MegaCast Production; Debut of First-Down-Marker Cam Highlight ESPN’s Presentation

ESPN’s presentation of the College Football Playoff Semifinals on New Year’s Day will include its acclaimed MegaCast production, as the traditional telecast of the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual featuring No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Georgia (5 p.m.) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl between No. 1 Clemson and No. 4 Alabama on ESPN will be supplemented with 10 alternate viewing options across ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network and multiple ESPN3 feeds.

Each of the presentations will be available on the ESPN App.

This year’s viewing options are the most-ever for the CFP Semifinals.

Details on ESPN’s CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T MegaCast (Jan. 8) will be announced next week.

ESPN’s Presentation of the College Football Playoff Semifinals New Year’s Day

The College Football Playoff Semifinals will return to the Rose Bowl and Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the first venues to hold the premier games for a second time. ESPN will have more than 50 cameras, including 4K cameras, inside the two iconic stadiums, capturing all the action and emotion.

ESPN will debut a camera inside the first-down-marker at the Sugar Bowl, the first time a camera has been positioned inside the equipment. The unique vantage point will provide viewers a look at the line to gain. ESPN tested the technology at this year’s Celebration Bowl.

Additional Production Highlights:

• Inside the Locker Rooms: Cameras affixed inside the locker room anteroom area will provide unique access as the teams come and go from the field. 
• Super-Slow Motion: Cameras will provide precise, tight camera shots throughout the game and capture the emotion of the matchups.
• Pylon Cams: All eight pylons will be equipped with four cameras, allowing for camera angles along the goal line, sideline and backline.
• Aerial Coverage: The Goodyear Blimp will fly high above, providing views above Pasadena and New Orleans.

Commentators:

• Rose Bowl: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Tom Rinaldi and Maria Taylor
• Sugar Bowl: Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge

This will be the fourth straight year Fowler, Herbstreit and Rinaldi call a CFP Semifinal together and they welcome in Taylor, who makes her debut.

This is the second year that Tessitore, Blackledge, and Rowe have worked together for a CFP Semifinal and Rutledge’s first. Overall, this is Blackledge and Rowe’s fourth semifinal.  At the Rose Bowl, Rinaldi will report on Oklahoma with Taylor covering Georgia. 

College Football Playoff Semifinals MegaCast:

ESPN’s traditional telecast will be accompanied by a number of alternate presentations for both games. Each presentation is available on the ESPN App:

• Command Center Telecast (ESPN2 and ESPN App): A split-screen with multiple camera views displayed simultaneously, which could include the main ESPN camera angle, the SkyCam view and isolated camera feeds of both head coaches at any given time. Enhanced statistics and real-time drive charts supplement the game action.

• Coaches Film Room (ESPNEWS and ESPN App): The popular Coaches Film Room makes its CFP Semifinals debut after successful, well-received airings during the CFP National Championship Megacast the last three seasons. Dino Babers (Syracuse), Bret Bielema, Larry Fedora (North Carolina), Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia), Matt Luke (Ole Miss) and Gary Patterson (TCU) are among the participating coaches. The presentation features coaches providing in-depth analysis from a film room equipped with multiple camera angles, clicker technology and telestration.  Once again, it will be presented with limited commercial breaks.

• Finebaum Film Room (SEC Network and ESPN App): Airing for both CFP Semifinals for the first time, Paul Finebaum, along with a bevy of analysts will watch the games, while providing constant banter and analysis. Along with Finebaum, Gene Chizik, Greg McElroy, Booger McFarland, Jesse Palmer, Marcus Spears, and Tim Tebow will rotate throughout the two games. Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason will also join the show, and, in Finebaum tradition, the group will take phone calls from fans. Complete details on SEC Network’s CFP Semifinals coverage can be found here.

• Hometown Audio (ESPN3 and ESPN App): The local radio broadcasts from all four participating teams, in conjunction with IMG, JMI Sports and Learfield Sports synched up to ESPN’s main telecast.

• DataCenter (ESPN Goal Line and ESPN App): ESPN’s main TV production is supplemented by statistics, social media reaction and additional relevant information for an enhanced real-time experience on one screen.

• SkyCam (ESPN3 and ESPN App): A view ESPN has offered for many years and gained traction this season across the sport: A permanent view from above the action and behind the offense on most plays.

• All-22 (ESPN3 and ESPN App): Watch the game the same way players and coaches study the game. This vantage point comes from high atop the stadium, in the end zone, providing a consistent view of all 22 players on the field at the same time.

• ESPN Deportes and ESPN App: Kenneth Garay and Sebastian Martinez-Christensen (Rose Bowl Game) and Lalo Varela, Pablo Viruega (Sugar Bowl) on the Spanish-language calls of the game.

• ESPN Radio and ESPN App: Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Todd McShay (Rose Bowl Game) and Bill Rosinski, David Norrie and Ian Fitzsimmons (Sugar Bowl) call the games. The broadcast is available throughout the country to more than 400 ESPN Radio stations, ESPNRadio.com, SiriusXM Radio, the ESPN app, Apple Music, TuneIn and Slacker Radio.

ESPN will have expansive onsite coverage on New Year’s Day and the entire final weekend of 2017 from New Orleans and Pasadena, Calif. leading into the CFP Semifinals. 

In addition to College GameDay (9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., ESPN) and SEC Nation Presented by AT&T (10 a.m. – noon, SEC Network), which was announced last week as part of the more than 15 hours of on-site coverage,  ESPN has added Champ Drive Live with Mike Golic Jr. and Jason Fitz to its New Year’s Day Lineup.

The Twitter-only show (4 - 5:10 p.m.) on January 1 is produced for social media and leads into the Rose Bowl Game. The special presentation is an extension of the previous six-episode CFP Rankings Reaction show, which reached 5.75 million viewers on Twitter – with a growing audience for each successive episode, peaking at 3.5 million for the final show (Dec. 3).

Complete details on ESPN’s on-site coverage from the CFP Semifinals, which begins Thursday, Dec. 28, is here.