How to Build Kansas Athletics’ New Video Production System: Part 2

The revitalization of the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium this summer marked the University of Kansas as a notable power-conference college football venue. However, behind the scenes, Kansas Athletics’ video-production arm, Rock Chalk Video, underwent a significant transformation in their broadcast technology infrastructure that is truly groundbreaking.

Since 2023, in collaboration with longtime partner Alpha, Kansas Athletics embarked on a comprehensive rebuild of their video-production ecosystem that encompassed Allen Fieldhouse, the university’s production truck, and the new football control room. This initiative started with a much-needed audit of their outdated systems that led to the upgrade of two control rooms in Allen Fieldhouse. By modernizing these facilities, Kansas Athletics enhanced their production capabilities, allowing them to deliver high-quality content for men’s and women’s basketball and ESPN+ broadcasts.

The strategic refresh of the Allen Fieldhouse control rooms paved the way for a seamless transition to the overhaul of the football control room at the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. This approach defined the ethos of Rock Chalk Video, emphasizing modern, consistent, and scalable workflows across all production venues.

Alpha, the project’s integrator, played a crucial role in redesigning and integrating the video-production infrastructure at Kansas. With a focus on creating self-contained solutions for each major venue due to the physical separation between Allen Fieldhouse and the football stadium, Alpha’s engineering approach was tailored to meet the unique needs of each location.

Despite facing tight schedules typical of publicly funded projects, the combined efforts of Alpha and the Kansas Athletics engineering team, led by Andy Leslie, ensured the successful implementation of the new technology. The project’s phased approach, starting with Allen Fieldhouse and the production truck before transitioning to the football control room, allowed the production staff and engineers to familiarize themselves with the equipment, facilitating a smooth transition to the new facilities.

A unified Ross Video backbone serves as the centerpiece of Kansas’s new infrastructure, providing a common platform across all control rooms and the production truck. This standardization enables operators to seamlessly work across different venues, enhancing efficiency and workflow consistency. Utilizing Ross Ultrix and Ultrix FR12 frames, along with Evertz DreamCatcher for replay functions, Kansas has established a streamlined and reliable production environment capable of delivering high-quality content.

The interconnected nature of the three production sites allows for shared resources such as cameras while maintaining self-contained control rooms for operational flexibility. This design not only ensures consistency and redundancy across systems but also optimizes the student-heavy workforce by providing a unified operational experience.

Kansas Athletics’ commitment to modernizing its video-production infrastructure underscores its dedication to delivering top-notch content across all broadcast platforms. By embracing cutting-edge technology and a strategic partnership with Alpha, the University of Kansas has set a new standard for collegiate broadcast-technology integration, positioning itself as a leader in the field.