FOX Sports uses IP-based super flypacks to anchor World Cup production

This deployment marks a definitive shift toward decentralized, high-scale REMI (Remote Integration Model) workflows for global sporting events. By decoupling physical on-site presence from production complexity, FOX is demonstrating that fragmented, multi-country events can be managed via a centralized IP-based core. For the industry, this validates SMPTE ST 2110 as a mature standard capable of handling massive telemetry and high-fidelity virtual production at scale. The specific use of JPEG XS to maintain low-latency feeds back to a central LED volume suggests a blueprint for future Olympic and NFL broadcasts. Watch for how these 'super flypacks' reduce shipping overhead for the 2027 Super Bowl.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup represents the largest production challenge in the tournament's history, expanding from 32 to 48 teams and increasing the total match count to 104. Per FOX Sports (January 2026), the network is delivering over 340 hours of live programming, a 100-hour increase from 2022. The scale of the 16-city footprint across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada necessitated a departure from the traditional centralized International Broadcast Center (IBC) model focused on a single host city. Instead, FOX has designated its Pico facility in Los Angeles as the permanent production hub, while utilizing the official Dallas IBC at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center as a technical transit point for venue feeds.

Technologically, this builds on innovations debuted during Super Bowl LIX in February 2025. Per NewscastStudio (February 2025), FOX first tested wide-scale virtual set integration and remote AR camera tracking during its New Orleans broadcast, which featured 149 cameras and the network's first 4K stream on Tubi. The World Cup deployment of Stage B, which features nearly 48 million synchronized LEDs and 32 render engines, successfully solves the problem of maintaining photorealism across multi-camera perspectives in a live environment. Per NewscastStudio (October 2025), the facility uses GhostFrame technology to deliver unique synchronized perspectives for up to four cameras simultaneously, a technical requirement for the high-intensity pacing of a 104-match tournament schedule.