Electrical engineering and broadcast TV students from LSU and Delgado Community College in New Orleans were given a behind-the-scenes tour by Bexel Broadcast Services, Fox Sports, Game Creek, and the Sports Video Group of a top-level TV sports production on the Saturday prior to the 2008 BCS National Championship game between LSU and Ohio State. "The BCS tour was our latest collaborative effort to find the next-generation of engineering talent for both the future of our industry - SVG member companies and sponsors will benefit greatly from this talent, someday," says Lee Estroff, Bexel's senior BBS Tech Manager.

The all-day tour gave 23 students and educators an opportunity to see the current state-of-the-art in broadcast TV production. Lee Estroff helped Fox Sports Michael Davies, director of field operations, and Jerry Steinberg, VP of operations, and SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer lead students on a tour of the Game Creek production trucks used for the broadcast TV coverage, the Crosscreek truck used for FoxSports.com coverage, as well as the Superdome and broadcast booth. Students also had hands-on experience with EVS replays, the Sportvision First-and-Ten line and more.

"We're already looking forward to replicating a similar experience prior to the Daytona 500 with Fox Sports and ESPN," says Kerschbaumer. "Over and over again we heard from the students that their only prior exposure to career opportunities were career fairs. But exposing these students to the exciting and challenging world of TV sports production technology makes a difference. And we've just only begun."