For the sixth consecutive year, the College Football Playoff National Championship will be showcased through state-of-the-art technology on ESPN, with the network’s best innovation deployed for coverage of No. 1 LSU vs. No. 3 Clemson on Tuesday 14 January at 1am GMT.

ESPN’s Main Telecast is a Showcase of Innovation
Approximately 100 cameras will provide every angle of college football’s biggest night. State-of-the-art technology includes:

• AllCam captures the entire field, allowing isolated shots on any player and activity on the field at all times.  
• Pylon Cameras at each corner of the end zone with the back line pylons now having ability to pan, tilt and zoom – covering more of the end zone than ever before.
• Multiple Skycams include traditional and hi-sky, showcasing the action from various heights above the field.
• On the field views will be seen, as cameras will be attached atop the caps of the officials.
• Line-to-Gain will have multiple vantage points, as first down marker cam (high vantage) and pylon cam at the first down line (low angle) return to this year’s telecast.
• Virtual reality graphics that span across the entire field and can be seen by multiple cameras at the same time.

ESPN’s camera arsenal will include dedicated cameras on LSU head coach Ed Orgeron and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney at all times, as well as unique camera placements providing views of the teams as they enter the playing field.  The Goodyear Blimp will provide aerial shots of New Orleans and the Superdome.

More than 100 microphones will be placed throughout the Superdome, capturing the sounds of the game and atmosphere of the crowd.

ESPN’s Sixth National Championship MegaCast
As well as the game being streamed in English and Spanish, ESPN Player will also offer nine more feeds, each offering a unique way to watch the game:

• Field Pass
  Free-flowing commentary of the game, anchored by Adam Amin and Steve Levy, who will roam the sidelines of the Superdome. Multiple guests will join Amin and Levy throughout the telecast, including college football analysts Pat McAfee and Dan Orlovsky. Field Pass will once again be offered as an alternate pregame show, also on ESPN2.
• Coaches Film Room
  Follow every play of LSU-Clemson through the minds of those who live and breathe the game every day.
  Participating coaches will be announced later this week
• Command Center
  Multi-angle presentation, which includes up to four different vantage points at any one time, with statistics and real-time drive charts supplementing the game action.
• DataCenter
  A catch-all viewing option, as ESPN’s main telecast will be surrounded by real-time stats, analytics, social media commentary and player information.
• Refcast
  John Parry (former NFL referee), Matt Austin (former SEC referee) and Judson Howard (Pac-12 replay official) provide reaction and commentary from a referee’s perspective.
• Skycast
  The popular view from above the action and behind the offense on most plays. New this year, replays will be shown regularly throughout the presentation.
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• All-22
  Watch the game the same way players and coaches study film, with a vantage point high above the field of play. The angle allows for the 22 players on the field to be seen at all times, enabling fans to distinguish how plays develop.
   
• Techcast
  An array of ESPN camera angles all on one screen, as viewers can enjoy as many as 12 angles of game play simultaneously.
• Sounds of the Game
  Allows viewers to imagine themselves inside the Superdome, as the game presentation will feature all the natural audio from the stadium, including the band performances.

ESPN’s Invention Extends to Social Media
ESPN will have a number of social media initiatives around the game, including viewers being able to receive a real-time photo from one of ESPN’s many cameras live during game action. Fans can tweet #CFPTwitterCam and they will instantly receive a photo in response from one of ESPN’s social media channels.

Categories: Press Releases