ESPN has completed a major overhaul of its broadcast facility at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), enhancing its ability to cover the Wimbledon tennis tournament each summer. The extensive renovation, which took three years to plan and execute, encompasses new production spaces, upgraded technical infrastructure and reimagined studios, all designed to enhance the viewing experience for tennis fans worldwide.
“Over the years, our technical space just kind of organically grew – putting up walls and doors as we needed them. It just reached a point where it made sense to start from scratch with a clean slate and build everything the way it needed to be for our future here at AELTC,” said Larry Wilson, senior manager operations, ESPN.
The renovation includes approximately 11,000 square feet across two levels of the broadcast center at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The facility was stripped down to bare walls and completely rebuilt to meet ESPN’s needs as a broadcast rights holder.
At the heart of the technical operation is a new IP-based SMPTE 2110 backbone, supporting 1080p 50 HDR production. This infrastructure provides the flexibility and capacity to manage the high volume of video feeds generated during the tournament.
With the updates, ESPN is also utilizing what they are calling a REMCO (remote-controlled production) model, where the equipment is local, but machine control and staff are remote. They note this is the natural evolution of the REMI model, moving more of the production to the cloud.
“This year we have two of our graphics devices being operated from Bristol, although the frames are here in London, and the same for Viz Libero. Our edit is split, with a local systems as well as a cloud-based system that we’re working through with CMSI,” said Wilson.
The expanded Studio 3, a little under 1,000 square feet, is the centerpiece of ESPN’s Wimbledon presence. The studio features a 34-by-6-foot window providing an unobstructed view of Court 18, immersing viewers in the Wimbledon atmosphere.
“They replaced the glass as our main backdrop of the set overseeing court 18. That was a huge undertaking to bring in one seamless piece of glass to be our full backdrop behind the desk,” said Hanzlik.
Studio 3’s design incorporates several flexible elements to enhance storytelling capabilities, including a movable desk, a dedicated interview area, a 110-inch interactive touchscreen for analysis and demonstrations and a 19-by-7-foot “mega wall” LED display.
A second, more intimate space, Studio 12, has been designed for one-on-one interviews and smaller-scale productions.
The new facility and studios significantly expand ESPN’s capabilities in covering The Championships.
“The way that ESPN approaches this Grand Slam, us being a domestic rights holder, we take a number of feeds from the host. A lot of people think that we’re strictly an enhanced world feed, and in many respects we are. But the way that we enhance it is pretty pronounced. We have 25 unilateral cameras as well as our own graphic support and replay and edit support,” said Wilson.
The flexibility of the new studio setup also allows for creative solutions to unexpected challenges.
“Because we have the screens, it’s been a bit of a mess weather-wise here, and we’ve turned the mega wall into a huge weather map for Patrick McEnroe to get up there with his pointer and give us our weather outlook every day. So that’s been kind of fun,” said Hanzlik.