ADVERTISEMENT College Football Kickoff 2026 NBC Sports Leans Into Image Quality, Drones, Distinct Camera Positions, REMI as College-Football Slate Hits Big Stretch By: Brandon Costa, Director of Digital • Posted on: October 2, 2026 • 7 minute read ADVERTISEMENT NEP SS7/ST7 anchors Big Ten Saturday Night ; nine Peacock games are produced from Stamford; Miami–Notre Dame on Nov. 7 will be enhanced production For NBC Sports, the heart of the college-football season is arriving with little room to catch its breath. Tomorrow, the broadcaster will be at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Washington at USC in primetime. One week later comes a particularly demanding doubleheader: Stanford at Notre Dame in the afternoon followed by USC–Penn State under the lights for the Nittany Lions’ White Out. Then, on Nov. 7, Miami visits Notre Dame for a primetime matchup that NBC has already targeted for one of its largest production deployments of the season. Behind the scenes, NBC Sports has settled into a college-football operation built around largely consistent crews, distinct production models for its biggest games and Peacock-exclusive shows, and a camera philosophy designed to give college football the polished look of one of the broadcaster’s major sports properties. One of the biggest changes this season can be found above the stadium. “We had a mix of a traditional helicopter and fixed-wing aerial,” notes Kregg Van Meter , director, Big Ten operations, NBC Sports . “This year, we have moved to all drone technology for that.” NBC is working with Indianapolis-based Hyvion on the aerial operation, deploying the company’s technology across Big Ten Saturday Night , Notre Dame games, and selected afternoon windows. That move is about more than replacing one aerial platform with another. The drone’s flexibility offers opportunities to capture more of the college environment surrounding the game itself: campuses, landmarks, cities, traditions, and other scene-setting imagery that can be worked throughout a telecast. “We feel it gives you a better picture, a better sense of place,” says Van Meter. “You can also use it for your billboards and do different shots around campus and the cities to highlight them using that drone technology.” That approach was particularly effective during NBC’s recent visit to Iowa, where aerial shots could help establish Kinnick Stadium and the surrounding campus and also capture the tradition of fans’ turning toward the nearby University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the end of the first quarter. Three Crews, Multiple Production Models With NBC carrying Big Ten games, Notre Dame home games, and additional Peacock-exclusive windows throughout the fall, the operation has evolved into what Van Meter describes as essentially three production teams. The Big Ten Saturday Night crew remains largely intact throughout the season, with Van Meter estimating that approximately 95% of the group stays together across the 12- to 14-week run. A second team handles NBC’s Notre Dame afternoon games and Big Ten afternoon windows. That crew is approximately 80% consistent week to week and also handled Notre Dame’s season-opening Shamrock Series game at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. NBC’s Peacock-exclusive productions offer a different model. Those crews combine traveling personnel and local hires, with roughly 60% of the crew traveling to the event and 40% hired locally. Nine of the Peacock games this season are being produced via a full REMI model using NBC Sports’ production infrastructure in Stamford, CT. At the stadium, the operation is supported by the Aspen mobile unit formerly operated by Gravity Media. The truck became part of the Live Media Group fleet this summer following the acquisition of Gravity Media’s U.S. mobile-production assets, but Van Meter notes that continuity on the engineering side has remained valuable to NBC. “Luckily, it’s the same engineers,” he says. “It’s a great engineer group on that.” The broadcaster’s largest onsite productions remain anchored by NEP. For Big Ten Saturday Night , NBC continues to operate out of NEP Supershooter 7 and ST7, the units that have supported the package since its launch. This marks the fourth season that the trucks have been dedicated to the primetime operation. The Notre Dame afternoon and Big Ten afternoon productions, meanwhile, have moved into the newer NEP Supershooter 8 and ST8 this season. A Primetime Blueprint Built To Scale Although a Notre Dame primetime game and a Big Ten Saturday Night matchup carry different brands, the underlying production blueprints are essentially identical. NBC’s standard primetime complement starts with 10 hard cameras, two handhelds, a jib, two Steadicams, and additional robotic positions. The afternoon Notre Dame and Big Ten shows are only slightly leaner: nine hard cameras, three handhelds, a jib, and no Steadicams. The baseline is hardly rigid, however. NBC can expand the complement based on the game, venue, and expected significance of the matchup. For a recent primetime production at the Coliseum, for example, the broadcaster increased the complement to 11 hard cameras. The flexibility will become particularly important later this fall. NBC is planning two productions at what it internally calls a “Tier 1 enhanced” level. One is already locked in: Miami at Notre Dame on Nov. 7. For that game, NBC expects to add at least four hard-camera positions along with an additional EVS replay line. A second enhanced Big Ten game is expected to be selected later in the season as the conference schedule and television selections take shape. Image Quality Remains a Calling Card Even amid the proliferation of specialty cameras, REMI workflows, drones, and other technical tools, Van Meter acknowledges a more fundamental priority for the group: picture quality. NBC’s video team has made a point of finding camera positions that can create a different visual language for college football, including slash positions and reverse angles more commonly available in NFL venues. The challenge is that college stadiums vary dramatically in age, physical infrastructure, camera platforms, and available space. “Our video department takes great pride in their pictures,” Van Meter points out. “We try to bring a different element to it with some slash cameras and some reverse cameras that you don’t always see on college sports.” It’s not always easy, but, when the infrastructure allows, NBC looks to take advantage. “Sometimes, the stadiums don’t allow that because they’re not always equipped like an NFL stadium,” he says, “but, when we have those opportunities, we definitely [take them] so that we can give the viewers a different look.” Consistency Behind the Scenes For all the technology involved, Van Meter is quick to point out the consistency of the people operating it. “I tell people this all the time: the Big Ten Saturday Night primetime crew is probably the best crew I have ever had the opportunity to work with. The level of professionalism, the way everybody gets along, the teamwork is absolutely outstanding. It’s a joy to go to work week in and week out with these guys and gals.” On the technical side, Jake McGrath is in his fourth season as tech manager on Big Ten Saturday Night , his second leading the technical team. He is joined this season by Brad Eisle , with Keith Kice , Ken Goss , and Craig Bernstein among those supporting the operation remotely from NBC Sports. Rachel Skopp-Cardillo is in her third season as production manager for Big Ten Saturday Night . The Notre Dame operation continues to be led on the production-management side by Mike Horgan , now approaching a decade working with the package, and Mark Hotmeyer and Freddie Harris lead on the technical-management side. That continuity has particular value on Notre Dame, a property NBC Sports has produced for decades. Even after all that time on the same campus, Van Meter believes the evolution of both college athletics and Notre Dame itself means there is no shortage of new pictures or stories to uncover. “College sports is obviously ever evolving,” says Van Meter. “And so is Notre Dame.” Sharing Upcoming Events Top Stories SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Rezzil Co-Founder Andy Etches on Bringing Movement Intelligence to Broadcast By: Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Posted on: October 5, 2026 Bring the Sound: Host Broadcaster Aurora Brings Athlos London Audio all the Atmos, Music and Drama By: Heather McLean, Editor, SVG Europe Posted on: October 5, 2026 Crowning Glory: Aurora on Creating Athletics for the Modern Age With the First London Athlos By: Heather McLean, Editor, SVG Europe Posted on: October 5, 2026 Sports Data: How Infrastructure is Evolving for High-Volume Media By: David Davies, SVG Europe Posted on: October 5, 2026 Sportel Announces Awards Jury, Highlighted by Multiple Champions By: Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Posted on: October 2, 2026 SVG GameDay, Ep. 33: National Football League's Tim Tubito — Fan Entertainment at Home & Abroad By: Kristian Hernández, Senior Editor Posted on: October 2, 2026 MLB Postseason 2026 MLB Network’s Secaucus Facility Transforms Into Production Hub for Live Game Coverage on JioStar in India, BBC in UK By: Kristian Hernández, Senior Editor Posted on: October 2, 2026 College Football Kickoff 2026 NBC Sports Leans Into Image Quality, Drones, Distinct Camera Positions, REMI as College-Football Slate Hits Big Stretch By: Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Posted on: October 2, 2026 NHL Preview 2026-27 NESN, SportsNet Pittsburgh Debut New-Look Scorebug, Graphics for NHL Season By: Andrew Cohen, SVG Correspondent Posted on: October 2, 2026 WNBA Playoffs 2026 USA Sports Looks To ‘Set a New Standard’ for WNBA Playoffs Coverage Ahead of Fever–Aces Showdown Tonight By: Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Posted on: October 1, 2026 SVG Sit-Down: Kieran Kunhya of Open Broadcast Systems on the Power of De-Centralized Production By: Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Posted on: October 1, 2026 NHL Preview 2026-27 TNT Sports’ Chris Brown, Lee Mabry on Beginning 2026-27 NHL Season With an Onsite Effort in Philly By: Kristian Hernández, Senior Editor Posted on: September 30, 2026 Read more Latest Headlines posts ADVERTISEMENT Related Articles SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Rezzil Co-Founder Andy Etches on Bringing Movement Intelligence to Broadcast TNT Sports is dropping the puck on the 2026-27 NHL... 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