File-based workflows… C-M-S-I… Knicks in 5!!!
That’s how the chant went at our office, anyway.
The NBA Finals bring together the best basketball players in the world. Behind every game is an equally impressive production effort, with hundreds of cameras, replay systems, editors, producers, and engineers working together to deliver every moment to millions of viewers.
Throughout the 2026 NBA Finals, CMSI supported ESPN’s production workflows while continuing to expand the use of CMSI Playbook in a live championship environment.
Supporting One of Sports' Biggest Productions
The NBA Finals demand more than live cameras and instant replay. Production teams are responsible for capturing, organizing, editing, and distributing enormous amounts of content throughout every game.
During the Finals, CMSI supported the movement and management of media between event sites, ESPN facilities, league partners, and production teams. CMSI also helped manage HDR media quality control and content transport, ensuring footage remained available wherever it was needed throughout the production workflow.
CMSI Playbook Continues to Grow
The NBA Finals also represented another important milestone for CMSI Playbook.
Designed as a centralized platform for modern production teams, CMSI Playbook gives users a single place to access media libraries, organize content, manage workflows, and simplify tasks that traditionally require multiple systems. Rather than forcing operators to jump between applications, CMSI Playbook brings essential production tools together under a single login.
Following successful deployments during other major ESPN productions, the NBA Finals continued to demonstrate how CMSI Playbook can help simplify complex workflows while giving production teams faster access to the content they need.
Built for Championship Workflows
Today’s live productions move at an incredible pace. Content is expected to appear across broadcast, streaming, social media, and digital platforms within moments of happening on the court.
Meeting those expectations requires technology that works just as quickly as the people using it.
Creative Mobile Solutions continues to develop CMSI Playbook alongside its broader media management and workflow technologies, building tools designed around the realities of modern live production. Every event, regardless of size or scope, helps shape the platform’s future, ensuring it continues to evolve alongside the broadcasters and production teams who rely on it.
