Squeeze Play....

The Indians played host to the New York Yankees in their second to last game from Chain O' Lakes Park in Winter Haven. The team was expecting a crowd in excess of 9,000 for a ballpark that normally will fit in around 6.000 or so baseball fans. In addition, the YES Network, the TV home of the Yankees, had selected this game to televise alongside the cameras of SportsTime Ohio. During the regular season, no problem...here in this cozy little ballpark.... a problem! We had to try and place cameras in duplicate positions down by the dugout, up in the stands and out in center field in a park where that sort of real estate is hard to come by easily.

Enter into the scene two members of the Indians organization that make things work at spring training camp - from the broadcast corner there is Alex Slemc, and from the sales side is Ryan Lantz. The task fell upon their shoulders to accommodate both telecasts, and the patrons entering the facility, while working with the team in the confines of this cozier park. Finding nooks and crannies to place cameras, cables, and microphones tested the limits of the available space and opened the door to some creative thinking on the part of the production folks to accomplish their ultimate broadcasting goals.

The cameras in the low positions were right next to each other as normal. But in this park, notice just how close to the stands they are...so close that the New York operator had to sit in the stands to operate his camera so his head would not be obstructing play. As tight as things seem to be here, the field is close to the fans offering them an intimate view of play on the field. That interaction has made this park a fan favorite.






You can see how close the operators are working in relation to the stands and each other. The trick in setting these low cameras was to make sure that the fans had unobstructed views. Ryan and Alex took great pains in planning the position of these cameras to insure the greatest amount of fan visibility. From the truck, both directors realized there would be some limitations but certainly wanted to work with the Tribe and joined in their efforts to make the cameras as inconspicuous as possible.


Meanwhile, over at the truck compound, things are a little tight. There is the basic amount of room for one TV remote unit - and now there are two. From this view looking up the street, not so bad.....









On closer inspection however, notice how close both units are to each other....and imagine the crews loading and unloading gear out of the "belly bays" during the setup period...

Indeed, it was tightly packed, but very workable, and everyone on both crews pitched in to make it so...





Our truck was the closest at the retaining wall as the expando portion folded out toward it away from the other truck...this greatly helped in the flow of traffic between the two units. As I mentioned it took a lot of coordination and our engineers from Lyon Video - Ed Shrider, Troy Flavian, and Tom Sacory - were up to the task.




And as part of our production team, taking time out of their morning while hard at work, are our producers for the 2008 season, Jim Murphy on the left, and Jeff Yakawiak on the right. Both lads have been working not only on the preseason games but the regular season as well....there is plenty to do!





So a big thanks from this corner to everyone involved...it was quite the day - oh and the Indians won....But it's only preseason you say......OK.....whatever.....we still beat the Yankees!