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ABC Enhances All-Star Broadcast

July 30, 2002 - Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


NEW YORK (Tuesday, July 30, 2002) - The 2002 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game, which will be broadcast live on Saturday August 3 by ABC Sports (3:30 p.m. ET), will offer a soccer experience never before witnessed on American broadcast television. With the most extensive complement of audio ever used in televised soccer in the U.S., viewers will experience one of the most magical days in the history of American soccer as if they were actually on the playing field.

MLS' seventh All-Star Game celebrates the past, present and future of soccer in America as the 2002 MLS All-Stars face the U.S. National Team, composed largely of MLS players who competed at the 2002 World Cup, where the U.S. finished among the top eight teams in the world. The event will also highlight America's World Cup heroes of the recent past with several donning the Red, White and Blue with Bruce Arena's squad. Tributes are also in store for other soccer personalities who have made important contributions to the growth of soccer in this country.

"The unprecedented array of production elements that compose this ABC telecast will ensure that the 2002 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game will be an unforgettable television experience for American soccer fans," said MLS executive producer Michael Cohen. "For an event as memorable as the one this Saturday at RFK Stadium, viewers will not only see a spectacular display of skill, but they will feel the emotion of this extraordinary occasion."

A new level of television audio will be delivered to the fans at home by ABC's first-ever stereo broadcast of the MLS All-Star Game with a mixture of bench, sideline and goalmouth microphones, wireless microphones and underground Turf Mics. With coverage from literally every location on and around the playing surface, the audio experience will be the equivalent of being on the field at the game.

Among the audio innovations is the use of "Turf Mics" which cover the audio void in the middle of soccer's large playing surface that is cannot be picked up by sideline equipment alone. Developed by five-time Emmy award-winning ABC/ESPN sound engineer Thom Mangan especially for MLS through Dakota Productions of Ambler, Pennsylvania, Turf Mic is a wireless microphone system that is buried under the playing surface. The microphone casing is similar in size to a golf hole and is installed in just minutes in much the same way. With the use of new lithium batteries, installation can take place up to 90 minutes before a soccer match.

In addition, two sideline reporters - Rob Stone and Veronica Paysse - will be armed with wireless microphones and will enjoy full access to team benches for interviews and game reaction with coaches, players and other soccer celebrities throughout the broadcast. Stone and Paysse will not be the only persons carrying microphones at field level. With a complement of cameras including steadicams, a super slo-mo, a Jib and robotic goal cameras, the ABC broadcast will bring the 2002 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game home to the viewer in an unprecedented manner.

The 2002 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game also features the debut of a new graphics and animation package that will be used on all MLS broadcasts for the remainder of this season and through 2003. The elements were created and produced by Winnercomm, which has created MLS' broadcast graphics since the League's inception. In collaboration with MLS and ESPN, the company was also responsible for designing the comprehensive animated graphics of the 2002 FIFA World Cup from which the MLS and 2003 Women's World Cup graphics packages derive.

ABC Sports, in its seventh season of MLS coverage, and ESPN are the League's primary national English-language television outlets. The combined networks - ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports - present the most comprehensive soccer coverage in the United States, featuring Major League Soccer, the Men's and Women's World Cup, U.S. National Team soccer and the NCAA Men's and Women's soccer championships.

2002 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game - A Look at the ABC Broadcast

Talent

* Jack Edwards - Play-by-play (4th MLS All-Star Game) - Jack Edwards is in his third season as the lead play-by-play man for MLS and U.S. National Team on ABC and ESPN. An Emmy Award-winning journalist, Edwards was also the lead play-by-play voice at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He joined ESPN in July 1991 as a SportsCenter anchor where he co-anchored the weekend morning shows through 1999. He currently serves as a play-by-play commentator for a variety of ESPN/ESPN2 events including non-MLS soccer, the Little League World Series, track and field and select National Hockey Night telecasts on ESPN2. Edwards handled sideline duties for the 1999 MLS All-Star Game before moving into the play-by-play role in 2000.

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* Ty Keough - Analyst (7th MLS All-Star Game) -- Ty Keough, lead analyst for MLS, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and U.S. National Team soccer has handled the analyst duties for every MLS All-Star Game in League history on ABC/ESPN. Keough's career highlights have included working the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups. He was also the men's head coach at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., for 10 seasons. In addition, the former NASL and MISL star was the co-captain of the U.S. National Team from 1977-80, which included his selection to the 1980 U.S. Olympic squad.

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* Rob Stone - Sideline reporter (4th MLS All-Star Game) - Rob Stone, working his fourth All-Star Game, has covered MLS and international soccer in various roles for ABC/ESPN since 1997. Stone was this year's studio host of ESPN2's World Cup 2Night and the ABC network's lead reporter at the 1998 World Cup in France. The native of Simsbury, Connecticut played collegiate soccer at Colgate University, where he was captain, all-conference and team MVP during his senior year.

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* Veronica Paysse - Sideline reporter (1st MLS All-Star Game) - In her first season as lead sideline reporter for MLS' Soccer Saturday Game of the Week broadcasts on ESPN2, Veronica Paysse will be part of the All-Star Game for the first time. A features reporter at the 2002 World Cup, Paysse has covered international soccer extensively with Univision including the 1998 World Cup, the 2001 Copa America and Mexican First Division soccer. As a featured personality on the popular "Republica Deportiva" sports magazine show on Univision, she interviewed several MLS stars and athletes from across the world. The Miss Florida USA 2000 runner-up was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and moved with her family to the U.S. at the age of nine.

Cameras

* 17 total cameras (including jib camera)

* One super slo-mo camera

* Two robotic POV cameras (one in each goal)

* Starcam - follows one particular player

* Steadicam

* Replays

* 9 replay sources

* Four LVS digital replays

* Digital super slo-mo machine

* * Audio

* All-Star Game audio will be enhanced unlike any soccer broadcast in MLS history

* Match will be broadcast in stereo by ABC Sports

* 2 Turf Mics placed around the center circle

* Audio sources include parabolic, directionals and goal mouth mics

* Sideline reporters will have maximum flexibility on sidelines with wireless microphones * * Production

* Michael Cohen - Executive producer (7th MLS All-Star Game) ... An executive producer on ABC and ESPN's 2002 World Cup coverage, the Emmy award winner also was a soccer producer for NBC at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Australia.

* Mitch Green - Game Producer (1st MLS All-Star Game) ... Game producer for MLS' Soccer Saturday Game of the Week on ESPN2 and the 2002 World Cup ... Emmy award winner.

* Doug Wren - Director (7th MLS All-Star Game) ... Emmy award winner.

* The production/tech crew will consist of approximately 70 people

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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