MEDIAPRO Canada Summer 2023 Newsletter

4K/HD Production Mobiles / Air-Packs / Studios / REMI / Rentals / Cloud Playout / Transmission / ENG / Crewing

A summer of soccer, cricket, basketball and more

Summer may be for holidays and time spent at the cottage for some, but here at MEDIAPRO Canada we've been hard at work producing some of the biggest sports events held on Canadian soil - and further afield - in the US and Mexico.

We've brought live coverage of over 100 Canadian soccer matches to fans around the world as well as a range of other sports including FIBA 3x3 Basketball in Québec City and Montréal. We produced the in-house feed for the CFL Atlantic Touchdown in Halifax, and Odyssey, our 4K/HD mobile, and our newly-upgraded 53' mobile Alto continue to travel around North America, providing broadcast services for events from Legacy Fighting MMA to eSports in Miami and a LaLiga Summer Tour match in Monterrey, Mexico.

One of the highlights for me was our recent productions with our partner MEDIAPRO Middle East of the GT20 Cricket in Brampton, Ontario - the first ICC-sanctioned tournament in North America outside the Caribbean. We produced 18 days of T20 cricket for more than 150 million viewers around the world - and then we did the same for a similar tournament in Florida a few weeks later.

We're heading into a busy fall with the 2023 CPL season finale, a women's National Team qualifier in Toronto, NCAA college football, the WNBA basketball playoffs and much more, which we'll feature in our next newsletter in three months time. Until then!

Chris Priess, VP Sales & Marketing, MEDIAPRO Canada

Canadian soccer update - 100 games and counting!

We're well past the midway point of the 2023 soccer season, with over 100 live soccer matches produced so far this year. The total includes 13 Canadian Championship fixtures, one Concacaf Nations League match, two Concacaf Champions League matches and some 90 Canadian Premier League matches, from Victoria in the west to Halifax on the Atlantic coast. Over 100 freelancers across the country have been instrumental to our high-quality productions - including Victoria-based camera operators Derek and sound guy Josh, pictured above - and we're proud that our live CPL coverage has been aired to a growing fan base around the Americas through distribution deals with Fox Sports in the US, Flow Sports in the Caribbean and Sky Sports in Mexico, as well as viewers worldwide via the OneSoccer app.

Full end-to-end production of GT20 Cricket

MEDIAPRO Canada and MEDIAPRO Middle East brought live coverage of the GT20 Canada, Canada’s premier cricketing event, to millions of fans around the world over 18 days in July and August. MEDIAPRO Canada provided comprehensive production of the 25-match event, held at the TD Cricket Arena in Brampton, Ontario, with our 53' HD mobile Alto, 25 cameras, including 14 Canon 4K lenses - the most UHD lenses used by MEDIAPRO Canada in a single production to date - as well as a stump camera system, a 30’ jib, a drone, three Super Slo Mo cameras and one Ultra Slo Mo camera. MEDIAPRO Middle East provided consultancy and global media distribution services for the GT20.

Canadian Women's National Team qualifier

We'll be out in force for the Canadian women's first foray to BMO Field in Toronto since a match against South Korea in June 2022. This time, they'll be playing Jamaica's Reggae Girlz on September 26th in the second of a pair of Concacaf qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics and W Gold Cup - the first taking place four days earlier in Jamaica. MBSC will produce the BMO match with our 53' mobile Alto and 10 cameras.

More cricket - this time in Florida

MEDIAPRO Canada and MEDIAPRO Middle East returned to the cricket pitch later in August to bring live coverage of a major US tournament to viewers around the world. This 26-game event, held at Lauderhill, FLA - the Cricket Capital of the US - brought together six US teams featuring many of the same cricket legends who had played at the GT20 a few weeks before in Ontario. MEDIAPRO Canada provided production services while MEDIAPRO Middle East managed consultancy and media distribution services.

Back on the NCAA College Football beat

We're back on the NCAA College Football beat and will be providing broadcast services for over a dozen games across the US this fall - starting with last week's Conference USA match-up between hosts New Mexico State Aggies and the UMass Minutemen at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico. We had Odyssey and a range of cameras on the job, and will move on to New Orleans and then South Carolina for more games.

CFL Atlantic Touchdown

We returned to Nova Scotia for the CFL Atlantic Touchdown - the seventh time the league has held a regular-season game CFL game in the Maritimes. After last year's outing to Wolfville, NS, we were at Huskies Stadium at Saint Mary's University in Halifax with a crew of 12 to produce the in-house feed with three cameras, including a wireless, plus EVS and Xpression graphics. On the field, the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 31-13 in front of a sell-out crowd. 

FIBA 3x3 Basketball in Québec City and Montréal

We were in La Belle Province to cover FIBA 3x3 basketball - specifically, the Québec Challenger in Québec City from 18-20 August, where 14 men's teams, including two from Canada, battled for a spot in the Cebu Masters, a World Tour event. We had Odyssey onsite to produce the coverage of FIBA TV and we're en route to Montréal for the 3x3 Women's Series event, where the Canadian women will be looking to qualify for the final and defend the title they won in 2022.

Concacaf Gold Cup group stage match

Together with our colleagues from Mexico and the US, we represented GRUP MEDIAPRO in one of the most ambitious and high profile events for us in North America, the Concacaf Gold Cup. Our Canadian truck, Alto, provided services at BMO Field in Toronto and in Harrison, New Jersey. The match in Canada featured Canada vs Guadeloupe, and a crew of around 60 worked across our 53’ mobile unit Alto in its inaugural live-to-air 1080p HDR production, with 21 cameras, including three Super Slo Mo's and a 4Sky system. This match was the largest event that MEDIAPRO Canada has produced to date!

Legacy Fighting for UFC Fight Pass

Odyssey was down in Kentucky in June to cover the Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) event at the Owensboro Sportscentre with six cameras. The evening featured two events; the Undisputed Bantamweight and the Interim Middleweight Title Fight and it aired live on UFC Fight Pass.

eLaLiga series event in Miami

Odyssey travelled down to Miami to MEDIAPRO US studios to provide production services for the eLaLiga US Challenge presented by Panini, which was broadcast live on Twitch. The eLaLiga series was organized by LaLiga North America, a joint venture between LaLiga and Relevent Sports. MEDIAPRO Canada, together with MEDIAPRO US, provided full production services, studio rental and our 4K mobile unit Odyssey.

TiCats v Argos CFL preseason opener

MEDIAPRO Canada cameras and crew were back in Hamilton, ON, for some gridiron football, as we returned for the ninth season to provide a camera package and engineering support for the CFL's in-house production of the preseason opener between the TiCats and the Argos. The TiCats fielded their new quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and took a close win with a score of 27-22

Odyssey heads south for LaLiga Tour

Odyssey, our 4K mobile, has been racking up serious mileage this summer, including a trip down to Mexico, to support our colleagues at MEDIAPRO Mexico and their productions for the LaLiga Summer Tour matches. In the photo, above, Odyssey was at the 53,500-capacity BBVA Stadium in Monterrey where it was part of the production of the Atlético de Madrid vs Real Sociedad match.

Welcome to new MBSC staff!

We've extended a warm welcome to a number of new staff members in this third quarter of 2023, including John Sheppard, Mobile Facilities Coordinator; Rodney Harrison, Engineer-in-Charge; Juan Fontana, Master Control Operator; and Jessica Alvarez, Master Control Operator. Jessica has replaced Laura Forero, who began at MEDIAPRO Canada two years ago as Junior Master Control Operator before rising through the department and recently earning promotion to the Engineering team - the first woman in our Engineering department! We're delighted to have such a talented and diverse group of new colleagues to support our continued expansion.