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Inside the University of Virginia's Athletics Video Services Department

11/21/2007

By Kevin Schmitt


In the heart of the AVS space lies the control room, which is a crucial piece of the puzzle for three distinct reasons. One, unsurprisingly, it's the command center for live events at JPJ. Two, it also serves as the control room for live events at two other nearby UVA venues: Davenport Stadium, which hosts baseball games, and Klöckner stadium, home to both the men's and women's soccer and lacrosse squads. (Construction allowed for the installation of fiber to the two additional venues; Scott Stadium, which hosts UVA football games, was prohibitively far and still requires a remote truck for live events.) Lastly, the space is also designed to be the production and storage facility for any additional UVA sports requiring video services, which range from putting together recruiting videos to providing game footage to coaching staff. As was the case with the LED screens scattered throughout the arena, consultants were key in helping spec out the equipment for the AVS control room. "We used our consultant to make the initial equipment list, and then we went over it," Elvgren explains, "but by and large, for most of it, we just relied on [outside] expertise, and that served us really well."

Consequently, JPJ in general and the control room in particular is a veritable smörgåsbord of video production equipment: EVS replay systems running Dixon Sports software, Avid Deko 550 and Deko 1000 systems for CG, Grass Valley Turbo DDR for live game feeds, 360 Systems Image Server 2000 Broadcast Video Servers, a host of Clear-Com communications products and Tally routers, Hitachi 4000 cameras, Macintosh-based Final Cut Pro editing systems, DirecTV feeds to the suites, and more. When construction on the arena finally wrapped up in 2006, all that was left was to start actually using the new facilities and equipment to support the video needs of whichever of the 25 varsity-level sports required assistance.

Today, the AVS team keeps busy juggling the many offerings that fall within their jurisdiction, with various services counted as part of their collective mandate. Live events are the most visible, of course, with AVS currently handling more than 100 live events a year for major UVA sports, as well as offering assistance on an as-needed basis to visiting acts. Other tasks include providing video for analysis by coaches and athletes, compiling clips for recruiting and highlight reels and special events such as sports banquets, a half-hour TV show produced 30 weeks a year, and re-purposing clips for Web delivery. Selected events are also offered as live feeds to the Atlantic Coast Conference, who then streams the feed to an international audience over the Web.


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