FOX Sports is using AES67 trunk lines and BRISK IP studio kits to manage intercom and commentary workflows across 104 World Cup matches in three countries, connecting its Pico broadcast center, Dallas IBC, and up to six venues at a time. The article says the move from VoIP to AES67 has cut round-trip latency to about 30 milliseconds and details the production chain involving Riedel, Calrec, Dante, Cisco, and other live-production systems.
This architectural shift demonstrates the physical limits of traditional remote production when scaled across a three-country, 104-match tournament. By replacing legacy VoIP with AES67 trunking, FOX is prioritizing synchronization and low latency—critical for maintaining natural dialogue between onsite commentators and studio analysts thousands of miles apart. As sports streaming increasingly shifts toward centralized production models (REMI), this deployment proves that high-fidelity, visually lossless content can be managed at a massive scale without replicating heavy truck infrastructure at every venue. Watch for whether this IP-centric approach becomes the blueprint for future geographically dispersed mega-events like the 2028 Olympics.
Riedel's Bolero wireless intercom system, a key component of FOX Sports' World Cup communications chain, supports a dedicated Standalone 2110 mode that operates natively over AES67 without requiring an Artist matrix frame. Bolero Standalone 2110 distributes antenna signals via SMPTE 2110-30 (AES67) IP network and supports up to 100 beltpacks and 100 antennas per deployment, which aligns with FOX's use of as many as 30 Bolero beltpacks per match alongside 25 Dante comms beltpacks and 22 Dante IFB packs. The system's fully re-programmable FPGA architecture allows field updates to accommodate evolving network standards, a relevant capability for a tournament spanning three countries with varying venue infrastructure.
The BRISK systems at the center of FOX's workflow were developed internally by FOX Sports VP of Field Operations and Engineering Kevin Callahan and Consulting Engineer Doug McGee, designed by integrator Diversified, and assembled at the FOX warehouse in Las Vegas. Each BRISK unit is an EVS Cerebrum-controlled, ST 2110-redundant system built on an Arista IP backbone with Neuron video I/O and Calrec and Direct Out audio equipment, with Sony HDC-5500 cameras supplied by Game Creek Video. The six BRISK assemblies rotate among venues according to FIFA match and FOX broadcast schedules, functioning as modular remote trucks that can be assembled onsite in under two hours.
The move from VoIP to AES67 trunking for the 2026 World Cup marks a significant architectural change from the 2022 Qatar tournament, where FOX relied on VoIP for intercom and commentary transport. Communications engineering manager Jeff Barwise estimated the round-trip latency improvement at approximately 30 milliseconds, a reduction that directly affects the naturalness of dialogue between onsite commentators and studio analysts. The 160 predefined Riedel AES67 trunk lines, scalable to 240, carry both high-quality 5.1 audio feeds from match venues to Pico control rooms and all production communications from venues and the Dallas IBC, representing one of the largest known AES67 trunk deployments for a single broadcaster event.
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