In the past, it would take me that full 45 minutes… to get my graphics package rebuilt. This year… we were ready within five minutes.
Dan McDonnell
Director of Athletic Communications, University of Southern Indiana
College sports productions today are balancing two things that don’t always go together: high expectations and limited resources. Viewers watching the broadcasts on TV expect ESPN-quality graphics. Conferences expect consistency across sprots. And behind those college sports graphics workflows are often student crews – learning in real time, rotating every season.
Bryce Robinson, Assistant Commissioner for Digital Media at the OVC and Dan McDonnell who runs ESPN productions for the University of Southern Indiana gave us a peek into their workflows in a recent webinar, and what has changed after they switched from AJT Live Book to Viz Trio.
The Reality: High Expectations, Limited Resources
The real challenge isn’t just producing more – it’s producing more high-value content consistently, under pressure, with crews that are constantly changing.
When asked what matters most in a graphics system, Bryce Robinson focused on the fundamentals.
“The few keywords that pop into my head with a graphics system are reliability, repeatability, and enhancement. You are often working with a lot of students, so the first two words are key. We need a system where we can take a student who has never worked on graphics, sit them down, and within 20 minutes they can have a reliable basic understanding of the workflow. The order of operations – it all needs to be turnkey.”
And in a student-driven environment, it is crucial that your graphics workflows work every time (reliability) and should be easy enough to be run by anyone with minimum training (repeatability), under game-day pressure.
A lower third with data created by Dan and his team for player name and stats using Viz Trio
Why Viz Trio works for standardized college sports graphics
The Ohio Valley Conference runs productions across 11 schools, and they needed a system where the graphics looked and behaved the same everywhere.
“From one graphic to the next… it’s across the board… that lends itself to the ease of teaching, the reliability, repeatability,” adds Dan.
Because Viz Trio uses templated graphics, schools easily create a uniform standard with a consistent look and workflow across sports.
For schools producing for ESPN, the Viz Trio package includes ESPN-ready templates for each sport. Vizrt receives the core template design from ESPN and manages delivery to the schools, including any updates that come during the season.
“The benefit of using Viz Trio is the scenes are already built in Viz Trio, so we just do the tweaks the schools need.”
Sean Barther
Vizrt Customer Solutions Advisor
“This year ESPN changed the football look. I will give mad kudos Sean and Vizrt, because we got the new football look within a week. With the Viz system, it is the entire catalog of the insert graphics for all the sports. Top to bottom. The full library,” says Bryce.
Currently the product team is working on an interface with a web app for instantaneous graphics creation inside Viz Trio. Additionally, the system includes an OCR, so you can point a camera at the clock, and the data can be used as a feed for the graphics, complete with animation.
(Note: For schools that do not produce for ESPN, Vizrt provides a starter generic template pack. Vizrt also provides Creative Design services, or can put schools in touch with service partners to build out the packages that they need.)
Viz Arc Scorebar Controller for American football that is part of the Viz Trio bundle
Built for student-led production workflows
With Viz Trio, because templates are already pre-built and ready for game day, shows can be organized ahead of time, and students simply follow the guidelines.
One of the biggest shifts the University of Southern Indiana saw with Viz Trio, was moving away from manual setups which meant fewer moving parts, which translates to fewer errors on game day.
“What we are able to do with Viz Trio this year after switching from AJT was to integrate a more streamlined flow with our opens, which is the hardest part of our show to produce, but important as it sets the scene. We use a combination of spreadsheets and we were able to update graphics on an individual basis and easily put them in an order to use them in a flow that any student could use. All they had to do was to be able to follow the flowsheet,” explains Dan.
“Viz Trio has taken away that word limited, not just from myself, but all the schools that we are involved with. Your graphics system really needs to be a solution that works for you, and not one that you need to find creative solutions just to get the basic functionality to work,” says Bryce.
“I’d like to give Sean (Barther – Vizrt Customer Solutions Advisor) kudos also for the video demos he provided, because it is frightening to start on any new system. What I experienced was, the transition was a lot easier than I expected it to be,” says Dan.
“The wonderful thing about Viz is that everything is standardized. You are not having to look up a code ID – it is across the board – the same, and that lends itself to the reliability and repeatability. You can go from one template to the next. Sometimes it’s just the small things that make the difference.”
Bryce Robinson
Assistant Commissioner for Digital Media at the OVC
Faster Turnarounds Between Games
One of the most practical wins came during championship production.
“In the past, it would take me that full 45 minutes… to get my graphics package rebuilt… this year… we were ready within five minutes,” says Dan.
That’s not just a small efficiency gain, it’s an operational change that makes producing back-to-back games, especially ones that are stats heavy much easier and smoother.
Three takeaways from the OVC playbook:
Consistent templated workflows help crews succeed.
The Bottom Line: A simpler, repeatable production
The OVC didn’t rebuild its production model. The team simplified it.
Across 11 schools, the goal was not just better graphics. It was a more repeatable workflow. One that student crews could learn quickly, that could be trusted under pressure, and would allow teams to turn around faster between games. Live sports programing complete with data-driven graphics that makes fans and family keep watching, and makes their athletes proud to be associated with the school and conference.
There’s often a misconception that to meet ESPN standards, you need a full broadcast operation or a specific graphics provider. What this webinar made clear is – that is not the case. Instead, what matters most is the right system that offers consistency, credibility and a clean presentation. Exactly what Viz Trio provides.
“If you don’t move on with technology, you’re going to get left behind. The success that we have seen this year – I’m blown away by it,” says Bryce.
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