Monumental Sports Network opens broadcast facility, studios in heart of Washington, D.C.

Monumental Sports Network has formally opened its new multi-million-dollar headquarters, including a cutting-edge production facility and broadcast studios.

Located at 700 6th Street, NW, adjacent to Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., this development is set to provide coverage for fans of several local sports teams.

Starting with the Washington Wizards’ home game against the Sacramento Kings on March 21, the facility will be prominently featured during broadcasts.

“The opening of this state-of-the-art facility represents the most significant step yet in our journey to create a best-in-class media experience for our amazing fanbase,” said Zach Leonsis, president of Media & New Enterprises at Monumental Sports & Entertainment. “This new IP-based media center paves the way for higher quality video, better programming and more content about our fans’ favorite teams. We’re so excited to deliver a national broadcast-quality experience to one of the largest and most influential markets in the world.”

The two-story broadcast facility is designed to take advantage of the SMPTE 2110 standard and provide a path for future-proof output. It incorporates two broadcast studios from Devlin Design Group, AV integration from Diversified with fabrication from Filmwerks.

These studios can be utilized independently or together, depending on the particular night and broadcast need.

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“The SMPTE 2110 system and other innovative technologies leveraged in our new facility not only will help us deliver a higher quality broadcast to fans this season but will allow us to continue to innovate and improve our product moving forward,” said Charlie Myers, CTO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment.

The studios include seven LED video walls from Planar’s Venue Pro Series, at 1.9mm pixel pitch. The spaces also include RED digital cinema 8K cameras with Canon lenses, Autoscript prompters and Ross Video robotics. Serame Design designed the lighting for the studios, using fixtures from Brightline.

The facility, which includes 24 cameras, 1,200 square feet of 4K quality LED monitors, and advanced robotics, is set up to deliver a variety of content, including pre- and post-game shows, halftime, intermission reports and other original content on the network.

Additionally, it houses two insert studios, five production control rooms for simultaneous event production and office space for over 150 employees.

The primary control room includes a Grass Valley switcher while the four smaller control rooms are equipped with Panasonic Kairos software-based switchers. For audio, the facility includes audio consoles from Lawo with an audio-over-IP platform. Riedel gear is used for comms. 

EVS is included for replays with Dalet Flex and Galaxy for MAM and newsroom functions.

By the numbers

• 1,200 square feet of 4K quality LED monitors in main studio
• 24 studio cameras (10 studio cameras, 1 jib, 13 PTZ cameras)
• 179 desktop monitors in control rooms
• 50+ miles of cable throughout facility
• 125+ servers in 60 racks in computer equipment room
• 3,500+ computer ports 1,536 channels of Audio-over-IP capability
• 88 record channels and 42 playout channels for production
• 99K files (282 TB) being transferred from old to new storage system
• 750 TB of on-premises storage in virtualized editorial platform, capable of supporting over 20 on-premises or remote editors
• 3,000 square feet of concrete cutout from floor slab to create studio height
• 2 separate power systems with 1.5K generator backup
• Counting each strand, over 1M feet of glass fiber was installed in new facility, equivalent to 270 miles of fiber or long enough to travel between D.C. and NYC
• 450K feet of bulk cable was installed in new facility, equivalent to 85 miles in distance or long enough to travel between D.C. and Baltimore

In August 2022, MSE took full ownership of NBC Sports Washington from Comcast/NBC Universal.

Throughout 2023, the organization focused on merging NBC Sports Washington’s linear channel with Monumental’s digital assets. This included a complete rebrand with new motion graphics from Two Fresh Design and a revamped programming lineup, culminating in the launch of Monumental Sports Network as a digitally focused media platform in September 2023.

Monumental Sports Network has introduced direct-to-consumer subscription memberships, allowing viewers access to live and on-demand programming without a Pay TV service.

The network covers live games for the Capitals, Wizards, Mystics, Capital City Go-Go and MSE’s esports franchises. It also includes live college and high school sports programming, with broadcast partnerships extending to the NWSL’s Washington Spirit and Major League Rugby’s Old Glory DC for their 2024 seasons.

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