The Worldwide Leader in Sports will take the nation's premier college rivalry to a whole new level this weekend.
ESPN has chosen Saturday's matchup between Duke and North Carolina as the event to launch a new company franchise, ESPNU Full Circle. Every single ESPN entity will devote itself to coverage of the ACC's marquee matchup.
"The ultimate goal is to document the game," ESPN Director of New Media Content Len Mead said. "But now that we have all of these other platforms, it gives us a chance to try new things. We can use new angles and approaches without sacrificing overall game coverage."
The primary vehicle of coverage will still be television. ESPN will broadcast a traditional telecast in high definition featuring commentary from Brad Nessler and Dick Vitale.
ESPN2 will also broadcast the contest in high definition, but the game action will be shown in its entirety from the "Above the Rim" cameras located on each of the two baskets. During deadball situations, the feed will revert to the normal sideline angle.
"This is the first time we will have shown a game from this perspective," Mead said.
But the television broadcasts do not stop there. In honor of ESPNU's first anniversary, the college sports channel will show Saturday's game through a split-screen format-one side will feature the normal game feed while the other will employ cameras focused solely on the student section.
The Cameron Crazies will be shown for the entire game from angles both within the stands and of the raucous students.
"As hard as it will be, we're going to try to convey the energy in the building," Mead said. "We're going to try to show some of the action from their perspective.... You might be looking through some arms waving or be watching the game from behind a guy in a blue wig."
The coverage continues outside of the two hours during the game as well. ESPN has featured a "top-five" moment from the classic rivalry each night this week on SportsCenter and there is currently a poll on ESPN.com to decide the best game in the history of the rivalry. The winning game will be shown on ESPN Classic immediately following the live broadcast.
The morning of the game, ESPN College Gameday, featuring Duke alumnus Jay Bilas, will be broadcast from Krzyzewskiville.
"They will be right out in front of Cameron," Mead said of the Gameday crew. "With the tents of Krzyzewskiville in the background, we hope there will be a lively student turnout."
Extending the scope of Gameday, ESPN2 will set up its own pregame show in Chapel Hill-the first time ESPN has ever broadcast a pregame show from the road team's campus, Mead said.
On ESPN360, the network's customized broadband service, there are already several features about the rivalry. A one-hour documentary about K-ville is currently available and will be shown on ESPN2 later this week. The online service will also telecast the game live and feature in-depth statistics not shown on regular television.
The network hopes to implement a similar multimedia approach to several sporting events in the future at both the professional and collegiate levels, Mead said.
He could not pinpoint a dollar figure for the entire operation, but said each arm of the project, from Mobile ESPN to ESPN International, is devoting a piece of its budget to the game.
"As we started talking to people at other ESPN platforms-we talked to guys at ESPN Radio, ESPN wireless, Mobile ESPN-everybody is excited about a game like this," Mead said. "It made sense to bring all of them together. But the challenge is to make sure every platform is something extra.... Everyone is bringing something different and new to the table."
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