significantly diminished, leading to streamlined operations.
“Cloud-based and remote workflows have transformed live sports production by enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-efficient operations, reducing the need for massive on-site crews and infrastructure,” said Paul Calleja, CEO of GlobalM. “They allow broadcasters to spin up resources on demand, centralize operations, and integrate global talent without travel.”
This shift also democratizes high-quality sports broadcasting. World Archery’s investment in Appear’s X Platform for in-house live production showcases how cloud technology empowers smaller organizations. “With edge encoding and IP-native media transport, even mid-tier or regional sports can now bring production in-house without sacrificing quality,” said Ian Wagdin, VP of technology and innovation at Appear. “The sports federation now has full control of its content delivery, significantly improving the quality and consistency of its live streams.”
Environmental benefits are substantial. Russell Johnson, director of Hitomi Broadcast, highlights the reduction in carbon footprint due to the shift from shipping massive equipment loads to using streamlined fly-packs and extensive remote workflows. The industry is adopting hybrid approaches, blending on-premises infrastructure with cloud environments for flexibility and performance guarantees. “Hybrid production environments have moved beyond transitional, they are fast becoming the operational standard,” Wagdin added. “Broadcasters no longer want to choose between on-prem or cloud; they expect seamless integration across both.”
Media transport, encoding, and monitoring are increasingly containerized and orchestrated as microservices, allowing for customized workflows. “Media transport, encoding, and monitoring are now being containerized and orchestrated as microservices, allowing broadcasters to spin up tailored workflows based on event needs,” Wagdin explained. “This is enabling the coverage of more events at reduced overheads.”
Despite the progress, significant challenges remain, particularly on game day. Network reliability, latency management, and system integration pose ongoing difficulties. “On game day, gaps remain around legacy systems still in use that cause things like long latencies, reliability under peak loads, and the dependencies on stable connectivity in stadiums where networks can be congested,” Calleja noted. “Operationally, engineers still face challenges with tool fragmentation, interoperability across vendors, and maintaining the same level of control and immediacy that a traditional on-site setup once guaranteed.”
Managing timing across distributed production chains has become more complex. “The critical gap we see on game day is timing verification across these complex, multi-location setups,” Johnson observed. “What might seem like minor misalignments in traditional SDI workflows can become significant issues in IP environments, where multiple buffers and network paths introduce unexpected delays.”
Robotic camera systems present unique challenges. “The quality of delivery on Game Day is largely dependent on the broadcast infrastructure, requiring a low-latency, stable connection, something not all stadiums can provide,” said Paddy Taylor, head of broadcast at MRMC. “Automated tracking can struggle when the play becomes unpredictable or players are obstructed, requiring manual intervention.”
Artificial intelligence has become a standard tool, especially for content creation and real-time processing. “Editors can now cut highlights from anywhere in the world, while AI systems automatically detect key moments — goals, touchdowns, game-changing plays — and generate clips in real time,” said Kathleen Barrett, CEO of Backlight. “Content is instantly adapted for different platforms, from vertical video to traditional broadcast, enabling teams to scale output efficiently and cost effectively.” However, human expertise remains crucial for nuanced storytelling. “AI still falls short when it comes to capturing nuance — emotional beats, evolving storylines, and context that experienced producers bring to the table,” Barrett added. “The next phase isn’t just about automation — it’s about closing the gap between speed and storytelling.”
Advanced technologies are also improving content accessibility and global distribution. As workflows become more sophisticated, infrastructure performance is paramount. “Sports broadcasting represents some of the most demanding workflows we encounter,” said Duncan Beattie, market development manager at Tuxera. “When you’re dealing with multiple 4K or 8K feeds, real-time graphics rendering, and the need for instant content delivery across multiple platforms, every component of your infrastructure stack needs to perform flawlessly.” “During peak production moments, when multiple teams need simultaneous access to the same high-resolution assets, these protocol bottlenecks become critical failure points,” Beattie added. “In live sports production, you can’t ask the match to pause while your files transfer.”
Protecting valuable content is crucial. “Fighting piracy continues to be an uphill battle for live sports streaming; however, sophisticated anti-piracy measures such as forensic and dynamic watermarking, geo-blocking, and CDN-level authentication and access control services can help content providers to quickly identify piracy sources and stop content restreaming,” said Eric Gallier, vice president of video solutions at Harmonic.
At IBC 2025, the industry will focus on addressing remaining operational gaps in cloud production workflows. The goal is ensuring flawless performance when millions are watching. This ongoing work will continue to drive innovation and investment.