{"id":16099,"date":"2010-06-17T08:35:42","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T12:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=16099"},"modified":"2011-05-31T11:41:37","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T15:41:37","slug":"uconn-alum-produces-world-cup-broadcasts-for-espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/06\/uconn-alum-produces-world-cup-broadcasts-for-espn\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Alum Produces World Cup Broadcasts for ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>UConn<\/a>
UConn Alumni Chris Alexopoulos '94 and Jessica Gonnella '95 in the ESPN broadcast center in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they are covering the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. Alexopoulos is chief game producer. Gonnella is a production assistant. Photo by Mike Soltys, ESPN.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The buzz of the ever-present vuvuzelas provides a soundtrack behind the voice of Chris Alexopoulos as he speaks from Ellis Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the 1994 journalism graduate from UConn is chief game producer for ESPN\u2019s coverage of the World Cup soccer tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horns are blowing so loud you need earphones or a headset,\u201d says Alexopoulos.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s really cool. I\u2019m standing in one of the walkways of the stadium where the famous rugby final was held in 1995 and on which the movie \u2018Invictus\u2019 is based.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

The 1995 rugby tournament was historic because it was the first major event held in South Africa following the end of apartheid and the championship was won by South Africa. The 2010 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup is also an historic event because it is the first World Cup to be hosted in Africa and is the largest gathering of nations since the 2008 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n

Alexopoulos says that even with the challenges of being responsible for ESPN\u2019s coverage of 64 soccer matches taking place in 10 stadiums across South Africa, he recognizes his good fortune at being a witness to history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all realize how unbelievable and unique an experience it is,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m going to be sitting at midfield for the World Cup final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to hear an audio sample of the controversial Vuvuzela horns<\/a><\/p>\n

After leaving Storrs, Alexopoulos used his experience as a journalism major, sportscaster and disc jockey on WHUS radio to land a series of jobs in local radio. After meeting a staffer at ESPN, he was hired as a tape librarian in ESPN\u2019s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., marking tapes for the network\u2019s all-important video library. His big break came when he moved into event coverage as a production assistant, working on location in the equipment truck that is the heart of live sporting event broadcasts.<\/p>\n

In 1998 he served as one of three production assistants for ESPN\u2019s coverage of the World Cup tournament in France. He edited video pieces, wrote scripts, and performed a variety of other jobs behind the scenes, working from the ESPN broadcast center. \u201cI went from the hotel to the broadcast center and got out to just a couple of games,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Today as a producer for an ESPN mobile unit, he is the voice in the earpieces of the on-camera announcers, providing them with background information during live broadcasts, making sure the correct graphics are displayed, and asking analysts for clarifications to help the audience better understand what they just saw on television.<\/p>\n

Alexopoulos has been in South Africa since early June and will remain there until after the championship match is completed on July 11.<\/p>\n

The challenges of live broadcasting began with the very first broadcast on June 11, when South Africa played Mexico, and the sound connection was lost between Alexopoulos and the announcers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to write everything down on a card and pass it to them and use my fingers to count down to the live broadcast,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that happens. You can\u2019t freak out. You have to accept the situation and figure out the solution, sometimes in 10 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The highlight of the tournament so far for Alexopoulos and his colleagues was the United States tie with England in their opening match in Rustenburg on the second day of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing the national anthem played really gave me goose bumps, and I\u2019m not really that kind of person,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when we tied the game, it was alike a clich\u00e9 \u2013 I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. It was really tense and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalism graduate Chris Alexopoulos is helping call the shots for ESPN in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-16099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-28 13:19:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16099"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16111,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16099\/revisions\/16111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16099"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=16099"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}