During the off-season, Russ Berger Design Group (RBDG) coordinated an expansion of the NFL Network’s Culver City, Calif. broadcast/production facility so that this season’s broadcasts could originate from a new studio that includes new control, editing and equipment spaces.
The facility expansion includes a second 10,000-square-foot soundstage where much of the network’s programming is created, and 25,000 square feet of production support spaces. The new spaces include two video control rooms, two audio control rooms, a vocal booth, a shading control room, nine edit suites, and a graphics and central equipment room. In addition, the entire facility’s networking and storage systems were re-worked to be ready for HD transmission.
The condensed timeframe meant carefully weighing choices for materials, construction techniques and finishes to keep the project on track. “Typically, for a job of this magnitude, there would be more time spent on just the design than we had for design and construction combined,” explains Richard Schrag, design principal at RBDG. “That meant scheduling and sequencing was a consideration in everything we did. At the same time, NFL Network needs a facility of the highest caliber, so there was no cutting corners on acoustical or technical performance. But this team was up for the challenge. Knowing that everything had to happen by the start of the season, there wasn’t any problem keeping our focus.”
To meet the deadline, construction of the new soundstage was accelerated ahead of the rest of the space. Temporary production facilities were created outside the studio to provide control rooms and edit bays, much like the remote trucks used during the coverage of league games and the Super Bowl. In that way, the remaining spaces could be brought online as they were completed.
For more information, visit www.rbdg.com and www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/home.
