EDITOR’S NOTE: Mike McQuade is ESPN’s EVP, Sports Production. During his nearly four decades with ESPN, the multiple-time Sports Emmy award winner has touched almost all aspects of ESPN’s studio and event production, including producing live events and studio shows across multiple sports. In this Executive Voice, he highlights the ESPN teams producing the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final, Women’s & Men’s College World Series and Wimbledon, emphasizing planning, innovation and staff excellence behind every operation.
June is championship season for ESPN’s Sports Production group — the culmination of a regular season’s worth of work, and the moment we get to crown champions across multiple sports. It takes an enormous amount of planning and communication, especially for the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final, and it’s wonderful to see the payoff from our staff’s months-long work to get to this point.
We bring a small army to these events, and so much of the planning revolves around the ancillary shows we’ll have on-site, whether it’s Inside the NBA for the first time with us, NBA Today or SportsCenter. And then there’s the game itself — the shows help drive awareness and lead to the game, but the game itself is still the most important thing everybody’s doing. Our group has done a really good job there.
A key question for us is, what else can we give the viewer? What are our alternatives to watching the game, whether that’s a Skycam, Pat McAfee’s involvement in an altcast, listening to the radio calls, etc. All of this goes into the preparation of crowning a champion — gone are the days where we simply show up with a couple of trucks for just the game. It’s now so much more than that.
As I always say, the reason why I do this job is because I love the people and the work they do, and they get me fired up for months like this. I’m excited about the special opportunity we have ahead of us.
We encourage our team to be aggressive — to play offense when planning these championship events and to never let any stone go unturned. I’d much rather take things away than add things at the last minute. We also try and slow down in the process, making sure the attention to detail is exactly what it needs to be at every level. That’s hard to do in a normal case, and with events of this magnitude, it’s crucial to slow down, communicate and make sure everyone has their details in order.
It helps immensely that the members of our leadership group overseeing these June events — Tim Corrigan (NBA Finals), Meg Aronowitz (Women’s & Men’s College World Series) and Linda Schulz (Stanley Cup Final and Wimbledon) — know these events inside and out. Their experience just leads to better detail, better communication and better understanding.
We have a great group throughout our entire Sports Production team.
As I always say, the reason why I do this job is because I love the people and the work they do, and they get me fired up for months like this. I’m excited about the special opportunity we have ahead of us.
McQuade previews each of ESPN’s championship events in the month of June:
NBA FINALS
From a game perspective, I’m very interested in our new booth — Mike Breen, Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson — and how well it’s gelling. I think we’re about to see it take another step forward. The Finals is a chance for everyone to see how well they are meshing and how well they are working together.
From a content perspective, we’ve been exceptional at documenting the game, and we’ll continue to do that. We’ll add things here and there, whether it’s some Skycam features and some virtual features, but it’s more about how we use the equipment that we already have.
Having Inside the NBA also takes us to a place we’ve never really been before. It allows us to talk about the Finals for even longer periods of time during the day and in the lead up to the game, which is great for fans. The wealth of experience those guys bring is incredibly powerful and their excitement about being a part of the Finals is invigorating to our group.
In this series, MSG (Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks and site for Games 3 and 4) is a character. The crowd is a character. The courtside celebrities are a character. All these things just add to the layers of documentation that we’ll put forth. The fans in New York and their excitement will go to a whole new level, and we want to be as prepared as we can for that — and in the right balance.
STANLEY CUP FINAL
From an NHL perspective, we’re working to have Skycam fly over the ice. That piece of technology and innovation will allow us to get closer than ever before. It’s also great in terms of documenting and teaching.
In the booth, Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro have never sounded better together. They have a great “yin and yang” going on. Sean has sounded fantastic and Ray gets viewers to places that they couldn’t imagine going. In a sport that’s really difficult for two people to be able to go back and forth with as much movement and action as there is in hockey, their chemistry continues to get better throughout these playoffs.
We also know the crowd and the atmosphere matter in the NHL Playoffs. In both Las Vegas and Carolina, they’re a character and will be part of what we’ll be doing. No question.
WOMEN’S AND MEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Having the drone fly over the crowd for the first time in Oklahoma City (for WCWS) is such an added impactful element just to get viewers to feel like they’re actually there and a part of it. We’re obviously excited to see that. It’s also important to note that we are adding equipment to help us better document our games. So when you see a camera on the umpire’s head, it’s to offer a better look — to help us and the viewer get a better view if a player is safe or out.
We produce and direct both World Series events in a way that no one else can because we know the buildings, the flow and the right equipment based on our years of experience. The Men’s College World Series in Omaha was always an event you wanted to work. We’ve done it for 40 years and it’s in our DNA.
It’s the same in Oklahoma City where we have done the Women’s World Series for 25 years. Meg and her group do such a great job of owning that space and using every inch of it to present those games. Their documentation is flawless because they go back every single year, and their ability to learn where we could be better or where we could place a camera, it’s really remarkable. They’ve got it down to a science while still maintaining the passion and the emotion of the event.
WIMBLEDON
With Wimbledon, you’re talking about 13-hour days over a couple of weeks, so it’s important that we offer context for viewers. They’re going to watch a ton, but they’re not watching all of that. So you’re trying to go backwards, forwards, and also stay in the present at the same time. You want fans to feel like they can come in at any point and be able to figure things out and be caught up. It’s sort of the same approach we’ve taken on the PGA.
The other part is just the enormity of the event the first couple of days. With all of the action on all of the courts and everything that’s going on, we want to give people a whip-around feel and not stay too long when something’s lopsided and to go to the best match. It’s almost like a mini “RedZone” at times the first couple of days, in addition to having every court available on streaming.
This year, we’re very excited that Andy Roddick joins us. He’s someone who’s in the space every single day talking tennis. That’s great for viewers. He will elevate what we’re doing and elevate the conversation with what is already a really stellar group of champions on the roster.
In recent years, we’ve added a number of new voices — notably Malika Andrews, Jeff Darlington and Kris Budden — that bring a strong news presence. When there’s so many matches and so much going on, their ability to give context and depth to stories that are happening during the course of the day is important. Their presence just gives our roster the depth it needs to be able to react to news.
Overall, we have a great balance of people who are in the sport every single day, and people who understand the stories that we need to make sure we’re bringing to the forefront.
