Feature Behind the Screens: A Look at the Rogers Sportsnet Blue Jays TV Production Team at the Rogers Centre

A behind the scenes look at the Rogers Sportsnet Blue Jays television production team at the Rogers Centre. Story and photos by Nadia Zaidi.

Baseball requires patience, and while the game’s gradual pace may buy time on the field, it cannot do so behind the scenes of a Blue Jays TV production on Sportsnet.

“Ready eight, start your pan!”

Looking at the extensive video screen array inside the TV truck, director Troy Clara calls into his headset to a cameraman covering the field – there’s back-and-forth with the production crew throughout the broadcast, throughout the game, with no let-up. Clara’s decisions are crucial to what TV viewers see on-screen.

To his left sits producer

Doug Walton, who’s in Multiple monitors and split screens can show previews from 20 or more different charge of structuring the cameras used to cover a Blue Jays baseball game. entire broadcast. It’s a double operator job and constant communication is crucial.

“If [Troy] doesn’t know what I’d like to do and vice-versa, that’s when the wheels fall off. It’s just a case of constantly telling him what I’m thinking. He needs to hear me, I need to know he’s heard me and he makes it happen every time. As long as the communication is there everything is fine,” said Walton. We’re a few innings into the game. There’s unwavering concentration within the broadcast truck and every second is meticulously calculated. The Jays broadcast cannot be carelessly thrown together. Each person is a crucial piece to this operation, and each must be equipped with the skills, tools and dedication that a live television broadcast of this type demands.

In the words of executive producer David Tredgett: “There is a lot of synergy that goes on between all those areas to make the final show come together.”

Even when the show goes to commercial, it’s about planning what happens on-screen after the break.

“As long as you have one or

In side the broadcast truck during a baseball telecast; dozens of crew members two steps coming out of can be involved in live game coverage. commercial break planned it works,” Walton explains. “Promotion is a big thing in our business so we’ll get a promo in. If there is a certain batter coming up who has story lines attached we’ll try telling a story about the batter that’s coming up first. You try and do something coming out of that commercial break rather than just come up and wait for that first pitch to be thrown, but you have 90 seconds and that’s usually more than enough time. Usually it’s not that big of a deal.”

There’s a modest downplay of how stressful working within that small time frame can be. Time is your enemy in the world of production. The staff maintains its composure through it all, pointing to the combined years of professional experience.

“We probably have 75-80 years of experience in this room right here. We’ve done it a long time,” said Pat Denardis, who’s in charge of replays and has been since 1991 for both home and away games.

He seamlessly manages a complex control interface where he packages replays and promotions, among other things. But it’s not the actual machinery that’s difficult to master for Denardis: it’s the change in technology.

“That’s the toughest part of what we do. Right now we just went through another software change and it happens all the time. “We used to do everything on a videotape…now we have all of Literally years’ worth of baseball replays can be used during a game, called up April and all of May on here,” he from a huge database of stored video clips. said pointing to a multi-terabyte hard drive. “It’s really quick. We carry all of 2013, 2014, 2012, 2011 and 2010 – we have drives of them all. It’s a constant bombardment with changes in technology.”

New technologies have sped the pace at which Denardis can do his job, but having a good ear is critical in his line of work, listening to what the announcers are saying and getting ready what they need on-screen. “So if the announcers talk about something we can go and get it,” he described of his new software.

There have been many other new technical additions to the broadcast, of course, like the super slow motion cameras. While the normal record rate is 30 frames a second, super slo mo records at 359 frames a second. And there the Pitch FX system, putting pitch formation and pitching patterns on-screen as they happen.

Ultimately, though, everything rests on Walton’s experience and discretion. “Everything goes through Doug – he drives the boat,” Danardis added. Putting together a smooth production has to do with the disciplined work ethic of everyone on board the ‘boat.’ Walton may be the captain, but each person has a crucial role in steering it.

An evening home game – Tuesday, May 19th against the Los Angeles Angels – means that Walton holds a meeting with production staff at 3:30 p.m., some three-and-a-half hours before the game. This timetable changes for afternoon or weekend games, of course, but the production is structured the same way throughout the season.

“I’ll always start the day the same way. There is a big email that goes out to everybody and there are other little emails that go to other people getting everything ready. The flow that way is very similar day to day. Everyone kind of has their own rhythm and their own set routine they’ll go through,” Walton said.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the broadcast booth, the mid-afternoon meetings help announcers Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler make it seem that they see and talk about everything in the game as it happens, but preparation is crucial to their delivery.

The on-screen talent pays tribute to all the behind the scenes support that goes into producing a great baseball telecast. “We’re here every day at 3:30 pm,” outlines Buck Martinez. “We see all the video, all the pre-tapes, and all the graphics. Scott sends them to us at 10 in the morning, so we see everything, we print up all this stuff all day long. So when we see it, we’ve seen it five times before. So we can point out a particular area, but it’s not like we’re looking at it the first time.”

Tabler also credits the production team for making everything run smoothly: “People see us, but it’s everyone behind the scenes. I love working with our team. And it’s not just Buck or Scott, it’s the truck: Doug, Troy, Mike, and Terry. We’re the end result,” he said.

Another key component in their terrific on-air relationship has to be the chemistry between the two, coming from their years of play on the field, and partnership in the booth.

“It’s really funny, I know what he’s thinking before he even says it,” Tabler laughs. “And I’m sure I say things where he can finish my sentence too. We come to work; we wear the same things some days!”

Martinez says it’s simple: “We love baseball. That’s it. We’re very fortunate to come to work everyday. I don’t think of it as a job. For me it’s just an opportunity to go to the ballpark and see great athletes.”

“There’s always something that happens on the baseball field. It might not happen for the Jays, but there is always something going on,” he continues. “Every day we see the best athletes in the world. There’s only been eighteen thousand players in the history of the game and we get to see thirty of them every night.”

Aaahhhh – numbers!

Baseball’s revealing The Blue Jays TV statsman, Scott Carson. statistical code, built up by all those players over a lot of games over a lot of years – and with each game comes with the task of building and adding its own set of statistics. Behind the screen for Blue Jays’ sportscasts is a repository of knowledge, and one man: Scott Carson.

In his 23rd year on the job, Carson is responsible for providing all the statistics we see and hear during the game. Before the game begins, he hands over a lot of his material (ready for everything that could possibly happen!) to the duo of Walton and Clara. During the game, he must still do research, to on stay on top of what’s going on. Throughout the broadcast he and Martinez will slip notes to one another; sometimes from Martinez to Carson, to look up certain facts. Other times, Carson provides both announcers with stats notes to supplement their commentary.

The tools of his trade have changed quite a bit, too, since he started: the days of pulling out large pieces of graph paper and a calculator to determine player statistics.

“You used to have to research from books and magazines and stuff. Now Sportsnet subscribes to a statistic service called Stats Inc. I’m online to their main website, which is called Statspass. I can find anything instantly. It’s a total database,” Carson explained.

Stats is plugged into the trucks downstairs, and game logs go from there to massive computer arrays in Chicago, and come back into the truck instantly. So after every pitch, any stats that may have changed by a ball going into play get automatically updated and are available to the TV crew after every pitch.

The hard work from the

Jamie Campbell and Gregg Zaun discuss the game, and their next on air TV segment production end that for Blue Jays Central Update, translates so well to pitch- by-pitch coverage on- screen is matched in the wrap-around and in-game contributions of the spirited Blue Jays Central duo of Zaun and Campbell.

(Ed’s note: The spirited and now head-shaven duo; this article, and a companion spotlight feature about Jamie Campbell and Gregg Zaun, were written before their live, on-air charitable head-shaving: please see Before Shaved Heads Prevail, A Look at Blue Jays Central: Baseball Fanaticism, Professionalism, Friendship Rule for more.)

“Well you could say that my day never truly ends,” Campbell says of his work at the ballpark. “When the game ends we’ve got our hit in Sportsnet Central. In theory my day is over, but the truth of the matter is it’s a night game.”

With baseball’s ebb and flow, the action lets both watch the game intently from their Blue Jays Central Update perch, and do a lot of different things while they’re seeing the game unfold. Zaun agrees that the work never really ends: “[T]o be able to tap dance from time to time on the air – and there are many occasions where we have to – you have to know what’s going on. For me preparation is critical because I’m a bit of a perfectionist… I don’t like not knowing what’s going on with respect to this baseball team. I think that’s where preparation comes in.”

The entire crew – on-air and behind the scenes – is well prepared, deeply connected and in sync with the game, and with each other. There’s a familial vibe coupled with a professional focus that combines to celebrate the sport of baseball, and the art and craft of getting baseball on the TV screen.

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