The Anatomy Of A Broadcast: Behind The Scenes With ESPN
Friday, October 22, 2010 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On the Thursday afternoon before the Florida-LSU football game earlier this month, the 18-wheeler blocked traffic momentarily on Gale Lemerand Drive as the truck's driver slowly backed into his parking space outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Once the mobile TV production unit was parked in the spot it would call home for the next three days, the ESPN crew in town to telecast the game began to do the technical work that makes a live telecast possible. There were cables to run, satellites to position and numerous other behind-the-scenes magic to perform.
The game's kickoff was more than 48 hours away, but the first quarter was already underway for the ESPN technical staff.
Shortly after the production truck arrived, so did Mark Loomis, the ESPN producer in charge of the network's Saturday night SEC games. While more than 90,000 fans packed the Swamp during the game, the production truck is where Loomis watched the action, in constant communication with play-by-play man Joe Tessitore, analyst Todd Blackledge and sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
Normally, Brad Nessler serves as play-by-play announcer on Loomis' crew, but on the weekend of the LSU-Florida game, Nessler was being inducted into the Minnesota Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame, replaced by Tessitore.
While the announcers are the ones connecting with viewers, they are hardly alone.
“Between the people that travel in and the people we hire locally, I think [our crew] is in the neighborhood of about 75 people,'' Loomis said.
Blackledge and Tessitore showed up at the same time as Loomis, and after exchanging some pleasantries with the UF communications staff, the two headed inside the stadium to watch film of the Gators.
THE PRODUCTION MEETING
If Thursdays serve as the TV production crew's get-settled day, then Fridays are when the telecast really starts to take shape. The Friday morning production meeting with players and coaches is often vital to the quality of the telecast.
“Those meetings in a lot of cases are for Todd and the analysts who have watched tape and seen things on film to ask coaches, 'Here is what I see. What do you think?' For us, it's just a way to gather more information,'' Loomis said.
UF also has a mission in mind during the special access for visiting TV crews.
“The production meetings help bring a human element to the broadcast,'' UF Associate Athletics Director for Communications Steve McClain said. “The announcers and production crew spend a week studying film and news accounts of your team, but the chance to talk face to face is invaluable.
“The announcers, who will spend three-plus hours talking about your program, can attach a personality or emotion to a story that has been covered locally or regionally and share it with a national audience.''
Around 10:30 on the morning before the Gators' 33-29 loss to LSU, Loomis and the announcing crew enter a conference room outside the door to the UF football offices. As they wait on Gators quarterback John Brantley to arrive, the topic turns to food – as it will also later in the meeting.
As part of this particular ESPN crew's broadcast, Blackledge visits a local eatery each week for a segment called “Taste of the Town,'' usually shown in either the second or third quarter. Blackledge hasn't been to Gainesville in a while, but he is starting to get hungry thinking about a late lunch at Satchel's Pizza a few miles from UF's campus.
“You have a lot of eating to do between now and [the game],'' Loomis tells Blackledge.
Still trim and in top shape more than 20 years after his NFL career ended with the Chiefs and Steelers, the 49-year-old Blackledge enjoys talking to the quarterback. Blackledge was a three-year starter at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to the 1982 national championship.
He quickly pops up from his chair when Brantley arrives.
“John, you are now the second most-famous quarterback in the room,'' McClain tells Brantley.
“Nobody knows who I am,'' Brantley says.
All week leading up to the LSU game, speculation has run rampant in the media and on fan message boards about Brantley's health. Late in the loss at Alabama the previous week, Brantley suffered injured ribs as he tried to run for a first down on a fourth-down play.
Brantley stayed down on the field briefly before getting up on his own, but it was obvious he was in pain.
Rowe asks Brantley immediately about his health. Brantley, as he had with the local beat writers all week, told the crew he planned to play, possibly while wearing a flak jacket to protect his ribs.
Brantley spent about 15 minutes in the production meeting, talking mostly about the offense, his new role as team leader, and how the Gators are still evolving after losing so many key players from last season.
When Brantley starts talking about the transition he faced this season, Blackledge asks if he has regular communication with former UF quarterback Tim Tebow. Brantley says Tebow texts him regularly.
Blackledge wants to know what advice Tebow gives Brantley.
“He tells me at least a few times a game, to speak up a little bit,'' Brantley replies
Brantley admits he isn't the most vocal leader on the field but is striving to become more of one. He also discusses the commitment that comes with being the starting quarterback.
“I feel like an old person going to bed every night at 9:30, 10 o'clock,'' Brantley says.
Finally, with so much talk about the offense's performance early in the season, Brantley provides some insight to the crew on his working relationship with offensive coordinator Steve Addazio.
Following Thursday night's practice each week, Addazio lays out a potential game plan for that week's game. Brantley looks it over and initials the plays that he likes, rarely checking any off from Addazio's list.
“I really like our offense,'' Brantley says. “There are not a lot of plays that I don't put my initials by.''
KEEPING THEM GUESSING
When Meyer enters the small conference room on the second floor of the stadium, he instantly gives Blackledge a hug. Both are Ohio natives, Meyer from Ashtabula and Blackledge from Canton.
They talk about family. They share stories of having to work harder to stay healthy as they get older. Of course, the subject quickly turns to football and Saturday night's game.
Rowe anxiously awaits the ice breaker to be over to ask a question about Thursday's practice being closed. Traditionally, networks are allowed to attend Thursday's practice, but Meyer called an audible on this occasion.
“The curiosity is killing me,'' she says.
Meyer doesn't reveal much, joking that he closed it when he heard Blackledge was coming to town.
Not until after the game does Meyer reveal that Brantley's ribs were a serious concern. Brantley was limited in practice for much of the week, forcing Trey Burton and Jordan Reed to take extra snaps. On the afternoon of the game, at least one media report says Brantley is not playing.
However, Brantley starts and later makes clear his stance in his postgame press conference.
“There was never any doubt that I wasn't going to play,'' Brantley said. “[My ribs] are a little banged up, nothing too serious; nothing you can't play through.''
The doubt over Brantley's playing status made for an interesting couple of days for Loomis, who arrived at the stadium around 10 Saturday morning to watch ESPN GameDay with the crew. At noon, they held their final production meeting before the game.
“We were trying to figure out what the situation was with Johnny Brantley,'' Loomis said. “We knew he was hurt. Most of the time we're successful in that, but Florida and Urban decided they didn't want to tell us. We're just trying to find out things like that that we think will affect the game.''
Meyer discussed many aspects of his team with the crew in Friday's meeting – the Gators' youth, the need to score more touchdowns – “Everybody's level has got to improve'' he tells them. Through it all, Meyer maintained the same serious persona he does with the local media that covers the team on a daily basis.
The one time Meyer's demeanor changes is when talking about his daughter Gigi, who plays volleyball at Gainesville's Buchholz High and has committed to play at Florida Gulf Coast University.
“My daughter has been in the paper more than me this week,'' Meyer says. “How great is that.''
TIME FOR LUNCH
Once Meyer is finished, Addazio and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin stop by to chat.
The script plays out much like with Brantley and Meyer. The crew is searching for information, and the coaches provide tidbits and insight into the Gators to help them prepare for the broadcast.
And like at the start of the meeting, the topic turns back to food.
Tessitore is a Connecticut native and is very interested in meeting with Addazio, who is from Farmington and played at Central Connecticut State. Both are very familiar with New Haven and the city's lively pizza scene.
Tessitore, after finishing with the football questions, wants to know one thing from Addazio: “Sally's Pizza or Frank Pepe's Pizzeria?''
Addazio prefers Pepe's; Tessitore is a Sally's kind of guy.
As for Blackledge, he has to get back to work.
He has a lunch appointment at Satchel's and he doesn't want to be late. It could be his final real meal before kickoff.
“I've heard about it,'' he said. “I'm ready to go find out.''
