Inside an ESPN+ production
What I learned about how college football is put on television
As a former SID with connections in the industry, every so often I get to do something really cool. Just over a week ago, October 12, I got the chance to work on the inside of an ESPN+ production for the Bowling Green vs. Northern Illinois game.
Now, I’ve spent a lot of time in and around sports media, from sitting courtside at basketball and volleyball games running stats, to tracking participation and managing social media live posts in the press box for football games, even to radio spots talking football. But this was something new that I hadn’t experienced before.
I spent my Saturday in the broadcast booth for the entire game. I wasn’t on the call, let’s be clear about that. Instead, I was working as “talent stats” for the game. That meant working closely with our broadcasters - Jason Ross Jr. and Tyoka Jackson.
For those working full-time on a production, the day starts early. They have to be at the stadium hours before anyone else to start rigging up cameras, microphones and make sure the picture and sound is all coming in crystal clear. They’ve got an entire staff of camera operators, producers, sound engineers and even some dude doing “talent stats” showing up soon to get ready for.
I arrived to Doyt Perry Stadium an hour and a half before kickoff - much later than the rest of the team. That’s because I wasn’t really needed to set up the technical stuff. I didn’t - and still don’t - know how all that works.
After checking in, I was sent straight up to the press box and the booth with a credential in hand to meet the Jason and Tyoka. If you’ve never been in a press box, I’ll try to paint a little picture here:
Coming off the elevator is the main press box area. This is where both teams’ SIDs sit to track their stats and information about the game. Any media members or conference representatives also sit in this area. It’s not like the bowl of a stadium during gameday - instead a press box is quiet as some conversations filter across the room but you mostly hear the home team’s SIDs statting the game and the clack of keyboards or scrape of pens writing down notes to talk about later. Off that main room are separate booths. In Bowling Green’s press box, the first one to the left is the ESPN+ broadcast booth. Other booths are often home and away team radio and home and away team coaching booths. Each booth is separated by windows that are plastered with notes so that nobody can peek in.
Back in the ESPN+ booth, I met with Jason and Tyoka immediately upon arriving. They were great the entire time and really friendly. We started by making small talk, watching ALDS Game 5 between Detroit and Cleveland (Jason is a Detroit fan, I cheer for Cleveland), and listening to some stories Tyoka had about when he played against the Browns while in St. Louis.
After the Lane Thomas grand slam, it was time to shift into work mode, though. Tyoka would run through his intro lines, trying to fine-tune it and get it under the time allotted by the producer. Jason and I went over what stats he’d need for the play-by-play - tracking the amount of yards gained and lost per play, team possessions, third down conversion rates, and watching for the first seven completions by Bowling Green quarterback Connor Bazelak to see when he’d cross 1,000 career completions. I also reviewed the game notes set out by both teams’ SIDs with helpful stats and notes about the players.
At this point, we were waiting out a lightning delay that pushed kickoff back a half hour. While that would cause concern for most, the ESPN+ staff were unbothered. Our producer quickly adjusted the schedule for when Jason and Tyoka would be live in order to lead in before the game. The broadcasters continued to prep for their lead-in to the game.
Finally, a half hour later, kickoff arrived and we settled into our roles. Jason was delivering the play-by-play and going off of his heavily annotated flip cards to be sure to deliver all the talking points about bother teams’ players. With Northern Illinois’ two top tailbacks out, their stable of backs consisted of three true freshman called up from the scout team, or as Huskie head coach Thomas Hammock calls it, the “Compete Team.” Those notes were invaluable to talk about these new players. Tyoka jumped in with the color commentary, delivering a great perspective on how the game was progressing and making good use of his massive annotated flip card and various notes taped around the booth.
During the game, I mostly partnered up with Jason to tell him the amount of yards gained and lost on each play. I sat to his left - just off camera - and scribbled down the yardage total as the plays ran. I’d flip the card over for him to see, my pen pointing towards the right yardage amount so he wouldn’t have to hunt. If he wanted the total, he’d turn to me and look down. If he didn’t he kept his eyes on either the field or Tyoka. There were a few hiccups as we got used to each other, the officials and the way the game was progressing. I gave Jason some numbers that were slightly off - a seven yard gain instead of eight, no gain instead of a loss of two - but things went smoothly.
That changed when NIU quarterback Ethan Hampton went down with an injury and we had to scramble to learn about his backup, Josh Holst. Within two drives, Bowling Green’s Connor Bazelak went down and Lucien Anderson entered the game. Luckily, that all came right before the half.
At halftime, I sought out each team’s SIDs to get information for Jason and Tyoka about each quarterback’s status and likelihood to return. The Bowling Green press box is also a WiFi trap, so Jason and Tyoka stayed sheltered in looking through notes about each backup. With the second half kickoff quickly approaching, we reconvened to discuss each teams’ possession totals and third-down numbers.
The second half went much smoother as we all settled in. My stats to Jason got much cleaner as I picked up on his cadence and timing so I could fill in the coming blanks of gains and yards lost. Tyoka was looking for more overarching stats that we would discuss quickly during commercial timeouts like third-down stats and possession time.
We got another wrench thrown in when Bowling Green changed kickers in the third quarter. Since the Falcons had one extra point in the first quarter and then two field goal attempts after, we hadn’t seen Jackson Kreacher come out often. But when Zach Long took the field instead, I had to run through the press box to confirm that the kicker switch happened with Bowling Green’s SIDs and if it was injury related. It was a chaotic timeout, but we were able to confirm it all and get it to Jason and Tyoka before the break ended. But after that, it was smooth sailing. There weren’t any major injuries, substitutions weren’t too wild. Things just fell into place.
After the game, I talked with Jason and Tyoka a little more, but my work was done. The game was statted, the broadcast finished, and I honestly would have messed things up if I tried to help break down the mass of complicated wiring that the production team had racing across Doyt Perry Stadium.
While I only saw a little bit of the piece of the puzzle that leads to you watching a game on ESPN+, it was still a great experience. Everyone I worked with was amazing and true professionals. Despite not truly knowing what I needed to do until getting there, I felt like everyone I came across was supportive and willing to help.
With that said, there’s a ton that goes into these productions. I can’t begin to tell you how they match up the graphics with what the on-air talent is going to talk about. I heard the graphics team over my headset, but I didn’t get to hear the main producer. He was in the ears of the talent, but not me. I played a small role in this, but an important one. You don’t want to be the one feeding the broadcasters wrong information. While that happened on accident a few times, we were able to get back on track and really dial in for the second half.
It was a great learning experience to see how Tyoka and Jason were ready on gameday. They’d been working for days ahead of time, meeting with players and coaches and poring over stats. But they brought their prep with them. Tyoka had signs plastered everywhere. Jason kept his notes handy on his laptop. They wanted to be ready for any and everything that could come up. And they were, for the most part. But this is college football, and no matter how prepared and ready you are, you’re going to get a wrench.
Long story short - if you want to get into broadcasting, do your homework. And know who to ask if you need help. SIDs are a great benefit if you can use them. And if you want to get on the ground of an ESPN+ production, stats are a pretty good way to go.
What I’m Reading:
by : Three-Point Stance is your favorite independent college football newsletter. Come for in-depth analysis and bold commentary, stay for the jokes and memes. An idea hatched after years of 12-hour days glued to the couch, Tyler Schuster puts his passion for the sport on full display, delivering big-picture ideas, weekly previews and gambling nuggets directly to your inbox.An idea hatched after years of 12-hour days glued to the couch, Tyler Schuster puts his passion for the sport on full display, delivering big-picture ideas, weekly previews and gambling nuggets directly to your inbox.
by Colin Cerniglia: It’s time for October baseball, and Colin’s the one I’m trusting to keep me covered! If you don’t know, I love baseball too, and Colin’s been putting out some great work about players around the league. He writes for Yardbarker a lot, but the content is easy to find on CERNIG and super engaging. by , , and : You can't beat Alex, Richard and Godfrey. They're on the front lines breaking news and creating the best content in the game. I 100 percent recommend SZD for anyone into college football and Steven Godfrey hating your team. They’re mostly a podcast publication, but sometimes being able to listen to three well-informed guys talking about college football is what you need in your life.Have any questions, ideas, article pitches, or information? With the new Substack features, you can directly message me! Hit the button below to send me a message, or reach out via email to sidsports23@gmail.com, or find us on your favorite social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Substack Notes and Bluesky.
That seems like a neat experience. Have you ever done any play-by-play or analysis for live games?
You mean it’s not that easy to just call the games from your couch 🤣
Really cool experience! Thanks for sharing it with us.