It’s all hands on deck for ESPN’s massive production in Atlanta

More than 100 cameras, 100 microphones power 11 viewing options for the season finale

In college sports, it doesn’t get much bigger than this.

More than five months of work comes down to a blockbuster matchup between two of the country’s marquee brands: No. 8 Ohio State meets No. 7 Notre Dame in the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship Game. ESPN has rolled into Downtown Atlanta with a massive production and operations schedule to broadcast the festivities from every angle.

Highlights include an arsenal of more than 100 cameras, 100 microphones and 23 mobile production facilities supporting 11 viewing options in ESPN’s annual MegaCast offering, as well as the first 4K presentation of the CFP National Championship Game’s premier telecast ever.

After an expanded 12-team playoff that added eight games to ESPN’s CFP slate over the past month, it’s familiar territory for the broadcaster’s backroom staff of more than 850 skilled employees: back at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a big bash.

“It has been like seeing an old friend,” says Jarrett Baker, senior manager, remote production, ESPN. “You haven’t spoken in a long time, life has happened and then you get back together and it’s like you never left. The extended playoffs have been incredible and the team we work with is top notch. That’s why we do what we do.”

MORE FROM THE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

The camera plan

ESPN’s main game production – available to select subscribers as an upconverted 4K viewing option – will be a full 1080p HDR on-site production. Produced by Bill Bonnell, director Jimmy Plattand technical director Josh Miller will have more than 100 cameras and 100 microphones at their disposal to tell the story of this epic clash.

The camera layout includes a total of 115 cameras. Among them are 12 cameras with super-slow-motion (SSMO) capabilities. There are also seven handhelds: three of them RF, one a cabled SSMO on the far sideline. All dedicated game hard and handheld cameras are Sony HDC-5500s.

The selection of specialty cameras is also impressive. There are eight end-zone PylonCams, including on the pylon at each end of both goal lines. Supplied by NEP Specialty Capture, these systems have SMMO. Wireless line-to-gain PylonCams will follow the action with the cursor down first.

Two Skycams are rigged up inside the stadium, with one flying at two points in a side-to-side flight pattern. The other flies in a traditional four-point configuration with a 4K camera and AR capabilities. Aerial shots will also come from inside the stadium via an ESPN-owned and operated drone and from outside via a fixed-wing aircraft.

Down on the pitch, ESPN aims to take viewers deep into the action with an on-field rig with shallow depth of field. This RF rig is a Ronin RS3 Pro stabilizer equipped with a Sony FX3 full-frame cinema camera.

In addition, three officials will wear MindFly BodyCams on their shirts to provide live video feeds to the truck. The referee, center referee and linesman will wear the AI-stabilized POV cameras with a built-in microphone, which ESPN will monetize through its title sponsorship with AT&T as the “Connected Cam” on the broadcast. MindFly BodyCams made their CFP debut in the semifinals at the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl.

To provide depth of coverage, as well as potential officiating assistance, ESPN will have robotic Sony 4800s shooting at 8X speed on each goal line to capture any aerial close-ups. There will also be a robo (Sony P1) on the crossbar of each goal post.

Standard fixtures include a cart on each sideline, a jib, robots in the stadium tunnels for entrances and hard cameras dedicated to each team’s head coach.

Roof Camera is back to mix creatively with Live

The return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium — a stadium with a roof and walkable scaffolding — allows ESPN to bring back a camera angle that became popular a few years ago: a rooftop camera.

The camera angle, first made popular by the Atlanta Falcons social and digital media teammixing trends in the creative post-production space with the excitement of live. A Sony 4800 with a 24-300mm Fuji Duvo lens will be configured as a handheld and operated by a camera operator approximately 285 feet above the playing surface.

“It’s not for those who are bothered by working at heights,” says Baker. “It completely looks down on the piece. We’re going to run it in 8X mode and through a Sony server where we’re going to be able to keyframe and pan and scan to follow the ball and give some really neat effects where we increase the playback speed to do that is very dramatic.”

flat, Senior Associate Producer Chris Matthewsand the ESPN team that produced the SEC Championship Game in December used this angle with success and are excited to implement it in their first CFP Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2019.

Stays warm in the connection

While tonight’s game will thankfully be indoors, that doesn’t mean cool weather in Atlanta won’t be a major factor for the ESPN crew. Temperatures are only expected to reach 31 degrees today and the large production complex with 23 mobile production trucks and office trailers is located outside the stadium.

Game production is built around a core of Game Creek Video trucks. GCV Varsity A and B units will be home to the main telecast production crew and will accommodate support for other elements of replay, graphics and some MegaCast capabilities. GCV Gridiron A and B are also there to support surround studio programming including College GameDaypre/post match and half time coverage, and hits to SportsCenter. GCV Edit 1 and Edit 2 are parked to support other initiatives.

Under the hood, the trucks host 222 replay channels (EVS, 8X SSMO Sony replay and TD SpotBox) and 80 transmission paths (60 out, 20 in). ESPN added more than 18 miles of fiber to Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s infrastructure and to connect the connection. CES power will be essential to keep the connection online (and warm).

To combat the weather, ESPN weatherized and heated the first floor of a nearby parking deck that houses catering and space for crew members to eat.

ESPN’s coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship Game begins at 7:30 PM ET tonight. The main broadcast can be seen on ESPN.