This college football season, ESPN, ACC Network and the ACC are partnering on a groundbreaking collaboration to bring unprecedented transparency in college football to instant replay reviews during select presentations of ACC football games. ESPN and the ACC had already been showing a live look at the ACC Game Day Operations Center the past few seasons, but following the successful inclusion of audio with ESPN’s UFL replay review production, there was opportunity to take this initiative with the ACC to the next level.
The new feature, in which audiences hear the real-time discussions among the Referee, the instant replay official in the stadium and the ACC’s Collaborative Instant Replay Official, debuted on August 30 during the ACC Network Primetime Football game. The access has continued throughout the season on ESPN and ACCN to rave reviews from the public, including during the September 13 showdown between Clemson and Georgia Tech.
ESPN Front Row spoke with Bryan Jaroch, Vice President of Sports Production, about the new initiative.
How did the idea to utilize this access in college football come about?
“Every spring, we meet with all the conferences to review the previous season and look for ways to improve for the upcoming season. During those spring meetings, we shared clips from the UFL and other sports showcasing next-level access. To their credit, the ACC was willing to try something new. Last season, they allowed Matt Austin, our Rules Analyst, to listen into the conversations between the referee, replay official and the ACC Game Day Operations Center. It was a good experiment, but we asked the ACC if we could use this audio on-the-air instead, and once again they were willing to innovate. Our experience with the UFL Replay Command Center was extremely helpful in developing the strategy for the ACC Game Day Operations Center workflow from a technical, audio and on-air presentation standpoint.”
Having seen success with this on UFL and CFB, do you foresee ESPN implementing this process with other conferences, leagues or sports?
“We are actively working with other conferences to expand this process. It will take time, but we’ll continue those conversations and in a perfect world, we’ll have this workflow on more games across various conferences.”
What has seeing the reaction of the fans and both internal/external stakeholders been like for you and your team?
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but there’s no end to better. It has been a collaborative effort with the ACC, our ESPN production crews and announcers. We are excited to continuously find new ways to better our product for college football fans.”
The inside access into the replay process continues in Week 5 with No. 8 Florida State at Virginia on Friday night (7 p.m., ESPN).
