CBS Sports' Super Bowl LV Plans Have All the Angles Covered With 120 Cameras, Specialty Rigs An almost 3D look, augmented reality, new graphics will enhance America's most-watched event By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, January 28, 2021 - 5:29 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
CBS Sports is pulling out all the stops for Super Bowl LV. When the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs kicks off Feb. 7 at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, the production will include 120 cameras, never-before-seen camera angles, and a Trolley Cam flying alongside the field from 10 rows up.
This is the biggest event in America each year, notes CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus, and we couldn't have asked for a better matchup, with arguably the greatest player of all time and the most exciting player in the NFL.
Producing football in a pandemic has been different, he says, adding that the same strict procedures and protocols that have been in place all season to keep staff safe will be part of the plan. We will have testing and screening and wearing of PPE, and we also have extra mobile units for social distancing.
McManus lauds the job Coordinating Producer Jim Rickhoff and Lead Director Mike Arnold have done in maintaining the quality of the production each and every week. He notes that Arnold will be directing his sixth Super Bowl (and working on his 13th since his first in 1982).
We'll also have all the bells and whistles, cameras with unique views, McManus adds. It will be an incredible technical showcase.
Noting the numerous challenges getting to this point, Harold Bryant, executive producer/EVP, production, CBS Sports, says, We've embraced those challenges, and the quality and innovation are better than ever going into this Super Bowl. It allows us to bring viewers closer to the game, and that is our goal.
The Trolley Cam will fly parallel to the field at speeds up to 65 mph.
The arsenal CBS will rely on totals 120 cameras, including 32 in the eight end-zone pylons, two wireless pylon cameras that will move along the sidelines with the down markers, 18 robotic cameras, four flying cabled cameras, 25 super-slo-mo cameras, 10 4K cameras, two 8K cameras, and a camera on a MovieBird crane. Those cameras will be part of more than 350 channels of replay recording/playback, with Rickhoff and Arnold calling the shots from NEP Supershooter CBS.
Topping the list is Trolley Cam, one of four flying camera systems that will be in use. The Trolley Cam will speed from one end of the stadium to the other, zipping along a wire and positioned to provide the viewing angle of a fan in the eighth row of the stands. The rig can travel up to 65 mph and will provide a look at the players from a vantage point not used in the history of the Super Bowl.
Rickhoff says the Trolley Cam, which was tested last week at the AFC Championship Game, is an example of a new look that is possible only because of the absence of fans in the stands. It goes across the field and runs parallel and will give a look you might not have seen.
The Sony Venice camera offers a cinematic look, thanks to its shallow depth of field.
Adds Bryant, It's almost a perfect view.
In recent weeks, one of the most buzzed-about technical additions to NFL broadcasts has been the Sony Venice camera, which CBS has used to capture images following a scoring play, during warm-ups, or on the sidelines. Offering a completely fresh look with a shallow depth of field. Offering a completely fresh look (some liken it to a 3D videogame), two Sony Venice cameras, provided by Inertia Unlimited, will be used for the first time ever live at a Super Bowl: one will be operated on a traditional Steadicam rig; the other will be on a M VI rig.
[The Venice camera] almost has a 3D look, Bryant points out, adding, It will be moving and walking onto the field with players during timeouts.
Crane shots will also, literally, get a big improvement with the use of a 53-ft. MovieBird crane, traditionally reserved for major motion pictures and television productions. It will be located on the upper concourse to give dramatic sweeping shots of the Super Bowl Today pregame set and game action, as well as serving as one of the many augmented-reality-encoded cameras strategically placed throughout the stadium.
A look at the Sony Venice Steadicam rig
It will give us a very cinematic look, says Bryant, noting, It's the first time we're using it.
To provide new angles of coverage during the game, 10 4K cameras and two 8K cameras will be scattered throughout the stadium, allowing the production team to extract close-up shots in key moments. The 4K cameras will be controlled robotically from high up in the stadium concourse levels, and the two Sony 8K cameras will be fixed on robotic gimbals slung to the stadium in a way that provides an angle from near field level for a unique view of the action.
On replays, Bryant explains, we will be able to zoom in tight when we need a clear shot of something, like a foot on the line.
America's most-watched event, the Super Bowl is a great time to bring out unique graphics looks. CBS will use four augmented-reality cameras to provide the Super Bowl LV motif of sea and sand. Animations, in-game graphics, and augmented reality will be deployed to enhance the viewer experience. Powered by Unreal Engine, embers and particles will light up the Tampa night with detail never before seen on sports television.
AR will be weaved in throughout the game to help tell the story, says Bryant.
CBS Sports has developed a new graphics look for Super Bowl LV.
All year long, CBS Sports has decentralized its NFL coverage, and that will continue for the Super Bowl. Remote replay operators working from home will provide instantaneous footage playba
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
CBS Sports' Super Bowl LV Plans Have All the Angles Covered With 120 Cameras, Specialty Rigs An almost 3D look, augmented reality, new graphics will enhance America's most-watched event By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
