Three weeks ago, due to travel restrictions, it was decided that the venue for the The European Champions League Final would be changed from Turkey to Portugal, allowing up to 6,000 fans to travel to watch the game. We speak with UEFA to understand how they’ve managed to handle the switch in such a limited time frame.
It was announced on the 13th May, 3 weeks before the Final that the venue would change from Turkey to Portugal. What preparations had you made pre-13th May? And how are you coping with the sudden change of venue?
“Following UEFA’s announcement to move the UEFA Champions League final to Portugal in order to allow 6,000 fans of each team to attend, UEFA was quick to ensure that the host broadcast of the match for our global audience would not be affected.”
“Whilst we had been working on the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul for over two years (the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul was also scheduled to host the final in 2019) – the Estádio do Dragão in Porto is a stadium that UEFA knows extremely well, having hosted the UEFA Nations League finals in 2019.”
“The broadcast facilities at the stadium are world-class, and with Portuguese-based Medialuso (part of the Mediapro Group; the UEFA supplier for the 2020 Final 8 tournament in Lisbon) on board as our appointed production supplier, we have an extremely experienced host broadcast team who are not only very familiar with delivering UEFA finals, but also know the stadium intimately.”
What type of workflows will you be using to cover the game? Will it mostly be OB truck/venue based? Or are you using more remote production / cloud-based workflows?
“UEFA host broadcast’s workflows for the match will be OB truck, venue-based – given the short time-frame to deliver the match we were unable to secure the network required to deliver fully remote solutions. However, UEFA will be offering single-camera package solutions and dedicated pre- and post-match remote multilateral positions for those broadcasters either unable to send their own production facilities to the venue, or unable to attend the game altogether.”
“Broadcasters using these facilities need only send their on-air talent to the stadium, or even conduct all interviews remotely over a dedicated speaker or headset in the stadium, with UEFA providing all the cameras, lighting, staffing and other facilities needed to conduct, then distribute their content around the match.”
6,000 fans are expected to turn up to the game, will this change anything about how you’ve been covering the games, now that fans are re-entering the stadiums?
“UEFA are delighted that 6,000 fans will have the opportunity to watch the match live, and have amended our multilateral running orders accordingly to ensure their emotions before, during and after the match are captured in our world feed coverage.”
“We will now include dedicated shots of the fans arriving at the stadium as well as multi-camera coverage of the stadium ambiance throughout the match (using two dedicated fan cameras), including dedicated atmospheric crowd shots and scenes of celebration and commiseration at the final whistle.”
All answers from UEFA Media Team.
