You can watch a special edition of NBC4 Sports Extra, taking you behind-the-scenes of Big Ten Saturday night, in the player above.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — While fans watch Ohio State take on Minnesota on NBC4 Saturday night, there’s an army of production personnel behind the scenes making sure the broadcast goes smoothly.
The majority of that army arrived in Columbus on Thursday, making the parking lot right outside Ohio Stadium its home this weekend, taking two full days to prepare to bring viewers the best sights and sounds from the game.
Between two production trucks and an RV that serves as a green room, dozens of staff members spend hours preparing for the contest. At the helm of the entire production is Kregg Van Meter, who is the director of operations for the network’s Big Ten telecasts. His job is to oversee all the logistics, from coordinating with school officials to booking all the flights for the crew.
“We have a crew of about 140 people. And about 110 of those we travel week to week to week. I tell people all the time this is the modern day equivalent of growing up and joining the circus,” Van Meter said.
It’s NBC’s third season broadcasting Big Ten football in primetime. And Saturday marks the network’s second trip to the Horseshoe since Big Ten Saturday Night started. And Van Meter has the preparations down to a science.
“We get here on a Thursday all the gear comes out. All the cameras come out. You set your stage. You take two days to do that,” Van Meter said. “You do your show and then you rip it all down in two hours once the game is over. And you move on to the next city.”
About 5,000 feet of cable is used in the production, much of it used to connect a total of 25 cameras from the field to the broadcast compound.
While a producer and director are tasked with selecting the best sights and sounds, the voice fans hear the most will be from Noah Eagle, who’s been calling Big Ten games for NBC since the network acquired the rights to Saturday night games in 2023.
And Eagle understands well the importance of Buckeye football to the Columbus market and surrounding areas.
“What makes it unique to me is that even in a city that has professional sports and is a major city and has all these other things going on, they’re still the number one show in town,” Eagle said. “And you feel it every time you go. You feel how passionate the fanbase is. And it stretches wide. Obviously beyond Columbus but just certainly within Columbus, walking around you feel that. And you understand that.”
Watch David DeGuzman’s extended interview with Noah Eagle in the player above.
