In the Studio

COVID’s Effect on Sports Productions

Camerawork, In the Studio
Zari Malbacius and Danny Anderson break down after a softball broadcast before social distancing was implemented.

A typical SEC Network sports broadcast is a high energy and well orchestrated spectacle. This Fall, however, the control room and venues feel slower and less electric. Part of this change in tone is due to the lack of fans that typically fill up local sports venues. The other contributing factor are the new health and safety regulations to prevent the spread of COVID.

Typical sporting events in Knoxville are overwhelming. Fans are filled to the brim of whatever stadium plays host that day, and players have no fears of interacting with fans. COVID has changed all of this in one fatal swoop. The venues hold less people and require social distancing be practiced through the events entirety. This also affects the people working the games as well. 

Camera crews are quarantined to the venue from crew call until the game’s resolution, and are not allowed field access of any kind. On top of this, they must wear face coverings while working and scrub their gear after use. In the control room, crew members have been thinned out to meet social distancing requirements, and plexiglass dividers sit between each workstation. These employees are also required face-coverings for the game’s entirety.

All of these typical gameday changes, and more, affect the streamlined and effective processes of producing a televised sporting event. Masks occasionally distort audio transmissions and plexiglass barriers are obstacles waiting to be knocked over. Cameramen being restricted to the venue once entering creates a difficult issue to resolve when a piece of equipment is broken or left behind. Crew meals are also done away with which lowers employee morale and forces them to bring a sack lunch on their own dime.

While these issues may not be the greatest facing our world today, they are still affecting people around us. Our daily lives may not be the same for quite some time, so we should adapt to this less energetic, more restrictive, “new normal”.

A Tough Two Weeks for VFL Films

In the Studio

Over the two week span from March 5 to 18, VFL Films, a video production department at the University of Tennessee, covered ten games ranging over three sports. The stretch of games began with the final basketball broadcast of the season, and ended with a top-25 softball matchup.


A handheld cameraman and his utility shoot the postgame interview with Admiral Schofield (photo courtesy of Andrew Chase).

There was rain, wind, and sunshine over that period, and the majority of the games were outdoors. People want their sports whether it be a rainy winter evening or a warm spring day. “It gets challenging when you are juggling multiple sports at once to keep everything straight” says Ross Goodman, a producer for VFL Films. He says “There definitely is stress involved with working so many games and the season can turn into a grind if you allow it to. However, you try to enjoy each game and make it fun.”

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The Director’s Chair

In the Studio

The director’s video board may seem like a chaotic jumble of screens, but in reality it is a meticulously organized overview of an entire broadcast.

To understand all of the facets of a typical sports production, one should first see the viewpoint from the director’s chair. Here, in the chair, the director can see every inch of the game and decides what the audience is able to view.


Every row of crew-members is organized by division: Executive, Graphics, and Replay.

Countless voices from every crew-member are ringing in his head and to an untrained ear, it resembles the sound of a beehive in a hailstorm.

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