Game On Live Studio uses Blackmagic Design to Stream Tropical 7s

Every match of world’s largest youth rugby 7s tournament streamed by GOLS uses ATEM switchers and Blackmagic Replay. 

GOLS is one of the fastest growing youth sports production companies in the United States and relies on Blackmagic Design products for all its work. Blackmagic Design announced this month that the studio used eight ATEM live production switchers and the Blackmagic Replay solution to stream every match of the 2026 Tropical 7s youth rugby tournament. Blackmagic Design products were used across four days and 15 fields to capture more than 750 matches. 

The story now shared by Blackmagic Design reveals that GOLS creates dynamic sports streams, podcasts and live broadcasts that can be accessed by any streaming service and has become the top production company for a large number of American youth sports associations and major tournaments. GOLS prides itself in streaming everything from water polo, rugby, mountain biking, triathlon and hockey, to unique sports such as artistic swimming, fencing and bass fishing. 

CEO of GOLS, Shawn Stringham explained the importance of and opportunity in live streaming youth sports: “Fans love live streams, and sports organizations, schools and facilities will be left behind if they don’t provide high quality live streams. In the past year alone, we have streamed over 100 events and thousands of individual match broadcasts, and each one is done at professional broadcast levels.” 

Whether it’s parents watching from home, college recruiters evaluating talent, or athletes reliving key moments, viewers have grown to expect streaming that looks and sounds professional. High quality video and audio create a far better experience, and Blackmagic Design products are a big part of making that happen. 

Tropical 7s, held in Tampa, FL, is the largest youth rugby sevens tournament in the Americas. This year’s tournament brought in more than 250 teams playing on 15 fields, leading to more than 750 different games and programs uploaded live. 

Rugby sevens is shot on a full sized rugby pitch with action able to take place anywhere in an 80,000 square foot area. The sevens version of the game is fast and furious and also brings in wide ranging play and typically includes dramatic open field runs as well as punishing tackles that require up close camera shots. All of which required GOLS to plan for a wide range of camera coverage and staff that could quickly react. 

For the tournament, GOLS developed a workflow that included 26 Peli cases of gear and multiple cameras on each field, with switching and streaming done in a state of the art onsite production, as well as remote network operation support. A variety of ATEM live production switcher models were used throughout the tournament, including four ATEM Mini Pro ISOs and four ATEM Mini Extreme ISOs. An ATEM Streaming Bridge converter was used to transport the ATEM switchers’ signals. The DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor system elevated the tournament to a level not seen before in amateur rugby. All of this was broadcast live to the streams, Jumbotron and simultaneous live show. 

“We used the switchers with a variety of different cameras so that each match was captured from a number of angles. The eight ATEM switchers were the heart of our workflow. Honestly, we probably would have had to use almost 20 switchers from other companies, but each ATEM is incredibly powerful,” explained Stringham. 

The GOLS team relies on Blackmagic Design products to create affordable productions that many youth sports organizations believe are not possible at their level. One of the services that GOLS provides is an on site event studio show to accompany the live streams to allow talent to highlight epic moments, break down and analyze any match as it is played, and engage athletes, coaches and sponsors with interviews and activations. Feeds coming from every match rival coverage of any linear broadcast team, as they have access to replay, graphics and up to date scores. Replay was handled in the OB studio using Blackmagic Replay. 

“Blackmagic Design products enable us to be flexible and scalable. With every event we do, delivery, training and setup are the biggest challenges. One of the things we love about Blackmagic Design products is that we can be up and running anywhere quickly and reliably. We were able to run the production from laptops and mix boards from the feeds coming in from the ATEMs, and they are easy to train on,” Stringham finished.