Live from 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Fox Sports’ Kevin Callahan Discusses The Evolution of the Jewel Event Fly Pack

Live from 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Fox Sports’ Kevin Callahan Discusses The Evolution of the Jewel Event Fly Pack Story Highlights The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has entered the Quarterfinals stage and for everyone involved it signals the end of a long run of long days, a quick day off to reflect and reset, and now focus on the end of the tournament. Kevin Callahan, Fox Sports, VP, Field Operations and Engineering, says things have been going well for Fox Sports, which has match control rooms on site for a Women’s World Cup for the first time since 2015 in Vancouver. The team is also continuing to build, along with FIFA and HBS, on new workflows deployed in Qatar. “When we were in Qatar what everybody was doing was a science experiment and I think now that science experiment is over,” says Callahan. “We’ve gone from bleeding edge to cutting edge. We’re still doing things most people aren’t doing and we’ve taken the next steps and adding features rather than just adding to the bug list.” The Fox Sports production team at the IBC plays a key role in nearly every aspect of the effort, as the two match control rooms are where everything comes together: the FIFA and HBS match production, graphics, commentary, and much more. “All of the matches go there, regardless of where the announcers are,” says Callahan. “Whether they are on site or calling off tube it comes here for Fox Box integration and final integration with the studio programming going to and from halftime and the end of the game.” The IBC also is home to the core engineering team and the media management team and the remote operations center where all the feeds, both inbound and outbound, are managed. “We’re recording all of the feeds coming from FIFA and HBS, whether it be a watch-party feed, an additional content feed or ISO feed,” says Callahan. “We want to be able to get all of the content that they are producing and show it to viewers at home.” Jewel Event System: Third Time’s the Charm The Women’s World Cup is the third event where the Fox Sports Jewel Event system is in use. First used at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup and then at Super Bowl LVII, the system leverages IP and SMPTE ST 2110 technology in 20 racks of equipment from TAG Video Systems and EVS which are pre-cabled and configured before folding down in half for shipping via air from the U.S. There are two in use in Sydney, one at the IBC at Sydney Olympic Park and one at the technical operations center for the studio shows at Campbell’s Cove. “This is really our third deployment of the Jewel Event system, and we’ve been able to fine tune things based off of the learning experiences we have had,” says Callahan. “We’re able to use it to how we expected to use it, with all of the features that we had hoped for when we were designing the system.” The improvements did not require new gear but rather new updates from EVS, TAG Systems, Arista, and Calrec. And that involved a lot of testing as well testing as the goal is to minimize risks as much as possible. “When you have the words ‘Jewel Event’ in the name of the system you, generally speaking, are going to be risk averse, so we needed things to be tested and resilient,” he adds. New features include the ability to do a lot of additional monitoring, including seeing what sources are going where and making sure all the redundancies are in place for an IP-based system. “We also now have 2022-7 redundancy so there is more resiliency between Sydney and Los Angeles,” he explains. “And now that we have had it set up for 30 days in a row, we’re able to really take advantage of that.” The benefits of the Jewel event system begin with setting up at the IBC as Callahan says the team was able to cut a week in set up. “By the time we get to the Euros next year we will be able to cut another week,” says Callahan. “We just need to do a lot of leg work ahead of time in terms of programming in order to make that a reality.” Another improvement to the Jewel event system is that the digital team, which also has its own set on Campbell Cove, is now tied into it. “We knew that they were going to be part of us, and we don’t have to bolt them on or think about them as an afterthought as they’re designed into the Jewel system,” says Callahan. “The digital team can access all the same feeds so that shows like World Cup Now, which is a personality-driven show, has access to all the same content.” Also helping in connecting everyone is the use of Arista switching gear as Arista is provider of the core networking environment. “The Arista 7508 switch router is our core 2110 switch, and we are also using one of their newest items, the 710P compact series switches,” says Callahan. “It’s a nice fanless switch that we’re able to deploy in various rooms as a true edge switch. It’s deployed just about everywhere, in our match control rooms, on each of the stages, at researcher positions, and in the Vault in Pico. The 710p supports PTP which is a key for an IP broadcast environment” Callahan says that leveraging tools for advanced monitoring has been a big help as it obviates the days of walking into the IBC and learning that the power supply has been out, or the international circuits are down. “We have a lot of advanced alerting and monitoring between Telstra and our media broadcast team so that when something’s out we can react quickly,” he says. “Knock on wood we haven’t had any on-air implications.” At The Venues The Fox Sports presence at the matches varies by match, with some have two reporters with ENG teams and announcers in the commentary position while others have announcers calling off tube. “We created an off tube facility in a hotel in Auckland so that way if we needed our announcers that were based in New Zealand to call a match, they could do it from the comfort of their hotel without having to fly to Sydney,” says Callahan. “And we’ve also added aerials for two of the three group phase matches, and we will continue to do those if the U.S. team moves forward. We feel that is something our coverage needs to truly bring the spirit of the event home to the viewer in America.” With less rights holders in Australia and New Zealand not all of the previous services, like commentary cameras, are available to those who are on site. “We’re going without a comcam and instead have our announcers go to the pitch if we have an ENG crew at the match,” says Callahan. The biggest overall change at this World Cup compared to previous World Cups is that the core HBS production teams for each match are working from a production hub located in Sydney rather than at the venue. That means a much smaller presence on site at each venue which also means more planning to avoid running into any issues. “As long as everyone stays within the carefully defined parameters the signals are able to move perfectly fine,” says Callahan. “But when you try to react to something late you don’t have the flexibility to do that easily.” Callahan says the team effort from Fox Sports has been great and that those who are on site, especially fellow North American rights holders Telemundo and TSN Canada, are all sharing in a positive energy along with HBS, FIFA, and the other rights holders. “The energy has been great and upbeat and it’s always good to see our colleagues from around the world,” adds Callahan. “It’s always communal and everyone looks to help each other out, whether its exchanging footage from the Fan Festivals or working with Telemundo who we have a great relationship with as we both have rights to the U.S. team and the U.S. venue.”