As NBA Draft Grows to Two Nights, ESPN Goes Big at Barclays Center for Night 1, Readies Seaport Studios for Night 2

Round 1 will be produced onsite; a remote team will handle the rest

For the first time ever, the NBA Draft will be a two-day event, the first round taking place tonight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the second round shifting to ESPN’s Seaport Studios in Manhattan on Thursday. Although the new format may offer the NBA teams more breathing room and a chance to regroup between rounds, it means a compounded schedule for ESPN’s operations team.

The stage is set for ESPN and ABC coverage of the 2024 NBA Draft.

“This is a very similar setup to years past,” says Tommy Michell, senior operations manager, ESPN. “The challenge is that this year’s first round moved to a Wednesday show, when it has been a Thursday show. With an WNBA game in the building on the Saturday before, that gave us one less day in the building to get the show set up.”

Coverage starts tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and 8 p.m. on ABC.

ESPN has rolled out Game Creek Video Riverhawk, Madison, Edit 2, and Edit 3 mobile units at the Barclays Center compound (which is being powered by Illumination Dynamics) and has roughly 300 production and operations personnel on hand. The broadcaster is operating its virtual graphics from Bristol, CT, and some EVS and graphics REMCO operators are located there as well.

One of three sets for coverage of the 2024 NBA Draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn

Creative Mobile Solutions (CSMI) is onsite, helping to oversee ESPN’s live tapeless workflows.

ESPN’s 54-camera complement includes a Supracam, five jibs, and, from CP Communications, nine wireless RF systems (six handhelds, two Steadicams, and one Ronin rig).

The Draft coverage tonight will feature three sets: one each for ESPN, ABC, and NBA Today. Both ESPN and ABC will have separate presentations of the Draft, as has been the case in recent years.

“Having multiple networks [and not simulcasting] always makes for a unique experience for the operations teams,” says Mitchell. “With Night 1 covering only Round 1, there isn’t much difference from our operations perspective on setup, planning, and execution.

“A lot of this crew works other multi-day drafts, so it was a fairly uncomplicated adjustment,” he continues. “With Round 2 coming from the studios at Seaport, a different team will handle that show. We essentially hand the operations over to them for the second night.”

Four Game Creek Video production trucks are onsite in the Barclays Center compound.

This marks Mitchell’s first year overseeing operations for the NBA Draft after taking over from longtime ESPN stalwart Steve Carter, who retired this year. He notes Senior Ops Specialist Jack Coffey, Ops Specialist Cindy Pennington, Senior Ops Specialist Terry Cook, Ops Specialist Tim Denyes, Ops Producer BJ Smith, Ops Producer Tony Gregory, Ops Coordinator Sam Majewski, and Ops Coordinator Tatianna Montalvo as key leaders of the operations team.

“Coming in as the new manager of this event,” Mitchell says, “I am continually impressed by the operations team and their ability to move and adjust on the fly. With many sports at ESPN going on concurrently during the planning of the NBA Draft [including both the NBA Finals and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals], their ability to cut through the noise and work with all the entities to pull off this event showcases the best of what ESPN has to offer.”