ESPN's two broadcast studios in New York, home to morning sports talk show Get Up and flagship debate programme First Take, have been fitted with a new PROLIGHTS lighting rig. Eastern Lighting Design, led by President and Principal Designer Matthew Gordon, oversaw the lighting design for both studios, working closely with ESPN's internal team and A.C. Americas to determine the ideal solution for each space.

Collaboration drove the project from the outset. "At Eastern, all our designers come from theatrical backgrounds, and theatre is a completely collaborative process," said Gordon. "We bring that into the work we do in television and live events, because, in anything entertainment-related, collaboration is intensely important." In practice, that meant working closely with ESPN's lighting team, the production designers and A.C. Americas to turn scenic renderings into reality, ensuring fixtures were positioned without interfering with workflow, camera angles, or the shows' visual identity.

In Studio X, home to Get Up, the brief called for a warm and rich environment suited to a casual sports discussion format. The set features subway tile mosaics and brick walls, requiring lighting that could accentuate texture and detail without flattening the backgrounds. Gordon's response centred on control and throw distance: "In many TV studios, you see lights hung close to the talent, eight to ten feet off the ground. Our goal, and the Eastern lighting way, is to drop those down as little as possible, so they can get those big, beautiful, wide shots." Any fixture chosen had to deliver enough output to cover the longer distances that approach demands.

The Studio X rig comprised 30 EclFresnel CT+M LED Fresnel fixtures and 72 EclProfile CT+ LED profile spotlights, alongside 44 Jet PAR7ZIP and 2 ArcShine M9FC/S18FC. The EclFresnel CT+M units formed what Gordon calls a "ring of fire", a base wash around the main anchor desk, while the EclProfile CT+ served as individual key lights, fill lights, and backlights across the 360-degree set. "Before you'd have lights for talent and lights for scenery," Gordon noted. "This fixture can do it all." The Jet PAR's were deployed as scenic lights to bring out brick texture, with zoom used to shape wall scallops and sharpen logo projections on the LED wall. The ArcShine units, valued for their compact footprint and fully integrated design, completed the rig as plug-and-play architectural fixtures.

Studio Y, housing First Take, presented a different challenge: a modern penthouse-style set with extensive overhead scenic elements requiring fixtures that could thread through specific openings. The design also had to account for the unpredictable movement of host Stephen A. Smith. "Because the show can be unpredictable, we created a design that could support lighting anyone, anywhere, at any time," said Gordon. The Studio Y rig consisted of 119 EclProfile CT+, 15 EclFresnel CT+M, and 24 Jet PAR7ZIP, with the Fresnels providing base wash and the Profiles functioning as key lights and backlights across the space.

Fixture reliability and prompt delivery were also key factors in the decision. "We've used gear from A.C. Americas, and specifically PROLIGHTS fixtures, for a long time because they've been proven in the field for long-term use," said Gordon, "and both A.C. Americas and PROLIGHTS were helpful in facilitating prompt delivery", no small consideration given the tight project timeline.

"ESPN is absolutely thrilled with the outcome of both studios," Gordon added. A result built on Eastern Lighting Design's commitment to technology, cooperation and collaboration, and on the field-proven reliability of PROLIGHTS fixtures, confirmed once again in one of broadcast's most demanding environments.

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