CSVA in Indianapolis

The last six months the center of the sports world may have been in Indianapolis. Last December the Big Ten Conference held its inaugural football championship game here, then a few months later in February the NFL brought its big show - the Super Bowl - into the heart of Indiana. It holds the NFL Combine every year, as well at the Big Ten's basketball post-season tournaments. And in less than a week, racing biggest event is held at the local speedway, the Indianapolis 500. But for a few days in May, the video coordinators of many of the NCAA schools congregated in downtown Indianapolis for its annual convention. CSVA (Collegiate Sports Video Association) is that group of video staffers who spent a few days to re-connect, meet those in the business and learn more about topics that are in their daily lives.

This year's hot topic is the migration of HD into their work flow and moving forward from the 40 schools who experimented with it in 2011 with outstanding results. The Big Ten led the way in 2010 starting the progress of finding a viable HD solution. Over the past two years other schools also worked towards this better quality solution and demanded that of their Sports Network providers. At this year's CSVA, those coordinators who adopted HD spoke of its benefits, and the major players in the solution (XOS Digital, DVSport, Sony, Panasonic) discussed of how each other worked towards this new standard for origination and exchange. Those conferences who will fully be HD in 2012 are the Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC.

CSVA also recognizes excellence in the field. Each conference selects their Video Coordinator of the Year. Upon winning this award they are then put into the field for National Video Coordinator of the Year. I was fortunate to be the recipient a year ago for both awards, and this year's honor went to Chris Luke (a one-time contributor to SportsFanEngy) at North Carolina. The Association also took time recognize excellence in the field of video editing with highlight videos meeting different criteria. And the Hall of Fame included Jeff Pons of the New York Jets

Another highlight of the event are the tours of the different sporting facilities. Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indianapolis Colts facility were two arenas that gave the video staffs an inside look to their operations. A visit thru Bankers Life Fieldhouse was also scheduled, but was unavailable due to Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semi-finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat.

Next year's event will take place in Tampa, Florida.