Division I College Football Conferences Centralize Instant Replay Operation with DVSport and Clear-Com

Today, DVSport and Clear-Com® jointly announce the successful deployment of a centralized Instant Replay Solution at two Division I College Football Conferences: the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The instant replay solution is comprised of the DVSport HD Video Instant Replay System — which enables officials to immediately analyze any reviewable on-field calls and Clear-Com’s Eclipse HX Matrix System, LQ IP interfaces and RS-701 Analog Beltpacks Intercom Solution, providing instant 3-way communication between the Senior League Officials at the Video Command Centers, Technicians and Replay Officials at each of the respective Conference's stadiums. Video feeds from the DVSport Instant Replay System and audio feeds from the Clear-Com intercom system are delivered over a secure IP network.

“Originally started as a proof of concept, DVSport worked with each Division I College Football Conference to implement a Collaborative Instant Replay Experience,” said Keith Lowe, Chief Operating Officer, DVSport. “This setup entailed each Football Conference designating a Command Center [headquarters] for situating a team of 2 to 4 Senior League Officials to monitor, review and command replay of any play or decision made at any one of the associated stadiums. If a play or decision was disputed, the Command Center would be able to see what the Replay Official was doing to manage through a review, while also consuming the content available to them on every play using the DVSport Instant Replay Systems for review.”

“The SEC implemented the concept of the Video Center as a way to provide oversight to the in-stadium process by using both video and communication equipment that allows for complete interaction at all times with the replay booth and the field.  The Clear-Com solution not only met our expectations for usability and clarity, but it exceeded them with the ease of use.” – Cole Cunningham, SEC Director of Video Operations for Football.

“Simultaneously to video review, real-time communication between the officials and the technicians and/or on-field officials needed to be clear and easy,” said James Schaller, Regional Sales Manager, Clear-Com. “When the senior officials need to review a play, they can quickly push a button that is labeled with the name of the city, immediately connecting with the people sitting in the replay booth in that venue, and say ‘Roll that back again’ without any delay.”

Facilitating the communication for each of the two Conferences is Clear-Com’s Eclipse HX-Median Digital Matrix System with several LQ IP interface devices at each end point. This provides the secure IP linkage between the senior officials who use the V-Series Rotary Keypanels at the Video Command Center, and the on-field officials and technicians who use the RS-701 analog partyline beltpacks in each Conference’s football arena.

After successfully testing this concept, the ACC and SEC Football Conferences were extremely pleased with the HD Instant Replay operation and have committed to using the DVSport/Clear-Com solution for all future in-game reviews going forward. The SEC Video Center at the Conference office in Birmingham, AL is where it oversees the replay booth operations at 14 Conference stadiums. The ACC Conference centralizes its Instant Replay Operations in Greensboro, NC at its Game Day Operations Center where it oversees plays from 15 Conference stadiums.