Unlocking Creativity: An Interview with Harry Garcia on Technology, Art, and Simplicity in Sports Production
Harry Garcia, the Technical Director for the New York Mets since the 1990s, and an Adjunct Professor at Hofstra University, brings a unique blend of art, technology, and philosophy to his work. In this interview with our own Switchers expert Bob Crites, he reflects on his journey, the evolution of stadium production, and how simplicity shapes his approach in both his professional and academic roles.
Bob Crites: Harry, you’ve had a long career with the New York Mets, starting in the 1990s. How has your role evolved alongside technology in stadium sports production?
Harry Garcia: My role has certainly evolved as technology has advanced. I started at Shea Stadium with an Ampex Vista switcher and the Ampex ADO in the old NTSC television format, but today I work at Citi Field with the Grass Valley Kayenne K-Frame XP, which is at the forefront of our industry.
We are a network-based facility running on the Smpte 2110 platform and operating Grass Valley’s Orbit IP Management System. Our facility at Citi Field is fully 4k and The Kayenne handles 4k natively with no obfuscation of resources. We have 9 manned 4k Cameras, two of which are HFR. And 12 PTZ Cameras that are run remotely. We have an impressive centerfield LED screen at 17,400 square feet (about half the area of a large mansion) on the front side and 6,900 square feet (about twice the area of a tennis court) on the back side that can be seen from the highway. The dual sided board has over 40 million pixels. We also have a robust complement of replay and playback servers as well as a state-of-the-art content management system for our dynamic graphics production and much much more. All of this is something that I never ever imagined I would be an integral part of. It’s been amazing for me coming from where I began.
The Mets Production department is headed by Brendan McKeon who coordinates all aspects of game day presentation and our EIC is Greg Sullivan. It’s a sizeable operation designed to meet the growing demand for heightened fan engagement, and they have a huge responsibility. Along with them and the entire GameDay staff I have been an essential part of this huge infrastructure upgrade with the Mets. The relationship with Grass Valley has been exemplary and has taken me to new heights. I strive every day to treat each show like it’s a post season championship game.
My performance requirement demands technical insight, creative vision, and disciplined execution. Every moment during the game impacts decisions our director makes, so I must be precise and have a quick response reflex to sudden moments. We now have Musco lighting controls on the network to enhance theatrics so there is a lot to anticipate to synchronize all our assets properly.
BC: The complexity of managing so many screens in real-time must be a significant challenge. How do you handle that?
HG: The screen distribution profile from an operational standpoint goes to specific GameDay operators.
Within that I am assigned our primary LED screen in centerfield. The reverse LED screen behind the main board, the in-house IPTV system, and an ancillary board at our whiffle ball court where we produce a fan favorite “Home Run Derby” for our young Mets fans. Additionally, I route specific sources to our upper right field screen during Pregame and Postgame. The assignments for the LED screens under my control happen through the switchers Engineering Outputs, Auxiliary Bus Interface and Grass Valley’s Orbit IP Management System. I trigger the house IPTV system through a virtual GPI on the Kayenne. That GPI toggles the IPTV system to switch between the broadcast feed and my switcher output.
To deliver content to my assigned screen footprint, I built Macros that trigger to the various destinations accordingly. During big moments like Homeruns, I fire a virtual GPI command from the Kayenne that engages our content management system to play out specified content to specific screens. It is what we call a “Full Takeover.” In that script detail all our forward facing LED boards and LED ribbon boards are playing out synchronized content. It is visually stunning. At completion of the sequence, I send another virtual GPI command via the Kayenne to clear the Centerfield graphics and reveal the Kayenne Program output on the Centerfield Screen.
BC: The Grass Valley Kayenne switcher you mentioned has over 1,300 buttons and a complex interface. How do you manage such an intricate system?
HG: Like anything else I studied and put my time in. I also had a great trainer in Tom Halladay who trained me both at UBS Arena and again at Citi Field. Tom has been an invaluable resource to answer questions and accelerate my navigation of the switchers resources as I have progressed to more complex uses. However, as I have been told by so many great TDs everyone has a unique approach in how they develop their way of making it work. It must make sense to you and must serve the production. Therefore, my continued advancement has been centered on building shows into the switcher and learning how to modify those builds to suit the requirements of our never-ending production growth curve. The 1,300 buttons become easily understood by the repetition of building modifications and adding or editing new steps to the process.
Also, community is so important as there are so many talented TD’s. I have to mention two ingenuous TD’s Seth Zweibel and Joe Reiter. Their friendship, exchange of perspectives and insights have inspired new ideas and perspectives on the art of the TD.
BC: You’ve mentioned that simplicity is central to your production philosophy. Can you explain that further?
HG: Typically, as a Technical Director, particularly in the fast-paced environment of live sports production, TDs move quickly to load their show files into a blank Grass Valley switcher. They have a skeleton or shell that has the foundational working components prebuilt. They then modify, adjust and curate that setup specific to the requirements of that production. There is a lot of complexity that is involved so to save time they must get things done quickly and efficiently using their own methods, which comes from many years of being a TD.
I’ve learned quite a bit from that working model and subsequently have emulated and fused together my own methods to form my own approach. At Citi Field I’m in a fixed facility and my switcher never gets blanked so in that respect it’s easier day to day.
I flip flop from Soccer to Baseball and those show files I’ve modified to the point where they function extremely well. They are on-board and always available.
My approach is to build neighborhoods on the switcher that are specific for divergent functions. I create a path to interconnect these neighborhoods so I can travel in and out and through them with ease. This produces comfort and confidence to handle the sudden big moments that come with live sports production. I travel to and from replays to multibox fx to high-speed camera cutting and full takeovers bidirectionally with ease. Additionally, I’m also switching the rear screen and the house IPTV system. This is what makes the Kayenne remarkable, it just meets you where you’re at. It gets the job done and then gets you further when you’re ready.
So, it’s particularly important to make my switcher layouts clear and visually easy to look at because I must get around quickly without any confusion about where I’m coming from or going to in any sequences that present themselves during the show. This setup method aligns with what many experts in our field emphasize: the need for systems that can be operated seamlessly under pressure.
Moreover, by making the switcher more intuitive, I’ve found that it not only enhances my ability to operate it efficiently but also empowers the entire production team. This is in line with industry trends where collaboration and ease of use are increasingly recognized as key factors in successful production environments. Simplifying the interface ensures that even those less familiar with the technical intricacies can contribute effectively, fostering a more cohesive and dynamic team operation.
This kind of efficiency is what sets apart a good production from a great one, and its why simplicity at the front end is so crucial.
BC: You’re also involved in teaching at Hofstra University. How does your experience influence your approach as an educator?
HG: Teaching at Hofstra’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication has been a rewarding experience. This world has become so challenging for our young people. The burden is immense for them and in many cases for managing the cost of a college education.
I foster a safe place to be unsure or to not grasp the concepts at first or at any pass for that matter. Switching is an abstract concept, and I learned it the hard way when I began. I never want my students to feel the shame that comes with making a mistake in a high stakes’ environment. I’ve been through that and it’s really tough. Thats why I love to teach. You see everyone has a different learning process and the neuroscience of switching is much like learning to play a musical instrument. I was an avid jazz aficionado and played a musical instrument at an early age. I hit bad notes along the way, so I use that life experience to produce comfort in learning. Within that space I deposit my years of experience to inspire, to encourage and to drive open the gateway of fascination in the discipline of the TD. It’s an amazing exercise in organization forward thinking, vision and problem solving. It’s extremely rewarding when I can get my students there. It’s even more rewarding when I see them become TDs, I know how important education is in this area and I sometimes imagine a broader educational outreach reach that works like an apprenticeship.
My motto is when you have absolutely no one who is willing to show you anything reach out to me I will always share knowledge.
BC: Finally, how do you see the future of sports production and your role in it?
HG: I see technology and creativity continuing to merge in exciting ways. The entire industry is forging ahead to empower the next important thing. AI will become a powerhouse. Applications will become voluminous to further customize operations both for technical and creative. The cloud-based production movement is fully underway and is scaling solutions that connect resources and production teams all over the world.
Grass Valley’s innovation and forward-thinking approach play a vital role in this area with their cloud based AMPP Platform and they are helping me to explore what’s possible. I hope to grow on this platform and develop some applications that I’m extremely interested in and that’s why for me, the Grass Valley Kayenne is a virtuoso appliance that has an incredibly unique tool set to bring forth my imagination. I also look to connect with the global community of technical directors to share ideas and foster new possibilities and innovation.
We are all in this together, pushing boundaries and turning dreams into reality. I’m excited to be part of this journey.
Let’s Go Mets!
Harry Garcia’s unique approach, combining technical mastery, creative vision, and simplicity, is shaping the future of sports production while inspiring the next generation of technical directors.
