Sports Video Group

While the FIFA World Cup looms, there's still a wealth of championship events on the docket: the UEFA Champions League Final, the Women's College World Series, the NBA Finals, and the Stanley Cup Final all step into the spotlight. Here's what's happening across the live sports production and operations industry in the latest edition of your SVG Saturday Fax.

Pittsburgh loves their sports teams and their fans will always support those that don the black and gold, but the Steelers hold an extra special place in the hearts of every one that calls the city home. Through years of both success and re-tooling, fans come to Acrisure Stadium with one thing in their hand: a Terrible Towel. The Terrible Towel is a fan’s personal connection to the franchise, and while each one holds its own story, a sea of gold at Steelers home games is the tie that bonds everyone together. Creating these moments is Chris Burns, who serves as Executive Producer of Live Stadium Events. On the latest episode of SVG GameDay, Burns speaks on his day-to-day responsibilities and how they gradually lead up to kickoff, the well-known traditions that engage fans during a game, what it was like to be a part of the first-ever regular-season NFL game in Ireland, his background in news that prepared him for his first job in sports with the Carolina Hurricanes, his upbringing in Bayonne, NJ, and much more. ⚫ 🟡 : https://lnkd.in/eB7E25wz

In this week's edition of SVG Students to Watch, meet Maggie Lynn! 🎥 A soon-to-be senior at Virginia Tech, Lynn is building a strong foundation across ACC Digital Network and ESPN productions as a replay operator, technical director, and camera operator. After getting her start as a production assistant, she quickly found a home in the tape room and has since expanded her skillset into TD work, embracing every rep and every opportunity to learn. 🦃 : https://lnkd.in/gMsgFw9d “I would have never thought that I would be TDing for ACCN and punched my first ESPN show this year when I was a freshman. If I didn’t have the willingness to learn, I would not be where I am.”

🚨 Winners from the 18th-annual SVG College Sports Media Awards have been announced! 🚨 Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies, and the student ranks across six categories: Live Game Production, Live Non-Game Production, In-Venue Video, Cinematic Recap, Social Media Video, and Special Feature. 🏆 : https://lnkd.in/eM9gc4bY

The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios Sports. After building out a broadcast and technical ops team from scratch over the past few years, Prime Video Sports won its first Sports Emmy in a technical category – winning Outstanding Technical Team: Sports Studio for the NBA on Prime Video. John Ward, Head of Technical Operations, and Mike Francis, Head of Global Engineering & Technology, Live Sports, joined key members of their team on the red carpet to discuss the groundbreaking creation of Prime Video’s new NBA studio facility and the technical team behind it.

NBC Sports’s Sunday Night Football is among the most decorated and most watched programs in the history of television. It added to its jam-packed trophy case on Tuesday night with another Sports Emmy trophy for Outstanding Live Sports Series. SVG grabbed a couple minutes with coordinating producer Robert Hyland following the ceremony to reflect on the season, the production team behind the broadcast, building on the foundation established by Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Fred Gaudelli, and the legacy of one of sports television’s most decorated franchises.

One of the most memorable Postseasons in baseball history would have had no memories at all had it not been for the flawless technical operations team working behind the scenes. FOX Sports took home the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Technical Team: Sports Event for the 2025 World Series featuring the Toronto Blue Jays vs Los Angeles Dodgers. On the red carpet with SVG, Michael Davies EVP, Technical and Field Operations and the leaders of his technical and operations teams – tom lynch, Francisco Contreras, and Brad Cheney – reflect on the ultra-demanding task of producing the World Series each year: from grueling travel schedules and 18-hour workdays to the constant pressure of maintaining technical excellence throughout the Postseason.

FOX Sports's Major League Baseball (MLB) coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards, as FOX MLB: World Series won for Outstanding Live Sports Special: Championship Event and Outstanding Technical Team: Sports Event. The broadcaster also won Outstanding Live Sports Special: Non-Championship Event for the 95th All-Star Game, Outstanding Sports Playoff Coverage for the American League Playoffs, and Outstanding Sports Audio/Sound: Live Event for FOX MLB. SVG chatted with MLB on FOX director Matt Gangl and longtime producer Pete Macheska on the red carpet following one of the most successful nights in Fox Sports history. Gangl discusses the production challenges and excitement of covering one of the most dramatic playoff runs in recent memory, while Machesca shares emotional reflections on concluding his final season after a storied career at the front bench for FOX Sports.

One of America’s great modern venues, Levi’s Stadium, underwent a major production-technology transformation last summer, highlighted by a new ST-2110-based, UHD/HDR-capable control room, massive 4K videoboards, enhanced audio, LED lighting, and a more flexible in-venue production ecosystem built for San Francisco 49ers games and the world’s biggest events. In this SVG Technology in Action Webinar, leaders from the San Francisco 49ers, Ross Video, and Diversified take you behind the scenes of this benchmark project to break down everything learned in Year 1. How did the new infrastructure come together? How did it meet its great potential hosting Super Bowl LX? What can the rest of the industry learn from the experience? Learn that and much more in the latest SVG Technology in Action Webinar brought to you by Ross Video. 🏟️ : https://lnkd.in/gMGi5vhp

⭐ SVG ALL-STARS ⭐ When your platform streams more than 50,000 live sporting events a year, engineering at scale is everything. At FloSports, Senior Manager of Broadcast Engineering LJ Helbig, helps lead the technical and operational strategy behind a massive live-streaming infrastructure — from hundreds of encoders and contribution devices in the field to transmission facilities, remote-production workflows, and the company’s Next Generation Streaming Platform. 🌟 : https://lnkd.in/gdxk7JgB A former University of Wyoming wrestler, LJ brings a competitor’s mindset to leadership and has played a key role in guiding engineering initiatives at the streamer focused on reliability, hardware standardization, applied AI, and scalable production models like the Production Suite for FloCollege. "Learn the why behind the how. Don’t just learn how to click a button in vMix or plug in an SDI cable. Take the time to understand signal flow and how the entire system works. That knowledge will put you in a much stronger position as your career develops." In this edition of SVG All-Stars, LJ discusses the engineering discipline behind large-scale live streaming, the importance of standardization and AI-driven workflows, and why the next generation of broadcast professionals must bridge traditional production grit with modern software engineering.