Kickoff: Tell Us About This Season or Event

• Which season, event, or rights window are we discussing? Options: Full season, Partial season, Single event or tournament, Short rights window (less than 6 months)
• How many live events per week or per month would you expect us to produce for this engagement? Options: 1–2 per week, 3–5 per week, 6–10 per week, More than 10 per week, Irregular schedule
• Tell me about your primary broadcast goals for this season, including audience, advertiser, or subscription targets.
• Describe the sport and any format quirks we should know, for example doubleheaders, multi-site setups, or nonstandard timing.
• Who on your team will own production decisions and who signs off on final acceptance each week or event?
• Which existing contractual or distribution constraints already limit broadcast windows, blackout rules, or ad inventory? Options: Exclusive linear windows, Platform-specific windows, Territorial blackout rules, Ad inventory commitments, None of the above / not sure

Where Production Breaks Down

• What single production failure would make you walk away from a partner immediately?
• When you look at last season's broadcasts, which recurring technical or creative issues cost you the most audience or advertising dollars? Options: Stream outages, Poor camera coverage, Audio problems, Graphics errors or timing, Talent inconsistent performance, Other
• Give a concrete example of a broadcast that underperformed, what went wrong, and how your team measured the impact.
• How often do distribution outages or platform failures occur across your live events today? Options: Almost every event, Several times a season, Occasionally, Rarely, Never
• If a major failure happened during a marquee game, how do you quantify the immediate revenue or longer term rights value loss? Options: Direct ad revenue loss estimate, Estimated subscriber churn, Brand/partner reputational cost, Not tracked numerically, Other
• Point to the on-site or rights-related constraint that, if unresolved, would stop this project from moving forward.

The Other Options You Are Weighing

• Who else have you seriously considered to handle production, and which option feels most likely right now? Options: Incumbent broadcast partner, In-house production build, Regional production vendor, New external partner, Unsure / evaluating
• List the in-house or build-it-yourself proposals that have been floated inside your organization and the primary reason each surfaced.
• What would need to be true about your current in-house approach for you to keep it instead of switching to an external producer? Options: Clear cost advantage, Proven quality parity, Guaranteed resourcing, Faster time to scale, No internal change possible
• Are there incumbent vendors you expect to keep on the roster, and what specific strengths do they bring that matter to you?
• If we could demonstrate parity on quality and lower your total cost of production by 15%, would that remove the incumbent from consideration? Options: Yes, Maybe, depends on terms, No
• Has anyone internally proposed solving production without an outside partner, and who would sponsor that approach if pursued? Options: Yes, operations, Yes, technical leadership, Yes, commercial leadership, No internal proposal, Not sure

What Success Looks Like to Your Stakeholders

• Name the one audience or revenue metric that, if missed, would make this deal unacceptable. Options: Linear ratings target, Average minute audience (AMA), Total streaming views, Ad fill and CPM targets, Subscriber conversion
• List the internal stakeholders beyond your team who will judge the program's success and describe what matters to each of them.
• How do you currently measure broadcast quality and viewer engagement, and which systems provide those numbers? Options: Proprietary analytics, Third-party measurement vendors, Platform-native metrics, Sponsor reports, Not standardized
• How frequently do you expect performance reporting and what turnaround time do your advertisers require for placement reconciliations? Options: Real time dashboards, Daily reports, Weekly summaries, Monthly deep dives
• Assuming the pilot meets the KPI you named, what internal approvals or commercial steps remain before you could sign a season agreement within 30 days?

Practical Constraints That Kill Timelines

• Point to the one technical or venue constraint that, if unresolved, would prevent deployment on your target start date.
• Tell us which third-party systems must connect to deliver the feed, whether APIs exist, and who owns access inside your organization.
• How much dedicated technical headcount does your organization allocate to live production integrations and on-site support during peak weeks? Options: None dedicated, 1–2 engineers, 3–5 engineers, More than 5 engineers
• Are there legal, compliance, or league approval processes that will gate deployment, and what are their usual lead times? Options: Legal review only, League approval required, Government or broadcast regulator permits, No gating approvals
• Do you control venue access or is it managed by the venue operator or another third party? Options: We control access, Venue controls access, Third party operator controls access, Varies by venue
• Point to the unresolved infrastructure item that would force a delay or cancellation of the first deployment.

Crew, Costs, and Commercial Redlines

• Imagine crew costs rise 20 percent mid-season, what part of the agreement would need to change for you to stay on?
• Describe the ideal crew mix for a typical game, for example number of camera operators, replay techs, graphics operator, and commentator roles.
• Please indicate the cost items you expect your organization to own versus those you expect the producer to cover, for example talent fees, travel, or mobile unit rental. Options: Talent fees, Travel and per diems, Mobile unit rental, Crew overtime, Post production
• How firm must commercial terms be at mutual commit, can you tolerate quarterly rate adjustments or do you require fixed season pricing? Options: Fixed season pricing, Quarterly adjustments acceptable, Indexed adjustments tied to defined cost drivers, Need to discuss
• Identify the person in procurement or legal who can sign off on escalation and liability clauses quickly and describe their typical review timeline.
• Which of these commercial outcomes would most influence your decision to proceed? Options: Lower total cost of production, Guaranteed crew resourcing, Stronger service levels and uptime, Flexible cancellation terms, Revenue share or advertising upside

Onsite Rehearsal, Testing, and Go No Go

• Name the rehearsal or test result that, if it fails during the scheduled window, would force a production delay.
• How long of a rehearsal window do you require on site before an event and do you expect dedicated access or shared facility time? Options: Full day dedicated, Half day dedicated, Shared windows only, Remote rehearsals preferred
• Provide the connectivity tests that must pass, for example return feed latency below 500 ms, backup feed validation, and carry test to distribution endpoints.
• Identify the operational owner on site and the after hours escalation contact including role and contact method.
• In practice, can the venue provide an on-site spare camera or backup encoder within two hours and if not, how would you prefer we handle spares? Options: Venue can provide, We must bring spares, Third party rental required, Case by case
• Assuming a rehearsal passes all critical tests, who has the authority to greenlight the live production on the day?

Closing Risks and Next Decision Steps

• Tell us plainly the decision or legal hurdle that would stop you from signing the season agreement within the next 45 days.
• When do you expect to announce or publicly confirm the media partner if a deal is reached? Options: Immediately upon signing, Within one week, Within 30 days, Timing depends on marketing calendar, Not sure
• Provide the clause types that will require redlines during contract negotiation, for example liability caps, crew guarantees, or force majeure definitions.
• Which internal committees or approvals must sign off before funds or rights are committed, and how long do those reviews typically take? Options: Executive committee, Board approval, Legal and procurement only, Commercial leadership
• Given the pilot proves the KPIs and technical prerequisites are met, what is the earliest date you could commit to a multi-event contract? Options: Immediately after pilot, Within 2 weeks, Within 30 days, More than 30 days
• What remaining information or assurance would cause you to sign within the next 14 days?

• Production Walkthrough, Show Flow and Failure Scenarios

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the sample show flow eliminates the coverage gaps and handoff ambiguity described in Discovery.
• Deliver a tailored sample show flow and a failure-playbook for the upcoming event within five business days.
• You accept the contingency playbook as reducing time-to-recovery and limiting commercial exposure to an acceptable level.
• Walk through an end-to-end sample show flow
• Provide venue network diagrams, rack and signal-path diagrams, and any past incident logs for the last 12 months.
• Provide a list of guaranteed rehearsal windows, named operational owners, and any venue access constraints.
• You agree on specific, measurable acceptance criteria that will be used for event acceptance and performance-based payments.
• Validate failure scenarios and contingency playbook
• Review measurable acceptance criteria and quality gates
• You identify the remaining evidence and tests required before a go/no-go decision.
• Confirm the primary acceptance metrics (video quality, audio sync tolerance, max allowable outage duration) you will require for event signoff.
• Forced validation, confirm this meets your needs
• Agree next evidence and decision steps

• Production Walkthrough, Show Flow and Failure Scenarios
• Production Walkthrough Deck
• Production Walkthrough Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Full multicamera live game production
• Single-camera venue feed delivery
• Mobile production unit deployment
• Play-by-play and analyst talent package
• Live graphics and scorebug integration
• Instant replay and highlight control
• Multi-platform live encoding and delivery
• Onsite engineering and technical operations
• Post-event highlight package delivery
• Micing and live audio mixing
• Real-time stats and data graphics
• Broadcast master control and compliance recording

Full multicamera live game production

• How many ISO cameras do you require for a standard game (for example 4, 6, 8)? Options: 4, 6, 8, 10+
• Which camera types do you need on-site (broadcast 2/3-inch studio cameras, ENG shoulder, handheld, super-slo-mo) for match coverage? Options: Broadcast 2/3-inch studio camera, ENG/shoulder camera, Handheld/roving, Super-slo-mo / high-frame-rate
• What is the program resolution and frame rate you will accept for the live output (for example 1080p/60, 720p/60, 4K/60)? Options: 1080p/60, 1080i/60, 720p/60, 4K/UHD/60, Other
• Do you require dedicated specialty cameras (crane, RF wireless, goal-cam) with wireless return links for live switching? Options: Yes, No
• Describe the shot list you expect us to support for key game moments (for example kickoff formation, scoring celebration, bench reaction) and any scripted camera cues you require.
• What measurable acceptance criteria will you require to confirm the live multicamera production quality (for example no more than 1 video dropout per 4 hours, 1080p/60 with <1% frame loss, audio-video sync within 40 ms)?

Single-camera venue feed delivery

• How many single-camera venue feeds do you require per event? Options: 1, 2, 3+
• Which transport interfaces do you accept for the single-camera feed (SDI, NDI over LAN, SRT, RTP/RTMP)? Options: SDI, NDI, SRT, RTP/RTMP, Other
• What minimum encoder profile do you require for the venue feed (for example H.264 8 Mbps, HEVC 5 Mbps)? Options: H.264 8 Mbps, H.264 5 Mbps, HEVC 5 Mbps, Other
• Do you require timecode and genlock on the single-camera feed for downstream sync with replay and scoreboard systems? Options: Yes, No
• Describe the expected physical path at the venue from camera to encoder and any fixed infrastructure constraints (for example SMPTE fiber from pressbox to truck, coax SDI runs over 100 m).
• List the metadata and filename/labeling conventions you require for single-camera feed files (for example venue_code_eventid_cameraID_TCsource).

Mobile production unit deployment

• Provide the number of mobile production units you require deployed per day. Options: 0, 1, 2, 3+
• Which mobile production unit configurations do you require (flypack only, full OB truck, hybrid remote flypack to central MCR)? Options: Flypack only, Full OB truck, Hybrid (remote MCR + flypack)
• What crew complement do you expect to be provided with each MPU (for example producer, director, technical director, audio engineer, replay operator)?
• What are the power, parking, and physical access constraints at your venue that we must plan for (for example 200 A distro on-site, truck parking within 50 m, 6 m clearance)?
• Specify the link types you require from the MPU to the central hub (for example dedicated fiber, bonded cellular with X connections, satellite) and any minimum bandwidth numbers.
• Specify whether you require N+1 redundancy on MPU critical systems (power, encoder, switcher). Options: Yes, No

Play-by-play and analyst talent package

• Indicate the number of commentary teams and languages you require per event. Options: 1 English, 1 + Spanish, Multiple languages / teams
• Select which talent services you require for play-by-play and analysts (recruitment, contracting, payroll handling, none). Options: Recruitment, Contracting only, Payroll handling, None
• What remote commentary workflow will you accept for talent connectivity and latency (for example IFB over IP with max round-trip latency in ms, studio ISDN replacement, direct feed to talent codec)?
• Outline your preferred IFB and talkback routing for talent and production to support interruptible foldback and producer-to-talent cues.
• Choose the dress rehearsal requirement for talent A/V tests prior to event day. Options: Yes - 30 minutes, Yes - 60 minutes, No rehearsal required
• Provide required deadlines and documentation you need for talent onboarding and clearance (for example signed contract, background check, W-9) and who on your team approves them.

Live graphics and scorebug integration

• Identify the graphics engine or playout integration surface you require for the scorebug (for example MOS/NRCS, custom scoreboard API, direct SDI keying). Options: MOS/NRCS, Custom scoreboard API, Direct SDI keying, Other
• What stat provider API and feed format will you use for live updates (for example JSON over HTTPS, XML, proprietary socket)? Options: JSON over HTTPS, XML, Proprietary, CSV/FTP
• Specify the count of unique scorebug templates you require per sport or event. Options: 1-2, 3-5, 6+
• Indicate whether you require dynamic on-screen branding switches per advertiser break with templated overlays. Options: Yes, No
• Provide the acceptable latency tolerance between the event clock and on-screen scorebug updates in seconds. Options: <1s, 1-3s, 3-5s, Other
• State your rules for lower-thirds and sponsor stings including frequency, cueing, and approval workflow for live segments.

Instant replay and highlight control

• Specify how many replay channels or ISO feeds the instant-replay system must ingest simultaneously. Options: 2, 4, 6, 8+
• What slow-motion capabilities do you require for replays (for example 120 fps, 240 fps, super-slo-mo at 500+ fps)? Options: 120fps, 240fps, 500fps, 1000+fps, Other
• Select the replay buffer length you require for highlight capture. Options: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, Full match, Custom
• Is on-the-fly highlight packaging and delivery to social platforms required within a SLA (for example 5 minutes post-event)? Options: Yes - 5 minutes, Yes - 15 minutes, No
• Document your operator handoff and approval workflow for releasing replay clips to on-air playout and social channels.
• Require frame-accurate metadata tagging from your live stat feed for replay selection and clip search? Options: Yes, No

Multi-platform live encoding and delivery

• List the delivery protocols you require for downstream platforms (for example HLS, CMAF, DASH, RTMP, SRT). Options: HLS, CMAF, DASH, RTMP, SRT, Other
• What encoder profiles and bitrate ladders do you require for primary and adaptive streams (for example 4K 15 Mbps main, 1080p 6 Mbps fallback)?
• Provide the distribution categories you will use (owned CDN, third-party CDN, platform ingest endpoints) and preferred ingest hostnames or endpoint types. Options: Owned CDN, Third-party CDN, Platform ingest endpoints
• Require DRM or token authorization on HLS/CMAF manifests for your distribution? Options: Yes, No
• What redundancy paths do you require for contribution (for example primary fiber + bonded cellular Nx, or primary + satellite backup)?
• What specific measurable acceptance criteria will you require to validate live delivery success (for example startup time <5s for 90% of sessions, average bitrate within 10% of target, end-to-end latency <15s for low-latency HLS)?

Onsite engineering and technical operations

• Indicate the number of onsite engineers and technicians you require per event day. Options: 1-2, 3-5, 6+
• Are certified broadcast engineers required for SMPTE ST 2110 or ST 2022 IP studio environments at your venue? Options: Yes, No
• What facility access windows, load-in times, and onsite staging times do you provide for crew setup and tech rehearsals?
• Specify the test procedures you require for venue connectivity acceptance (for example loopback tests, bit error rate test, latency and jitter measurements with target thresholds).
• Confirm whether you require an on-site spares inventory for critical items (for example camera heads, encoders, power supplies) and a minimum list of spares. Options: Yes, No
• Outline your preferred ticketing, incident severity levels, and escalation workflow for technical incidents during the event.

Post-event highlight package delivery

• What specific deliverables do you expect in the post-event highlight package (for example trimmed 60s and 30s social edits, multi-aspect-ratio masters, broadcast-quality MXF masters)?
• What delivery windows do you require for each asset type (for example short-form social in 15 minutes, broadcast package within 4 hours, archive master next business day)? Options: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, Next business day
• Which archive master file formats and codecs do you require (for example MXF DNxHR, ProRes 422 HQ, MP4 H.264)? Options: MXF DNxHR, ProRes 422 HQ, MP4 H.264, Other
• Is embedded captioning and the required metadata schema (for example SCTE markers, XMP tags, sidecar XML) required in highlight files? Options: Yes, No
• State your rights windows, blackout territories, and territorial tagging requirements that must be applied to highlight packages.
• How should highlight packages be transferred to you (for example S3/object storage, SFTP, Aspera, or physical drive)? Options: S3/Object Storage, FTP/SFTP, Aspera, Physical drive

Micing and live audio mixing

• Specify the number of mic positions you require (for example field, bench, crowd mics, referee mic). Options: 1-4, 5-8, 9+
• Require wireless beltpack lavalier microphones for on-field talent and officials? Options: Yes, No
• What loudness target and delivery spec do you require for the broadcast mix (for example -24 LKFS ±1 dB for US broadcast)? Options: -24 LKFS ±1 dB, -23 LUFS, Other
• Is ambient crowd miking and a stereo ambient mix required for your social or OTT channels? Options: Yes, No
• Explain your talkback and IFB redundancy needs for on-site and remote commentators (for example primary IFB over IP + secondary analog return).
• List the analog and digital connections you require for mix-minus outputs and broadcast audio feeds (for example AES/EBU, XLR, Dante channel counts).

• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Crew Resourcing Guarantee
• Acceptance Criteria and Sign-off
• Escalation and Incident Response Matrix
• Payment Schedule and Order Form
• Change Order Agreement
• Insurance & Compliance Addendum

• Go-live Health Check (week 1-4)
• First Measurement Review (week 4-10)
• Acceptance Gate Decision (around day 90)
• Monthly Operational Review (ongoing, monthly for initial season)
• Quarterly Business Review, Outcomes Realization (quarterly)

• Enhancement requests prioritized and scheduled for feasibility review or phased rollout.
• Execute the agreed technical remediation and confirm completion in the incident channel before the next event.
• Prepare the acceptance gate data package as specified in Production Scope targets.
• Restate acceptance criteria and evidence sources
• Acceptance decision recorded for each Production Scope criterion, with remediation plans for any failed items.
• Incumbent system wind-down status confirmed and documented to prevent dual-platform usage.
• Publish the acceptance record and remediation tracker with dates and evidence links.
• If remediation required, schedule follow-up verification event within the agreed remediation window.
• KPI snapshot and trend review
• All high-priority incidents have target resolution dates and documented next steps.
• Reconfirm success criteria and ownership
• Update the incident tracker with current status and next milestones in the shared channel.
• Publish the prioritized enhancement request list with proposed timelines for feasibility work.
• Executive KPI review
• Leadership alignment on current realization of average minute audience and ad impression delivery rate relative to Production Scope targets.
• Agreement on any long-lead operational changes required for next quarter and a timeline to implement them.
• Publish the quarterly outcomes pack including raw data, incident summaries, and recommended operational changes.
• Schedule any approved long-lead improvements, with milestone checkpoints included in the next monthly operational reviews.
• All critical go-live issues triaged with remediation actions and resolution windows documented.
• Operational owners for monitoring and incident response confirmed for the upcoming event cycle.
• Publish the go-live issue log with owners and target resolution dates to the shared channel.
• Run a targeted connectivity re-test before the next scheduled event and report results in the incident channel.
• Present event-level outcome data
• Clear remediation plan with dates to close the primary gaps on average minute audience and feed availability percentage.
• Evidence sources and reporting cadence confirmed for the acceptance gate review.
• Publish the first-measurement dataset and diagnostic notes to the shared workspace for asynchronous review.
• Deployment and connectivity validation
• Incident burn-down and root-cause updates
• Present the 90-day outcomes
• Diagnose performance gaps
• Major incidents and trend implications
• Operational corrective actions
• Operational investments and long-lead items
• Enhancement request triage
• Early operations signals
• Document pass/fail per criterion
• Short action planning for next month
• Incumbent wind-down verification
• Confirm next-quarter metrics and reporting cadence
• Confirm path to acceptance gate
• Open issues and immediate remediation plan
• Communication and escalation paths
• Formal acceptance decision and signatory capture