Univision Deportes (UD) and RCS not only share a passion for sports, but this year, we’re also both celebrating anniversaries. Last month marked UD’s five-year anniversary, and 2017 marks twenty years for RCS.
When leading Spanish-language sports network UD approached us with the opportunity to collaborate four years ago, we were quick to ask, “Where do we sign?” They came to us looking for a more efficient way to visualize their sports data on-air and we’ve since worked together to bring their fans some pretty fantastic graphics. Our first project with UD dates back to 2013, when we teamed up with UD’s internal team and RCS design partner Cake Studio to rebrand the sports network.
What started as an insert graphics package built on Viz Trio quickly evolved into more. By the end of the project, we’d developed live match graphics for all of UD’s soccer properties produced out of its Miami studio, in addition to a custom scorebug app for in-match graphics, and interfaced Opta data with the templates for most of the world’s top soccer competitions as well as for MLB, NBA and NFL. The new graphics appeared on five of UD’s most popular studio shows, including “Futbol Central,” “Futbol Club,” “Locura Deportiva,” “Republica Deportiva” and “Linea de Cuatro.”
With preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup well underway, UD enlisted our team to provide and service several Bullet Mobile Graphics workstations, which powered graphics for 64 live World Cup matches broadcast from Brazil.
As Copa America Centenario rolled around in Summer 2016, UD decided it wanted to make a splash with its coverage by updating its look, and RCS was on tap to create and deliver new designs and builds, which aired in 32 live matches over the course of three and a half weeks; graphics included a bottom ticker, side wing, and countdown clock templates. Custom software for authoring, creating and curating content, and interfacing Master Control Automation were also created by our team to simplify the graphics workflow. RCS also provided our LaunchPad touchscreen graphics solution in the Copa America look, providing talent with more data-driven graphics and analysis tools. At the conclusion of the tournament, RCS upgraded the LaunchPad service for UD to cover Liga MX, MLS and more than a dozen other top competitions.
It’s been an awesome ride with UD so far, and we’ve accomplished a lot in just a few years. We’re couldn’t be more excited for their team and congratulate them on five amazing years in business.