By: Brandon Costa
Joining forces on the “Fight of the Century” meant going
back to the drawing board in some respects for Showtime Sports and HBO Sports
for a fresh on-screen presentation.
That meant redesigning everything from logos to music, and
especially, graphics packages for the fight and all surrounding programming.
“You’ve got two networks who do the same sport for years and
years, who have very different ways of producing our shows,” says Jason Cohen,
VP, Production for HBO Sports. “I think that the more interesting and fun part
of this process has been sitting down with [Showtime’s VP, Production] Gordon
[Hall] and his team and recreating elements that we have been using for years.
Now it’s all unified for a singular event.”
Fortunately, both entities had a common partner to help tie
it all together. SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology), one of the live sports
industry’s top providers of advanced graphics and data integration, has played
a key role in the implementation of these new elements for this unique sporting
event.
The pay-per-view fight will feature a new on-air graphics
presentation that integrates the official clock information, punch statistics,
social media elements, and more.
“The fact that we had a working relationship with both
networks went a long way for helping us pull this together so quickly,” says
Don Tupper, VP of Business Development at SMT.
“We understand how their productions and workflows actually operate and
there are common vendors on both sides. It wasn’t like trying to bring together
two completely disparate teams trying to do this. Once the look and design was
finalized, the actual execution of it was fairly seamless and straightforward.”
“With SMT at the helm of our broadcast graphic production,
we are confident the execution of the Mayweather-Pacquiao production will be
flawless for this truly unique event,” Hall said in an official release. “SMT
has been vital to our boxing broadcasts both with on-air graphics and
information displays for talent and production.”