"Fox switched our entire facility to HDR for the first time, so everything that we're doing in the building is coming natively as HDR," Callahan said.
This transition guarantees visual consistency across all match broadcasts regardless of location.
"You'll be hard pressed to be able to tell the difference between one vs. the other when it comes to the quality of replays, the quality of coverage, they're all consistent, which is really what you want," he said.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino hailed the facility as "the most technologically advanced and top of the art international broadcast center that the world has ever seen."
Complex Communications Workflows
Jeff Barwise, communications engineering manager for the World Cup at FOX Sports, oversees the intricate intercom matrix connecting the Los Angeles broadcast hub, the Dallas center, and multiple venues.
"There's a lot of moving parts on any particular day," Barwise said.
The team handles multiple simultaneous match feeds while planning ahead for subsequent broadcasts.
"We've got multiple matches — A, B, C, and D — and we're trying to make sure everything is [ready to go for the next match] while making sure everything else is working perfectly at the current match," he said.
Reallocating engineering resources requires precise timing to avoid disrupting ongoing live programs.
"It's a delicate and intentional reallocation of communications resources, ensuring that there's zero impact to the match-day production," Barwise said.
Managing the various commentator audio feeds across venues requires dynamic technical switching, which Barwise described as "a game of commentary hopscotch."
