The UCI Track Champions League is back for a second season, with the first event taking place in Mallorca last week (November 12).
Next, it will travel to Berlin on November 19, continuing to show off a number of broadcast and fan engagement innovations that have been introduced to try to attract more viewers to the eyeball-catching sport every Olympic Games.
SVP of Content and Production at Warner Bros. Discovery Europe Scott Young and UCI Track Champions League Series Director Florian Pavia spoke with Broadcast Sports on what will be new for the second season.
It starts with the runners themselves, Young explained on the technical side: “Each runner is equipped with monitors that provide live biometric data such as heart rate, power, cadence and speed. Working with our partners at AWS, 20 sensors placed around the track will suck up this real-time data so we can display it on the 360 degree LED screens at each venue as well as the UCI Track Champions League app. This is unique to the sport of cycling and provides fans with even greater access and engagement with the sport.
There will also be first-person perspectives given by the cameras on the training areas, the pitch manager, the referees and the athletes.
There will also be a focus on telling the riders’ stories, with Pavia revealing that the events have actually been lengthened to allow more time for storytelling: “With the TV production, we’re going to be focusing a lot more on telling the stories. rather than the simple, bang, bang, bang, races, races, races.
“Now that we know what to expect, we can work on the storytelling and really educate people on the appeal of the Track Champions League. What’s going on and the real issues at stake.”
He added, “We have an extra 15 minutes in the overall recap, to give the TV producer more time to explain stories and push some videos. Really laying the groundwork before every race, reminding people of the league standings, who needs what? Last year, the concept was brilliant. The idea was to have something super fast, super dynamic, but we found that apart from filming the races, we couldn’t tell any other stories.
In addition to the first-person cameras, there will be 23 cameras used in total for the global feed, with control rooms in London and Paris to distribute them. Eventually, Warner Bros. Discovery aims to make production entirely remote, Young added: “Remote production is a key area for us with a team of over 100 people working on each run. Together with our partner AWS, our intention going forward is to move to a 100% remote production model to benefit the health of our staff and the environment. The key to this is having good connectivity to the velodromes, which will support our global production of the event.
As well as bringing the riders closer through cameras and additional narration, data plays a key role in Track Champions League broadcasts. Currently 24 data is collected from runners using 20 sensors around the track, with the aim of reaching 45 within a few years – adding groundbreaking insights into the drafting effect and other aspects track cycling.
This year, the production will put that data on LED screens around the perimeter, along with 3D mapping to display graphics, visuals and stats on the track itself for viewers at home – and show it in the application of the competition. Pavia said: “In road cycling you are already starting to see some data on the screens, but that was not the case for track cycling.
“Unfortunately on TV, we don’t really realize how fast they go, how hard they go. So we want to bring this data to help people understand what is happening on the track.
Finally, Warner Bros. Discovery has partnered with Infinite Reality to bring the Metaverse to cycling – the London event on December 2-3 will see all created streams (10+) streamed into the Metaverse. Young said: “Our metaverse partnership with Infinite Reality is one of the most exciting new innovations we will be unveiling this year, which will deepen the storytelling around the London tours in December. Fans will be able to watch every race stream live in the metaverse as part of an exclusive preview that will eventually allow communities to interact with each other, additional UCI Track Champions League content and the riders themselves. same as part of a truly immersive experience.
Speaking at a pre-season media event, Discovery Sports Events Manager Francois Ribeiro said: “We are going to create a metaverse experience for the Track Champions League and put everything we have into it. On television, you see one thing, it’s the decision of the director in the OB van to select the camera that goes on air. In the metaverse you will find 15 feeds, so you can follow the TV feed, or the on-board camera, or select the data of a particular rider, the referee or the track manager.
He added: “At the moment the fans don’t have access to the riders, so we could have live chats with the riders before or after… The only goal we have is to create something super cool , so teenagers, who may not know Track Champions League, will find this and say to their homies “I invite you.” It will be visually amazing.
This year it won’t include an option for VR glasses, but from next year it should be included.
Overall, even with these added features, Pavia summed up that the focus is still sport: “We really want to draw attention to ‘it’s pure sport, it’s official racing’. You have money to earn, you have to earn points, and you really need to focus on performance. That’s how you get the fans in the end.
