Vizrt Installations Allow Marquee Sports Network to Elevate Broadcasts

The Chicago Cubs have built up some of the most loyal fans in sports over the course of the last century. Despite this loyalty, Cubs fans demand the highest quality broadcasts when cheering on their favorite team.

Launched in February of 2020, Marquee Sports Network is the television home of Chicago Cubs broadcasts and coverage of the Chicago Bears for sports fans in the greater Chicago area. In order to elevate their broadcasts of one of America’s most storied professional sports franchises in a unique season, Marquee Sports Network recently entered into a partnership with Vizrt. 

With the first SMPTE 2110 installation for the Sinclair Sports Properties, and the data integration scheme Marquee Sports has implemented between Viz Artist / Viz Trio and Sportradar, the regional sports network was able to better tell the story of a 2020 season that has kept MLB fans out of stadiums.

“Vizrt is the standard bearer – it was an easy choice,” Marquee Sports VP of Tech Ops Debby Schneider told Front Office Sports of the decision to work with Vizrt. “State-of-the art graphics, ultimate game-related flexibilities and baseball innovation — Vizrt provides all in spades.”

Using the aforementioned suite of Vizrt products, Marquee Sports Network is able to create high quality graphic analytics through integration with Sportradar. With virtually all baseball fans only able to enjoy games through broadcasts last season, having high quality broadcasts was more important than ever. 

“The pandemic has driven more folks to stay home — to watch baseball — and linger on graphics, and to even consider placing a wager on said game, as it is legal here in Illinois,” Schneider added. “Vizrt is uniquely positioned to bring gaming aspects to the home graphically, and we at Marquee Sports Network have taken major strides to do just that. Gambling graphics, soon to be a priority nationally, were quickly moved to the head of the line at Marquee Sports Network, and therefore Vizrt, who answered the call impressively.”

Marquee Sports’ production executives were able to quickly elevate the quality of broadcasts far beyond the standard for a regional sports network. Thanks to this level of quality, Cubs’ broadcasts became the number one show in Chicago by way of Nielsen ratings and led to significant revenue growth and viewer satisfaction.

Combine this high level of technical quality with the picturesque venue of Wrigley Field and Marquee Sports Network have the recipe for successful broadcasts when the 2021 season rolls around. 

“Our announcers gravitate quite organically to all our graphics, including the weather and those around high-end analytics — Wrigley Field, in particular, lends itself to commentators waxing eloquently about launch angle, exit velocity, etc,” Schneider concluded. 

When the Cubs return to Wrigley Field next year, fans at home will once again be treated to high quality broadcasts supplemented by Vizrt’s best-in-class visual tools.