By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital, Sports Video Group
CBS Sports’ Jason Cohen and TNT Sports’ Chris Brown lead the charge on nine-city operational plan to deliver equitable coverage across the entire bracket
There are few events in sports — or television — that command the attention of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. For fans, it’s a blur of buzzer-beaters, bracket chaos, and wall-to-wall action. For those behind the scenes, it’s something else entirely: one of the largest and most complex live-production efforts in sports.
“I don’t know if there’s an event over the course of the year where you get as many people — sports fans and not — as excited,” says Jason Cohen, SVP, remote technical operations, CBS Sports. “It’s just a general phenomenon.”
That energy carries into the compound, the truck, and the control room, fueling what Cohen calls the “controlled chaos” of March Madness’s opening week.
One Show, Built Nine Times
The First Four in Dayton, OH, opened the action earlier this week, but the true madness follows now as the operation balloons to eight First and Second Round sites coast to coast. Over a matter of days, dozens of games are produced simultaneously across CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV, along with multiple streaming platforms.
“This is the one event where, no matter where you are — engineering, production management, transmission, tech ops — everybody is deployed,” says Cohen. “Every tech manager in the arsenal is out there. Every production manager is working.”
Across those nine sites, that means hundreds of behind-the-scenes professionals — producers, directors, ADs, replay operators, engineers, broadcast associates — all working in parallel.
“This is one, I feel, that more than any other event requires, quite frankly, everybody” – Jason Cohen, CBS Sports
To support that scale, CBS Sports and TNT Sports deploy full production teams at every venue — not scaled-down units but complete, experienced crews. Says Cohen, “This is one, I feel, that more than any other event requires, quite frankly, everybody.”
Notes Chris Brown, VP, technical operations, TNT Sports, “There has to be some level of consistency. You don’t know where the Final Four is going to come from. You can’t find yourself unable to tell the story because you shorted a site.”
That philosophy is reflected not just in the technology but in the people assigned to each venue, and the mindset extends into every layer of the technical build.
Instead of tailoring productions by matchup or region, the operation is standardized. Each First and Second Round site is constructed using the same blueprint: effectively one show deployed eight times.
“We don’t wait to see which venue has the best teams,” Cohen explains. “Any site can deliver you the drama, so we treat all the sites relatively equal.”
Each venue features roughly 10 camera operators — five hard cameras, three handhelds, and an ENG unit — plus a relief position. That core is supplemented by two robotic cameras, DreamChip-powered referee and announcer POV systems, and multiple Marshall POV units around the court.
Approximately four super-slow-motion–capable cameras are deployed at each site. Replay is handled by a full EVS complement, including six replay operators, multiple 12-channel servers, and systems like XT Access and IPDirector.
Supporting that standardized build is a coordinated fleet of mobile units from NEP, Game Creek Video, and F&F Productions. Each compound, regardless of venue layout, is expected to support the same workflows, from camera acquisition to replay and audio.
“The only way you’re going to get your head around how many tentacles there are to this tournament is to jump in with both feet.” — Chris Brown, TNT Sports
SMT supports the tournament’s graphics and data infrastructure, ensuring a consistent presentation across every game. Each site is equipped with dual SportCG graphics systems and HoopStat data platforms — with both primary and backup systems — along with dedicated SMT personnel handling real-time data input and verification.
Behind every piece of technology is a carefully engineered power infrastructure. Aggreko and Sunbelt Rentals split responsibilities across the tournament, delivering consistent solutions at each venue. Each site operates with roughly 700 amps of 208V, three-phase power distributed across mobile units, uplinks, and broadcast systems.
With UPS and generator backup at every site, each compound effectively functions as a self-contained power grid, built for reliability under the pressure of simultaneous live broadcasts.
Two Cities, One Control System
The operation is anchored by dual studio facilities in New York and Atlanta. The two hubs are connected by a robust transmission and communications infrastructure complete with primary and backup feeds, intercom systems, and redundant pathways.
“The reality is, you do need both studios,” says Brown. “The number of transmission lines, the number of trunks on the intercom, it’s staggering.”
According to Brown, there are 13 signal paths linking New York and Atlanta to carry Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear networks to CBS in New York, which serves as the primary hub of everything. Sixteen additional paths are also dedicated to press conferences from all tournament sites. Another four paths connect the New York and Atlanta studio shows, and 18 more handle primary and backup feeds from each game site. The design ensures that Atlanta can operate as a fully redundant backup for the WBD networks in the event of a catastrophic failure between the two facilities, reinforcing the tournament’s emphasis on reliability at every level.
‘Enjoy the Madness’
For all its scale and complexity, the first week of March Madness remains one of the most rewarding assignments in sports television. The days are long. The operation is massive. The pressure is constant. But, for the hundreds of professionals working across the country, that’s exactly what makes it special.
“There’s no event like this one,” says Cohen. “Just enjoy the madness.”
The People Behind the Production
While the scale of March Madness is often measured in cameras, trucks, and infrastructure, the first week is ultimately powered by an extensive network of production and technical professionals.
Each site is staffed with dedicated production leadership and technical management, supported by full crews of ADs, replay operators, graphics teams, and engineers:
First Four — Dayton, OH (UD Arena)
Rick Beattie (Production), Jill Calandra (Production Manager), Jerry Wetzel (Technical Manager)
Buffalo, NY (KeyBank Center)
Sean O’Halloran (Production), Ashley Goss (Production Manager), Russell Cunningham (Technical Manager), Caz Grabowski (Production), Pete Kallander (Technical Operations)
Greenville, SC (Bon Secours Wellness Arena)
Greg Frias (Production Manager), DJ Driscoll (Technical Manager), Kachi Del Valle (Production)
Oklahoma City (Paycom Center)
Evan Roehm (Production), Luke Rasberry (Technical Manager), Gary Weiss (Technical Manager), Luca Baglioni (Production), Rhett VanBuskirk (Technical Operations)
Portland, OR (Moda Center)
Erich Austin (Production), Chad Granieri (Technical Manager), Warren Palmer (Technical Manager), Olen Perkins (Production)
Tampa, FL (Benchmark International Arena)
Ron Caruso (Production), James Schroeder (Production Manager), Mike Aagaard (Technical Manager), Kevin Wang (Production)
Philadelphia (Xfinity Mobile Center)
David Fraser (Production), Taj Lewis (Production), Brian Irizarry (Technical Manager), Keith Green (Production)
San Diego (Viejas Arena)
Bill Delia (Production), Leiza Palpant (Production Manager), Shane Hibbs (Technical Manager), Amanda Rikard (Production)
St. Louis (Enterprise Center)
Jay Gibson (Production), Liz Jarck (Production Manager), Kevin Manuel (Technical Manager), EJ Inscho (Production)
Behind each of these leaders are full crews executing every aspect of the broadcast — all working in sync to deliver a consistent product across every site.
“There’s no one group that isn’t involved in this,” Cohen says. “Everybody is part of making this work.”
Read article at sportsvideo.org.