This weekend (31 May 2026), the gold medal game of the 2026 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Ice Hockey World Championship will take place in Zurich, Switzerland, with host broadcaster Infront Productions bringing the last piece of the past two weeks of action on the ice to global screens.

The 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship has taken over two stadiums in Switzerland, at the Swiss Life Arena, Zurich and the BCF Arena, Fribourg. From 15 to 31 May, sixteen teams will have played a total of 64 games. All of that content has gone out on the world feed to a host of international broadcasters, as well as over the top to IIHF.tv, the official streaming platform of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Uzi Kakuda, head of Infront Productions at Infront Sports & Media, is overseeing the entire operation as project director. On the relationship between the federation and the host broadcaster, Kakuda says: “The IIHF has been a long-time partner of Infront – we’re talking decades – and it’s been a great partnership whereby we’ve delivered all services for them, because we have a full marketing and media rights. Infront has been responsible for the host production for pretty much the entire period, but from 2018 we’ve had a more direct role, with Infront Productions managing the host production, all operations, and everything editorially. Overall, I think we’ve evolved the production, having gone quite a long way; we’ve included a lot more peripheral stuff with content packages and other options that can be used by broadcast partners, but also for digital purposes.”

The world feed is based fully onsite with a full OB from NEP Sweden which supports Infront Productions throughout the Championship. The host broadcaster also has post-production and streaming facilities for the Championship in Milan, Italy.

Says Kakuda: “We distribute directly out of the venues both in Fribourg and Zurich, but we actually downlink and do the actual transcoding and live streaming through our MCR facilities in Milan. Over there, we also provide post production services.”

IIHF.tv – which is based on the world feed for the majority of the Championship – gets special attention, especially towards the end of the Championship when it moves to a studio-based production from the arena.

Comments Kakuda: “What goes out onto IIHF.tv is basically the world feed, but for the finals weekend, we’ll have a dedicated studio show to wrap around the programme. All those operations are managed by our colleagues in the digital department, but in terms of executing and delivering, for example, the studio aspect, that is something that the production unit provides. So we’ll have a dedicated team that goes out there just before the finals weekend and it’ll get presented as a full-on show on IIHF.tv from one of the studio areas inside the arena.”

Home turf

This Championship is on home turf for both the federation and the host broadcaster, “so this being a home event, not only for the IIHF, but also for us, I think it makes it a little bit special,” says Kakuda.

“We’re having great crowds at the arenas, and I there is definitely an aspect of us showcasing it as a home event. Having said that, taking into consideration our general heritage in dealing specifically with world feed productions as a host broadcaster, we obviously want to remain puritanical in our approach in terms of how we deliver the world feed, because it obviously needs to serve for multilateral purposes.”

However, Kakuda notes that Infront Productions has also taken into account that some world feeds that are taken by rights holders as a plug-and-play offering can be too simple.

He notes: “If a world feed is too clean, it can be maybe a bit too plain, and if you have broadcasters that don’t have enough resources to build programming around it, it can be an issue. I think it was important for us to consider the aspect of making the world feed a little bit more self-sufficient, let’s say. So as such, we have a dedicated stats producer with a separate graphics machine, ready to put in bits of statistical information, almost like trivia every now and then when it pops up in relevant situations. So that is adding more substance in terms of what you’re seeing, because you’re going to get that added bit of information.”

Home team, Switzerland, have finished as the runners up the last two editions of this Championship, “so with this being a home event, there are a lot of expectations there and we are showcasing a bit of that,” notes Kakuda. At the time of writing, Switzerland was through to the quarter finals.

Top shelf goals

Last year Infront Productions brought some new innovations to this Championship, and 2026 is a continuation of those aspects. “We have, for example, behind the goal cameras; traditionally they’re usually fixed, but we upgraded them to super slow mo and they are remotely operated. So that’s a huge plus because you can get great low angles not only on the near side, but also on the far side; you get that wide strategic shot on the opposite end, which is quite cool.

“Fan coverage is always quite important,” he continues. “Hockey does have its own particular fan culture as well, and those are things that we are integrating. Two years ago we also had a camera that sat across the fan zone, which was great because it was quite packed. I’m getting some pictures from there in real time this year, so as the goal happens, we get to cover some of the enthusiastic fans that are outside. I think ultimately has been that we want to showcase how grand the event is.”

Kakuda says an innovation from last year – dressing room pep talk soundbites – was a great success and has continued to be this year, with even more teams taking part. He explains: “We have continued with the last soundbites from inside the dressing room this year, which we were successful in getting added to the production last year. We were able to get into the dressing rooms to get the final pep talks with the coaches and their players and that was quite well received last year, so we will continue to do that.

“Most teams were okay with it last year and some were not, but it’s a thing that takes time,” he notes. “I think the moment they see how others are doing it and they feel more comfortable, it’ll get easier to get everybody to buy in.”

This year, all teams have bought into the dressing room pre-game content from the dressing room. The graphics package was also updated last season. Kakuda says the production generally refreshes the graphics package every three or four years.

He adds: “For us, when people talk about innovations, it often comes down to new types of cameras and an increase in the total number of cameras and whatnot, but you can only add so much. We also want to find new or better ways to use the specific resources that we have and gain further access to bring new perspectives to the viewers.”

Steady process

Bringing new innovations to the production always takes time as there are multiple stages that need to be bounced through, from finding the right technologies through to getting the cooperation of the teams.

Says Kakuda: “There’s always a process that we need to go through with those that run the competition from the sporting side of things. Things are doable and that’s a great thing because you can have those conversations. Sometimes they take longer to get buy-ins, but they eventually happen.

“For example, we have the ref cams that are on the helmets [of the referees]; those are actually provided by the IIHF and we’ve come to an understanding about when and when we cannot use them and the audio [live in the broadcast], because obviously there are a lot of sensitivities around that. But another example from last year was we were able to get the camera on the ice on more occasions. Before, we would have a camera operator on skates getting the team entrances onto the ice, for example, but from last year we were able to do a bit more, to be able to go on after goals or during penalty shootouts, which is great because you get a much different perspective and something that not even the in arena spectators can get,” he adds.

“Given our great relationship and our standing within this realm of host productions, we’re basically entrusted to actually come up with ideas and push for things,” Kakuda says on Infront Productions’ editorial control over the broadcast innovations. “I would say we are pretty much in the driver’s seat given the fact that we have that trust from the IIHF, and that’s actually really great. But at the same time, of course, we work together with them. We obviously need to run things by them, get permissions and they bring up ideas which are good sometimes and we incorporate them. But overall, I would say we are fully entrusted to make their sport and their event look good. and also make sure that we are distributing something of a standard that we deem to be fit for our broadcast partners.”

Planning for challenges

Both arenas being used in the Championship are quite new, built with broadcasting in mind. However, the Zurich arena includes pre-cabling which while useful in some respects, does mean the production has to adapt to what is available.

Comments Kakuda: “In terms of access points and whatnot, it’s quite simple. But at the same time, it has its own pre-cabling system whereby we are put in a position where we need to utilise that.

“It’s advantageous for certain things – not needing to cable or pull cables throughout the entire arena – but obviously when you have a third party system basically in the middle, it can get a bit tricky in terms of troubleshooting when and if needed,” Kakuda says. “But we plan [these events] at least a year and a half in advance so these things can be looked at thoroughly to make sure all the circuits match. Purely from an engineering side of things, that’s the part where I would say we need to pay a bit more attention.

“But otherwise it just about venue infrastructure. Generally speaking with the compound, we want to be as close as possible to the main camera side, but for the venue in Zurich we actually have it [the camera on] the opposite side [of the arena], but there’s less of an impact because we use the venue connectivity.”

Watch the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on IIHF.tv