Super Bowl LVI: Gaudelli, Esocoff Focus on Storytelling for Their Seventh Super Bowl A wealth of tech, including AR, and ideal weather promise a defining story to tell By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, February 10, 2022 - 10:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
When NBC Sports Sunday Night Football director Drew Esocoff and producer Fred Gaudelli settle into the front bench of NEP ND1 A unit for Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, it will mark the seventh time they have led the production of a Super Bowl. That's more than 10% of every Super Bowl ever played. Needless to say, they have good understanding of what their role is and how to get the job done.
When Drew and I do the Super Bowl, says Gaudelli, we just try to have all the angles that will provide answers to questions like, Were his feet inbounds? Was his knee down before the ball came out? [The kind of questions] that coaches need answers to to challenge or that replay needs answers to to stop the game and review.
The Super Bowl has always been the kind of production that demands more, and Gaudelli says he and Esocoff will have about 40 cameras to work with for actual game coverage. That includes two goal-line systems, two sideline systems, two over the end zone systems, and six 4K cameras for zoom extraction - all provided by Fletcher.
Obviously, all those cameras will be recorded and able to use for replay, he says. We'll also be debuting a brand-new graphic look, a new scorebug, a lot of virtual reality and augmented reality.
Sunday Night Football producer Fred Gaudelli says Super Bowl LVI coverage will feature 40 cameras, new graphics, and a lot of virtual reality and augmented reality. (Photo: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
Gaudelli notes that this is the fifth Super Bowl for NBC since the Sunday Night Football package was acquired. It also marks the 20th for NBC Sports.
We've had four beauties leading into this, and we're hoping Sunday will make it a fifth, he says. Either [our play-by-play broadcaster] Al Michaels or the L.A. Chamber of Commerce dialed up a week of weather that is going to be unbelievable out here. It will be ideal playing conditions on Sunday, so we're just excited for a great game.
Adds Esocoff, I'm just happy to be here for our seventh Super Bowl that Freddie and I are doing together. It's a great honor. I think we have a great plan. It's a great venue. It's an event with tremendous scope and great athleticism. We hope to cover both.
Esocoff, Gaudelli, and the NBC Sports production team will do some testing of a Steadicam rig outfitted with AR capabilities.
We have a virtual configuration on several other cameras throughout the course of the year, says Esocoff. We have a very experienced Steadicam operator doing these kinds of things, and it's going to be something that we'll play with during the course of the week. If it makes things better, we'll use it. If things are better the way we've been doing it, we'll stick with that. These things are enhancements to the show. We're not going to let it drive the broadcast.
Sunday Night Football director Drew Esocoff hopes to use a Steadicam with AR for NBC Sports' coverage of Super Bowl LVI.
The biggest trick Esocoff has found doing Super Bowls or any event of that magnitude is, the more you can stick with what got you where you are, the better off you are.
It's cool to have all these new gadgets, he says, and we'll work them in when applicable and if it makes things better. In the case of virtual graphics off the Steadicam, I think it will make certain things better, and I hope to be able to work that into the telecast.
He echoes Gaudelli's thoughts on the real goal of all the cameras: Most of those cameras are there to get better looks or more-intimate looks than some traditional angles and, like Fred said, to make sure we have defining looks of critical plays throughout the game.
In a year when the NFL saw ratings gains overall and had arguably the best couple of weeks of playoff football leading up to the big game, Michaels, calling his 11th, says he is amazed sitting there and watching how beautiful the game looks, how fantastically well it's televised.
Drew Esocoff doesn't do take 20; you get one take, he says. We all live in this adrenaline world, where you want to be perfect, and we're always trying to pitch the perfect game, but the pictures are just so beautiful, and the drama [With] what we've seen over the past six playoff games, you want to do a movie. You can't write movies like that, and people know that. They're watching it live, and it's breathtaking in a way.
I think a lot of factors go into it, Michaels continues. I think you go back to the fact that football is the perfect television sport. Four or five seconds of action or less, and then maybe 30 seconds of perhaps inaction unless a team is playing hurry-up, and then replays, and every angle you possibly want. The way football is televised these days, after all these years, I'm still amazed.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Super Bowl LVI: Gaudelli, Esocoff Focus on Storytelling for Their Seventh Super Bowl A wealth of tech, including AR, and ideal weather promise a defining story to tell By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
