ESPN’s experiment of broadcasting six women’s NCAA Tournament games remotely went off without a hitch.
It’s too soon to say if the network will do more tourney games that way in the future.
”Would we do it again next year? We don’t know yet. We will do a full evaluation after the tournament,” said Mark Gross, ESPN’s senior vice president for production and remote events. ”Should we continue? Can we do it better?”
The commentators, directors and producers were not on site for the first- and second-round games hosted by Maryland and Mississippi State on Friday through Monday. Instead, the broadcasts were produced from studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, or Orlando, Florida.
Remote productions have long been used for international events, including for parts of the World Cup on ESPN and the Olympics on NBC. ESPN and other networks have been employing them more for domestic events in recent years such as Major League Soccer, WNBA, tennis, college football and X Games as technology improved.
The remote broadcasts save money from travel costs and production trucks.
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Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
