SVG College Sports Summit In-Review: 550+ Attendees Advance Blossoming Industry

The seventh-annual SVG College Sports Summit was a hit as more than 550 attendees from athletic departments, conference offices, academic programs, production companies, national and regional networks, and leading technology developers gathered in Atlanta to network and share best practices in college sports video production.

This year’s summit program featured a full day of sessions on May 28 that featured key leaders from across the industry discussing the hottest topics in sports technology including live event production, the future technologies such as 4K and drones, social media, over-the-top distribution, and more.

Meanwhile, May 29 offered three specialized workshop tracks that include deeper dives into control room and venue technologies, asset management and storage, and creative storytelling.

“The biggest benefit from this Summit is professional development,” says Scott Rinehart, Lead Technologist for Fighting Irish Digital Media at the University of Notre Dame and the Chairman of the 2015 SVG College Sports Summit. “A lot of the attendees at this event are young. They know how to do things really well but that broad industry understanding is really important. There’s a lot of knowledge in this room, from the vendors here and the veterans of the industry. The chance to share that information or for these young folks to learn and make their world better so they can step into leadership roles is the most important thing here.”

In addition to the information sessions, attendees were treated to networking opportunities with their peers and the chance to check out the latest from more than 40 of the world’s top video technology developers. Among them, was the event’s Title Sponsor, Ross Video.

“This has been a good show for Ross in a lot of ways. We’ve built some very strong and lasting relationships with schools of all sizes here,” says Kevin Cottam, Business Development Manager for Ross Video. “This year we’ve seen interest at multi levels – where people are engaging us to implement broadcast production workflows seen for use with ESPN3 and more recently SEC Network but also for in-venue scoreboard production workflows, which have their own set of challenges. This is an expanding market where good technology is key, but it also helps when you have a good value and price point.”

The SVG College Sports Summit has grown into the annual destination for professionals in the college sports video space. Attendees received the opportunity to tour the new College Football Hall of Fame, be honored for their work at the SVG/NACDA College Sports Media Awards, and see behind-the-scenes the technology behind CNN Studios.

“There’s a lot of events that you can go to when you’re in a college and I’ve gone to most of them because I have been in this space for such a long time. I was at Georgia, which is top of the top and I was at Tulsa, which is one of the smallest Division I schools out there, and I was just as welcome here when I was at Tulsa as when I was at Georgia. The SVG folks and the sponsors have done such a great job in reaching out to colleges of all levels and finding programming and events that fit at any level. That’s what makes this event so great and so valuable.”