Getting Started — Who's in the Room?

• Who from your organization will be directly involved in decisions about production, distribution, and commercial terms for this property? Options: League / media rights executive, Conference commissioner, Team owner, Head of broadcasting / network ops, Head of streaming / platform programming, Technical director / CTO, Head of marketing / sponsorship, Legal / commercial lead, Other (please specify)
• Which single person has final sign-off authority for budgets and contracts on this engagement? Options: League / media rights executive, Commissioner, C-suite (CEO/CRO), Head of streaming/platform, Head of broadcasting, Legal lead, Other (please specify)
• How do you prefer decisions to be made across discovery, contracting, and operational readiness? Options: Centralized (single approver), Collaborative (cross-functional committee), Staged by milestone (technical → commercial → ops), Ad-hoc depending on issue, Other
• What communication cadence keeps your team aligned during discovery and pre-deployment? Options: Weekly sync, Biweekly, Ad-hoc as needed, Daily during critical windows, Asynchronous updates only
• Are there external partners or rights stakeholders who must be consulted or sign off during discovery? Options: Yes, No
• If yes, list those external stakeholders and the approvals or constraints they typically require.

Is Your Current Production Failing You When It Matters?

• When live broadcasts have faltered—technical dropouts, missed replays, or storytelling gaps—what was the real downstream cost in audience, revenue, partner relationships, or reputation?
• How often in the last season did incidents meaningfully impact viewership, ad delivery, or distribution? Options: Every event, Several events per season, Occasionally (a few events), Rarely, Never
• Which specific failure modes keep you up at night? Select the top three that would be hardest to tolerate. Options: Primary feed outage/encoder failure, Venue power or network loss, Camera or operator errors, Replay/graphics or clock sync failure, Talent no-shows or onsite talent issues, CDN/distribution failure, Ad-stitching or ad measurement failure, Compliance/regulatory lapse, Other
• How are most production failures discovered in your ecosystem—viewer complaints, internal monitoring, partner escalations, or third-party alerts? Options: Internal monitoring/alerts, Viewer complaints via social/support, Advertiser or sponsor escalation, Distributor/platform alert, Third-party monitoring services, Other
• Tell us about one incident that still defines your expectations—what happened, how it was handled, and what the momentum of consequences looked like?

If You Could Fix One Thing Overnight, What Would It Be?

• If budget and time weren’t constraints, what single production problem would you solve immediately and why?
• If that problem were solved, which measurable outcomes would improve most for you? Options: Viewership / retention, Uptime / availability, Ad impressions / revenue, Per-event cost reduction, Sponsor satisfaction / renewals, Production consistency across season, Other
• How do you currently balance the need for rock-steady consistency with pressure to innovate production and fan experiences? Options: Consistency first, Balanced approach, Innovation first, Unsure / depends on event
• What internal or market deadlines make fixing this issue urgent right now (e.g., rights renewals, new platform launch, sponsor commitments)?
• How long has this issue been tolerated—new (under 6 months), persistent (6–12 months), systemic (1–3 years), or chronic (3+ years)? Options: < 6 months, 6–12 months, 1–3 years, 3+ years

Where Do Your Venues Break Down Under Pressure?

• Which venues in your schedule create the most operational risk for live production, and what specifically makes them risky?
• Which onsite constraints cause the most recurring problems at those venues? Options: Insufficient network/bandwidth, Unreliable power, Limited camera positions / sightlines, No dedicated broadcast compound, Poor crew support / local workforce, RF spectrum congestion, Other
• How standardized are the technical specs and facilities across venues—are they largely consistent or highly varied? Options: Fully standardized (same specs), Mostly similar with minor differences, Mixed—several distinct classes, Highly varied / ad-hoc
• Do you maintain up-to-date venue documentation (floor plans, network diagrams, IP/RF maps)? If so, how accessible are they to partners? Options: Complete and accessible, Partial and accessible on request, Limited and outdated, None available
• Describe a recent event where venue limitations forced an on-the-fly production change—what was the workaround and what did you lose or gain?

What's 'Good'—Beyond Pretty Pictures?

• When you say a production was 'excellent', which measurable criteria are you actually using? Options: Raw viewership numbers, Uptime / availability (SLA), Ad impressions and fill rate, Audio clarity / levels, Picture quality (resolution/bitrate), Latency and sync, On-time deliverables, Sponsor integration quality, Other
• What numeric SLAs are you expecting for uptime and latency (choose nearest or specify custom)? Options: 99.99%, 99.9%, 99.5%, 99.0%, Custom / will specify
• If you selected 'Custom', please specify your exact targets for uptime, end-to-end latency, and ad delivery windows.
• What per-event or per-season cost targets would justify the level of production quality you want? Options: <$10k per event, $10k–$50k per event, $50k–$150k per event, $150k–$500k per event, >$500k per event, Undisclosed / variable
• Which outcome would most strongly drive a renewal decision without extended renegotiation (pick up to two)? Options: Consistent uptime & SLA adherence, Clear viewership uplift, Predictable per-event cost, Sponsor ROI and attribution, Strong creative / storytelling, Operational ease for our team

Who Pays for What When Things Go Wrong?

• When a failure reduces ad impressions or causes a blackout, how has commercial responsibility typically been handled in your contracts historically? Options: Vendor liability (credits/repairs), Shared credit/refund between parties, Insurance claim handled by rights holder, Buyer absorbs the loss, Other
• Do you require specific contractual remedies like service credits, liquidated damages, or indemnities for production failures? Options: Service credits, Liquidated damages, Indemnity clauses, Insurance requirement, No specific remedies required
• Would you prefer strict financial penalties for failures, or a collaborative remediation and corrective-action approach? Options: Strict financial penalties, Collaborative remediation and RCA, Combination depending on severity, Unsure
• What escalation paths and governance have actually resolved past incidents for you—single POC, immediate war room, joint RCA, or something else? Options: Single point of contact, Immediate cross-functional war room, Joint root-cause analysis with vendor, Executive-level escalation, Other
• Share an example where the commercial outcome after a failure felt fair and preserved the relationship—what happened and why did it succeed?

Day-of-Event: What Mustn't Fail?

• On game day, what elements are absolutely non-negotiable for you (examples: primary feed uptime, scoreboard sync, ad insertion integrity)? Options: Primary feed uptime, Ad impression/delivery integrity, Scoreboard/clock sync, Audio levels and intelligibility, Key replay functionality, Main announcer comms, Other
• What real-time monitoring, alerts, and dashboards do you expect to receive, and who should get them? Options: Automated engineer alerts, Executive dashboard updates, Distributor/platform alerts, Sponsor-specific alerts, Public status page, Other
• Who holds final go/no-go authority immediately before kickoff and what concrete criteria do they use? Options: Client production lead, Vendor technical director, League technical committee, Joint sign-off (client + vendor), Other
• What redundancy are you unwilling to be without for critical systems (choose all that apply)? Options: Backup encoders/streams, Alternate transmission paths (terrestrial / satellite / IP), Spare cameras and operators, Secondary ad-stitching path, Onsite spare power/genset, Remote failover control room
• How do you want final readiness validated in the last 24 / 6 / 3 hours before go-live—checklist, live run, sponsor check, or other? Options: Full dress rehearsal within 24 hours, Partial technical run at T-6 hours, Checklist validation at T-3 hours, Sponsor and distributor confirmations, Other

Rolling Out Across a Season: How Do You Manage Consistency?

• What processes do you have in place (or wish you had) to prevent quality drift as crews and venues rotate across a season?
• How do you currently measure and document crew performance, handoffs, and lessons learned between events? Options: Scorecards / KPIs, Post-event debriefs, Recorded session reviews, Formal training and certification, No formal process, Other
• What level of variance in per-event cost or delivered specs is acceptable across a season? Options: < 5% variance, 5–10% variance, 10–20% variance, > 20% variance / unacceptable
• When concurrent events strain capacity, how would you prefer prioritization and resource allocation be handled? Options: Vendor prioritizes based on contractual SLAs, Client provides prioritization guidance, Split resources evenly, Hire additional third-party crews, Other
• Give an example of when season-long consistency slipped—what indicators first showed drift and how did you correct course?

Testing, Rehearsal, and Handoff: What's Enough?

• What rehearsal and testing depth aligns with your risk tolerance—full dress runs, targeted systems checks, or a checklist-driven validation? Options: Full dress rehearsal, Targeted subsystem tests (A/V, ad insertion), Checklist validation only, Combination depending on venue
• Which acceptance tests must pass before content is deemed deliverable (pick all that apply)? Options: Audio loudness and sync, Video resolution/bitrate and codecs, Ad insertion verification, Closed captions and metadata, Timing and deliverable timestamps, Sponsor asset verification, Other
• Who is expected to sign off on post-event deliverables and within what timeline? Options: Client production lead (X days), Technical director (X days), Rights holder (X days), Automated QC system with exceptions, Other
• Do you want pre-agreed runbooks and escalation playbooks? If yes, summarize the must-have steps or access details we should adopt. Options: Yes, No
• What level of post-event defects in deliverables is tolerable before credits or remediation are triggered? Options: Zero tolerance (must be corrected), Minor defects tolerated within SLA, Minor defects tolerated with remediation plan, Depends on severity and impact

What Would Make You Confident to Move Forward?

• What are the remaining barriers to progressing from discovery to a pilot or commercial agreement—budget, legal, technical proof, internal alignment, or something else? Options: Budget approval, Legal/contract terms, Technical proof-of-concept, Internal stakeholder alignment, Sponsor approval, Other
• Which pilot structure would most convince you to scale—single full-scope event, limited-scope technical proof, parallel production with incumbent, or seasonal trial? Options: Single full-scope event, Limited technical proof, Parallel production (side-by-side), Season-limited trial, Other
• What commercial protections or terms would you need to see to agree to a pilot (choose up to two)? Options: Capped pilot spend, Performance guarantees / SLAs, Trial pricing, Right to exit or scale, Service credits for failures, Other
• Who must be present at a pilot debrief to approve scaling, and what outcomes would they need to see? Options: Client production lead, Commercial/finance lead, Technical director/CTO, Sponsor or advertiser rep, Rights holder / commissioner, Other
• What is your preferred next step and target timing—schedule a design workshop, provide venue specs, draft an SOW, or set a pilot date? Options: Schedule design workshop (within 2 weeks), Provide venue specs and access, Draft statement of work, Set pilot date (within next month), Other / need internal alignment

Setting the Stage: How you currently show up on game day

• Briefly describe your current live production model for this property (who runs it and how it's funded). Options: Fully in-house, Fully outsourced, Hybrid (mix of in-house and vendor), Partner/syndicated production, Other
• Which teams, venues, or event types are in scope for this season?
• Typical event footprint you deploy today (pick the closest): Options: Small: 3–6 cameras, minimal crew, Medium: 7–12 cameras, OB truck/remote production, Large: 13+ cameras, full OB truck and expanded crew, Variable by event
• How satisfied are you with production consistency across events right now? Options: Very satisfied, Somewhat satisfied, Neutral, Somewhat dissatisfied, Very dissatisfied
• When you think about recent broadcasts, what's the one sentence that summarizes stakeholder (fans/advertisers/internal) feedback?

Are we expecting broadcast-quality from rooms never built for it?

• How often do you find yourself shoehorning standard broadcast workflows into venues with limited infrastructure? Options: Almost every event, Frequently, Occasionally, Rarely, Never
• Which venues in your schedule lack critical broadcast capabilities (list venue name and what’s missing)?
• Which of these venue capability gaps occur most often at your sites? Options: No fiber/low bandwidth, Limited power redundancy, Insufficient camera positions/rigging points, Poor lighting for broadcast, No or inadequate press box, No dedicated broadcast compound, RF spectrum congestion, Unreliable venue IT staff, Other
• When a venue gap is identified, what’s your typical remediation timeline and who owns it? Options: Immediate (same week), Short-term (2–8 weeks), Seasonal (next off-season), Not scheduled / depends on budget, Unsure
• How do those venue gaps typically appear on air or in operations (examples: camera blocked, audio echo, blackout, delay)?

What's silently breaking once the broadcast goes live?

• Which technical failures have become 'normal' in your operations rather than exceptions? Options: Audio dropouts, Encoder crashes, Viewer buffering/latency spikes, Camera failure or dismounts, Switcher or replay system faults, IFB/comms loss, Power outages, Uplink/satellite failures, Ad insertion errors, CDN edge failures, Other
• For the top 3 failure modes you selected, describe a recent incident—what happened, how many viewers were affected, and how often it recurs.
• Which of these failures are visible to viewers versus those only your ops team sees? Options: Viewer-visible (blackout, buffering, audio issues), Back-end only (logging, ad reconciliation), Both, Unsure
• What real-time monitoring or alerting do you currently have in-venue and end-to-end? Options: NOC dashboards (custom), Third-party monitoring (SaaS), Synthetic stream tests, Real user monitoring, Manual spot checks, None, Other
• How quickly are you typically able to detect and begin remediation for a major live failure? Options: <1 minute, 1–5 minutes, 5–15 minutes, 15–60 minutes, >60 minutes

Who actually has the authority when the signal degrades?

• When a live event degrades, who has the final authority to trade off quality for continuity or ad delivery? Options: League/media rights exec, Production lead (host broadcaster), Venue operations, Platform/streaming engineering lead, Jointly agreed war room, Other
• Describe your escalation path during events (contacts, SLA to respond, and fallback owners).
• Which roles are consistently present and trained for live incident response? Options: Producer, Technical director, Chief engineer/network lead, Stage manager, Venue tech, Vendor/vendor tech, Platform SRE on-call, No consistent roster, Other
• How consistent is your crew composition across events, and how does that variability affect execution and recovery? Options: Very consistent, Somewhat consistent, Highly variable, Depends on region/season
• Do you have pre-agreed decision rules to switch to backups, reduce bitrate, or cut to slate/replay? If yes, summarize how they’re triggered. Options: Documented and automated, Documented and manual, Informal/ad hoc, No decision rules

Where does the chain fray — inside the venue or on the path to the viewer?

• How confident are you that the weakest point in your delivery chain isn't at the CDN/platform handoff? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Not confident, Unsure
• Which transport and delivery methods do you use from venue egress to viewer? (select all that apply) Options: Satellite, Dedicated fiber, Public internet (VPN), Bonded cellular (LTE/5G), SRT/RIST, RTMP push, HLS/DASH packaging, Private CDN/direct peering, Third-party CDN (Akamai/Cloudfront etc.), Other
• What SLAs do your distribution partners commit to for uptime, latency, and packet loss? Options: Five 9s (99.999%), Four 9s (99.99%), Three 9s (99.9%), Variable / per-contract, No formal SLA / unsure
• Have you experienced degradations between venue egress and viewer that platform monitoring missed? Tell us what happened.
• How do you validate ad impression integrity and reporting across the delivery chain today? Options: Third-party verification, Platform reports, Manual reconciliation, Post-event audits only, No formal validation, Other
• Do you run end-to-end synthetic or viewer-side monitoring before/during events? Options: Yes—both synthetic and RUM, Synthetic only, Real user monitoring only, Ad hoc tests, No

Earlier fires that shaped your current rules of engagement

• Think of the most severe broadcast incident you’ve experienced—what assumption about your systems or partners did it expose?
• What was the root cause and the visible impact (viewer minutes lost, advertisers affected, contractual penalties)?
• How long did it take to restore service, and who led the recovery? Options: <15 minutes, 15–60 minutes, 1–4 hours, 4–24 hours, >24 hours
• What concrete changes did you implement after that event (process, tech, vendors, contracts)? Options: Process updates, Equipment upgrades, Vendor replacement, SLA negotiation, Training/exercises, No changes, Other
• Which lessons from that incident remain unresolved or keep you up at night?

If we only fixed one thing, what would it be?

• If you could guarantee elimination of one failure mode next season, which would you choose and why?
• Select your top three non-negotiable live metrics for this property: Options: Uptime % (min acceptable), Start-on-time rate, Ad impression accuracy, End-to-end latency, Average bitrate consistency, Viewer QoE score, Switch-to-backup time
• Which do you prioritize when tradeoffs are required: preserving continuous stream, preserving highest possible quality, or preserving guaranteed ad delivery? Options: Prefer continuity (no blackout), Prefer highest quality (even if intermittent), Prioritize ad delivery/inventory integrity, Decision varies by event
• What recovery time (RTO) and acceptable data loss (RPO) would you set as targets for high-impact failures? Options: RTO <5 min / RPO minimal, RTO 5–30 min / RPO limited, RTO 30–120 min / RPO moderate, RTO >120 min / RPO high, Unsure
• Which readiness checks would you insist on before first event of season (select all that apply)? Options: Full dress rehearsal with vendor, End-to-end test stream to CDN, On-site connectivity stress test, Crew tabletop exercises, Ad insertion test and reconciliation, No formal checks, Other
• Roughly, what additional budget could you allocate this season to materially reduce the highest-impact risks? Options: No extra budget, < $50k, $50k–$200k, $200k–$500k, > $500k, Unsure / need approval

Small bets that buy peace of mind before major spend

• What low-cost / rapid changes could immediately reduce your most common failure?
• Would standardizing a venue readiness checklist and enforcing it across partners be valuable? Options: Yes—high priority, Maybe—worth piloting, No—unlikely to help
• Which small investments would create the biggest immediate impact (pick up to three)? Options: Portable bonded encoders, Redundant encoder stacks, Pre-staged emergency power kits, Fiber patching and tested handoffs, On-call backup crew contracts, Pre-shipped spare cameras/switchers, NOC augmentation and 24/7 monitoring, Other
• Who in your organization must sign off on these small changes (list roles/functions)?
• If we proposed a 30–60 day pilot that addresses 1–2 failure modes, what success criteria would make you green-light it?

Quick hello — who are we speaking with?

• What is your role and primary decision responsibility for live sports media rights or programming? Options: League Media Rights Executive, Conference Commissioner, Streaming Platform Programming Director, Sports Network GM, Team/Club Media Executive, Other
• Which properties, leagues, or event series are you responsible for this season?
• What is the single most important outcome you need production to deliver this season (one sentence)?
• What is your timing for the next procurement/renewal/launch decision? Options: Immediate (within 30 days), Next 2–3 months, This season (3–6 months), 6–12 months, Undetermined
• Who else must sign off (title or team) before you can move forward?

If a live failure hits prime time, who feels it first—and how badly?

• When a major distribution or production failure happens to your property, what is the single biggest consequence you worry about? Options: Lost ad revenue, Subscriber churn, Brand/reputational damage, Rights-holder penalties, Sponsor activation failure, Other
• How often in the past 12 months have you experienced a broadcast-impacting failure (quality, downtime, or distribution problem)? Options: None, 1–2 times, 3–5 times, 6+ times
• Tell us about the most recent incident that still sticks with you—what happened, who noticed first, and how long did it take to recover?
• When those incidents occur, which stakeholder reaction worries you most (select up to two)? Options: Advertisers demanding make-goods, C-suite reputational pushback, Platform blacklisting or penalties, Fan social backlash, Internal operational scrutiny, Other
• How long has this class of problem been recurring—weeks, months, years? Options: New (this season), Several months, 1+ year, Multiple seasons

What does your live production reality actually look like?

• How stretched are your current venue capabilities, crew capacity, and technical infrastructure compared with what you believe broadcast-quality requires? Options: Well below needs, Below but manageable, Mostly adequate, Comfortably sufficient
• Which of these descriptions best matches your owned/available production assets? Options: No multi-camera infrastructure, Limited in-venue cameras + outsourced OB, Owns full broadcast infrastructure, Hybrid: some in-house, some outsourced
• What are the most frequent technical constraints you encounter at venues? (pick all that apply) Options: Insufficient camera positions, Power limitations, Unreliable internet/backhaul, Limited fiber or routing, No comms/IFB infrastructure, Small broadcast compound space, Other
• How would you rate the depth of available crew experience across a season (directors, producers, engineers, remote operators)? Options: Very shallow, Patchy / variable, Solid core team but rotation risk, Deep and stable
• Do you currently maintain written checklists, runbooks, or acceptance criteria per event/season? Options: Yes — comprehensive, Yes — partial, Informal notes only, No
• If you had to share one piece of technical documentation with a partner tomorrow, what is it and why?

When things break live, what actually happens next?

• Who is the single point of accountability when a live broadcast degrades or fails? Options: Rights holder, Production vendor, Venue operator, Platform operator, Jointly owned
• Describe your escalation path today—how quickly do you move from engineer-level fixes to executive notification? Options: Immediate exec notification, Within 30–60 minutes, After major outage (>30 min), Ad hoc
• What contingency plans do you have for key failure modes (e.g., feed loss, talent no-show, catastrophic venue power loss)? Options: Redundant feeds/paths, Alternative commentary/clean-feed plan, Production pull-forward to studio, No formal contingencies, Other
• Tell us about a moment where the contingency plan worked — what saved the broadcast and why?
• How acceptable are short-term degraded states (e.g., 30s black, audio-only) to your commercial partners and fans? Options: Never acceptable, Rarely acceptable, Occasionally acceptable with communication, Acceptable if averted most of the time

Where quality targets meet commercial reality

• If forced to choose, would you prioritize flawless production on fewer events or consistent, lower-cost coverage across the whole season? Options: Flawless on flagship events, Consistent across season, Balanced hybrid approach, Undecided
• What is your current production budget framework (per-event or seasonal)? Options: Per-event budget, Seasonal budget with per-event flex, Capitated production fee, Variable based on distribution
• Give a realistic range for your target production spend per event (USD). Options: <$10k, $10k–$50k, $50k–$150k, $150k–$500k, >$500k
• Which cost categories cause you the most anxiety (select up to two)? Options: Talent fees, Crew travel and lodging, Equipment rentals, Fiber/transport costs, On-site staffing, Insurance/indemnity
• What trade-offs are you willing to accept between production quality and talent/crew cost inflation? Options: Lower camera counts, higher presentation quality, More remote production, less on-site crew, Seasonal mix: flagship vs standard events, No trade-offs—quality is fixed
• Have you experienced cost overruns in the past seasons? If yes, what were the main drivers and how were they resolved?

Which numbers would make you sleep at night this season?

• If you could guarantee three measurable outcomes for the season, which would you choose? (pick up to three) Options: Peak viewership, Average concurrent viewers, Uptime %, Ad impressions, Cost per event, Sponsor fulfillment rate, On-time deliverables
• For each selected metric, what is your target (give approximate numeric targets or ranges)?
• What non-negotiable tolerances do you need on uptime or delivery (e.g., 99.9% stream availability)? Options: 99.99%+, 99.9%, 99.5%, 99.0%, Other / undefineable
• How will you measure commercial success—what KPIs will finance, rights, and sales teams use to evaluate ROI? Options: Ad revenue, Subscriber growth, Retention rates, Sponsorship renewals, Viewership trends, Other
• If targets are missed, what are the real consequences that matter to you (financial, contractual, reputational)?

Who signs, who operates, and who pays when the lights go out?

• Do your current contracts clearly assign operational responsibility and commercial liability for live failures? Options: Yes — clear and enforced, Yes — but ambiguous in places, No — responsibilities are implied, No — nothing formal
• What financial remedies or penalties do you currently expect or impose for missed SLAs? Options: Make-goods, Fee reductions, Termination clauses, No formal penalties, Other
• Describe the escalation contacts we would need for a high-severity outage (names/roles and availability windows).
• What insurance or indemnity coverage must a production partner demonstrate before contracting? Options: General liability, E&O (errors & omissions), Worker's comp, Cyber/streaming liability, Other
• How acceptable is a joint ops model where responsibilities are split between your team and a partner? Options: Preferred, Acceptable with clear SLAs, Reluctant, Not acceptable

Venue realities and people constraints — what do we need to know?

• Which venue types are in scope this season (pick all that apply)? Options: College arenas/stadia, Minor pro arenas, Major pro venues, Neutral site venues, Outdoor facilities, Mobile/temporary venues
• How readable and complete are your venue technical riders/contact lists today? Options: Comprehensive and up-to-date, Mostly complete, Fragmented per-venue, Minimal or missing
• What recurring venue-level failure modes should our team be prepared to mitigate (e.g., power dips, RF interference, limited camera positions)?
• How do local labor rules, unions, or credentialing requirements affect crew selection and scheduling? Options: Major constraint, Manageable with planning, Little to no impact, Varies by market
• What minimum venue access and lead time do you require for staging and rehearsals? Options: 24–48 hours, 3–5 days, 1–2 weeks, Variable by venue

What internal processes would stop a fast decision?

• What are the top three internal approval gates that slow procurement for production partners? Options: Legal/contract review, Budget sign-off, Technical due diligence, Executive approval, Vendor compliance/insurance
• How long does your legal/commercial review typically take for a new vendor? Options: <2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–2 months, 2+ months
• What proof points shorten your internal review the fastest (e.g., references, demonstration, pilot)? Options: Reference calls, Live pilot, Detailed tech runbook, Insurance proof, Sample contract
• Are there procurement or compliance items that would be deal-breakers for a vendor? Options: Yes — specify in comments, Possibly — depends on mitigation, No hard deal-breakers
• How urgent is your desire to de-risk the season (scale from 1–5)? Options: 1 — low urgency, 2, 3, 4, 5 — very urgent

If we proved delivery on your riskiest event tomorrow, what would you need next to feel comfortable?

• Would you be open to a pilot or proof-of-concept on a single event or market? Options: Yes — single event, Yes — multi-event pilot, Maybe — need details, No
• Which stakeholders should be present for a pilot debrief (select all that apply)? Options: Head of Media Rights, Technical Director/CTO, Commercial/Sponsorship Lead, Platform Ops, Venue GM, Legal/Procurement
• What would constitute success for a pilot from your perspective (select up to three)? Options: Technical stability (uptime), Audience engagement lift, Sponsor satisfaction, Ad delivery accuracy, Smooth ops handoff
• How quickly could you grant venue access or credentials for a pilot if commercial terms are acceptable? Options: Within 48 hours, Within 1 week, 2–4 weeks, Longer — depends on venue
• Are there any absolute no-go dates, blackout windows, or championship events we must avoid when proposing rehearsal or pilot dates?

Start With The Scoreboard

• In one sentence, how would you describe a successful season for your live broadcasts?
• Which of the following measurable signals matter most to you for judging success this season? Options: Concurrent viewership, Uptime / availability, Ad impressions / CPM, Subscription sign-ups or retention, Average watch time, Social engagement / sentiment, Commercial delivery / sponsor impressions, Per-event delivered cost
• Please provide the specific numeric targets or ranges you’d like to hit for the top 3 signals you selected.
• Which reporting cadence do you prefer for reviewing these signals? Options: Real-time dashboard, Post-event report (24 hrs), Weekly summary, Monthly executive summary
• Who in your organization needs to sign off that we’ve met these success criteria (roles or names)?

Are We Winning or Just Avoiding Loss?

• What’s one KPI you’ve been tolerating because ‘it looks fine on paper’ but actually hides problems in the fan or advertiser experience?
• When the KPI you named looked OK but the experience suffered, what specifically failed (example event and outcome)?
• Which stakeholder reactions matter most when there’s a hidden failure—rights holder frustration, sponsor complaints, ticket-holder churn, or executive escalation? Options: Rights holder / league, Sponsors / advertisers, Platform / distribution partner, Fans / viewers, Internal executive team
• How do these hidden failures typically make you feel as a decision-maker (e.g., embarrassed, financially exposed, anxious about renewals)?
• If we surfaced one overlooked risk today, what would you most want us to prove or disprove quickly?

What Keeps Your Heart Racing on Game Day?

• Which single operational failure would be most damaging to your brand or commercial relationships if it occurred during a marquee event? Options: Total stream outage, Severe buffering/high rebuffer ratio, Major audio failure, Wrong or missing sponsor spots, Loss of scoreboard/graphics, Talent no-show
• How often have you experienced that failure in the last 12 months? Options: Never, Once, 2–3 times, More than 3 times
• What current mitigations do you rely on for that risk (internal ops team, backup feed, redundant encoders, SLAs with venue)? Options: Internal ops team, Venue-provided redundancy, Cloud-based redundancy, On-site redundant equipment, Third-party failover service, No consistent mitigation
• What is the maximum acceptable downtime or service degradation for a single event before you consider it a critical failure? Options: <30 seconds, <2 minutes, <5 minutes, <1% of event runtime, No more than 1 incident per season
• Who should be notified first if that failure looks likely to occur on game day?

Money, Metrics, and Margin

• If forced to choose: are we defending a per-event cost number or aggressively optimizing revenue per event? Options: Defend per-event cost, Optimize revenue per event, Both equally, Undecided
• What is your target delivered production cost per event (or range) that keeps the economics healthy?
• Which revenue levers matter most to justify costs for these productions? Options: Linear ad sales, Digital ad impressions, Subscription growth/retention, Sponsorship integrations, Pay-per-view / OTT rentals, Affiliate / distribution deals
• How tolerant are you of cost variance on a per-event basis? Options: ±5%, ±10%, ±20%, Not tolerant — must hit budget
• Do you require per-event profitability reporting, and if so, which line-items must always be visible? Options: Crew costs, Equipment rental, Venue fees, Travel & logistics, Post-production, Commercial revenue

Risk Red Lines — Non-Negotiables

• Tell us: what would be considered an absolute deal-breaker that triggers contractual penalties or immediate executive intervention?
• Select the events you consider non-negotiable failures. Options: Complete broadcast blackout, Late or missing sponsor creative, Incorrect scoreboard/official stats, Severe multi-minute latency spikes, Unauthorized content or PG violations, Critical personal safety incident
• How many non-negotiable incidents per season would you accept before reconsidering the supplier relationship? Options: 0, 1, 2–3, More than 3
• What financial or operational remedies do you expect when a red-line failure occurs? Options: Service credits, Fee reduction, Termination option, Root-cause report + corrective plan, Other
• Describe the escalation path and executive touchpoints you expect for a red-line incident.

The Viewer Promise

• Which moments in the broadcast must feel flawless to your audience (the handful that define perceived quality)? Options: Opening sequence/pre-show, Scoring/critical plays, Replay accuracy, Commentary clarity and chemistry, Sponsor integrations, Live graphics and stats, Halftime/studio segments
• What technical quality thresholds do you require for the viewer experience (resolution, bitrate, audio channels)? Options: 1080p60 @ 6–8 Mbps, 720p60 @ 3–5 Mbps, 4K HDR @ 15+ Mbps, Adaptive bitrate required (HLS/DASH)
• Do you require localized versions (multi-language commentary, alternate audio, region-specific ads)? If yes, specify languages and markets. Options: Yes — multiple languages/markets, Yes — single alternate language, No
• What accessibility features are mandatory (closed captions, audio description, sign language feed)? Options: Closed captions, Live captions + transcript, Audio description, Sign language feed, None required
• Which fan feedback channels are most important for you to monitor during and after events? Options: Platform analytics, Social media sentiment, Dedicated fan hotline / email, Partner / platform complaints, Sponsor feedback

Operational Signals That Tell Us It’s Working

• Which near-real-time signals should cause us to take immediate remedial action rather than wait for a post-event review? Options: Viewer drop-off > X%, Buffering ratio > X%, Ad fill rate < target, Latency spike > threshold, Critical alarm from venue equipment
• For each signal you select, what is the numeric threshold that should trigger an alert?
• Who should receive operational alerts first, and who should be looped in if the issue escalates?
• How fast do you expect us to acknowledge and start remediation on critical alerts? Options: Immediate (within 1 min), Within 5 minutes, Within 15 minutes, Within 1 hour
• Which dashboard views or report formats help your team make rapid, confident decisions during live events? Options: Real-time single-screen ops dashboard, Event timeline with annotations, Automated incident emails, Mobile alerting app, Daily executive summary

If This Goes Right

• Imagine the season ends and you’re presenting results—what three headlines or metrics would make you proudest?
• Which post-season deliverables matter most to you for renewal conversations (detailed ROI, highlight packages, technical runbooks)? Options: Comprehensive ROI dashboard, Event highlight reels, Technical after-action reports, Crew performance reviews, Sponsor delivery evidence
• How would you prefer we capture and prioritize learnings after each event to continuously improve? Options: Weekly retrospective calls, Post-event written AAR, Shared improvement backlog, Quarterly executive review
• If we propose a small pilot or test to prove one of these success elements, how quickly could you greenlight it? Options: Immediately, Within 2 weeks, Within a month, Requires internal review
• Which internal stakeholders should be involved in the pilot so outcomes are credible and actionable?

Next Steps Toward a Shared Win

• Given everything above, what is the single most important next action we should take together in the next 7–14 days?
• Which artifacts would you like to see from us to validate alignment (detailed KPI spec, draft SLA, runbook, proof-of-concept plan)? Options: KPI specification, Draft SLA with penalties, Technical runbook, Proof-of-concept/ pilot plan, Sample post-event report
• Who will be our primary point of contact for operational decisions, and who is the executive sponsor for commercial decisions?
• What concerns would make you hesitate to move forward now, and what additional evidence would ease that concern?
• Finally, are there any season-specific constraints or one-off events we need to know about (venue renovations, tournament windows, blackout dates)?