
Live From Super Bowl LVIII: Iconic CBS Sports Belaggio Studio Is at Center of a Busy Week Live drone is set to make Super Bowl history during NFL Today studio-show kickoff By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Sunday, February 11, 2024 - 11:26 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Bellagio Fountains on the Las Vegas Strip are the iconic center of the city, so it's no surprise that CBS Sports settled on a small strip of sidewalk (and one lane of the actual Strip) in front of them as the home of its week-long studio-show operations. Today, the operations shift into game-day mode, hosting the first 90 minutes of the NFL Today pregame show.
CBS Sports' Mike Francis at the broadcaster's Super Bowl LVIII Studio at the Belaggio
For the first 90 minutes of the pregame show, the NFL Today talent team will be located at the Bellagio. At around 12:30 p.m., they will make the relatively short trip (around 15 minutes) to Allegiant Stadium, where they will settle in at an external set and, ultimately, at an interior set in the corner of the field.
There's a transition they have to navigate to get from here to the stadium, says Mike Francis, VP, engineering and technology, CBS Sports. We're going to capture that live in some way, and that will be fun.
CBS Sports will also make history today: it will be the first Super Bowl broadcaster to provide aerial shots from within the 10-mile no-fly zone around the stadium. Capturing the shots will be a heavy-lift drone from Beverly Hills Aerials outfitted with a Sony P50 camera and an FPV drone.
Of the Bellagio site, Francis says, We certainly looked at other locations, but we quickly knew we wanted to plant our flag at the Bellagio. We feel like it's everything Vegas, and it's a great backdrop for all our productions.
The CBS Sports Super Bowl LVIII studio complex is located alongside the Las Vegas Strip.
The studio complex houses two main stages, one on either side of a demo football field. The backdrop for viewers includes the Bellagio Fountains (the CBS team has control of them in the morning hours), and, because the set is alongside Las Vegas Boulevard, anyone driving by has a chance to see CBS Sports in action, and pedestrians walking by can even take selfies at two activation areas.
The Bellagio was great at connecting us with partners that know what they're doing so we can make it all work, says Francis. We were fortunate enough to get the first lane of Las Vegas Boulevard because there's not a lot of space to pop up tents and trailers for gear.
Studio-set design was led by CBS Sports VP, Graphics and Design, JP LoMonaco; Senior Art Director Komal Bhukhanwala; and Director Bob Matina; and Jack Morton Group Senior Design Director Andre Durette. The intention was to lean into and capture the extravagant, larger-than-life aesthetic of the Las Vegas Strip and announce CBS Sports' presence in the heart of it all.
It was a great collaboration, says Francis. Our goals from a design standpoint were to be multi-use so that all the Paramount partners could be here. It was important to be able to build something that could be shared as well as having your own space where you need it. The demo field in the center has been highly utilized across all the properties.
CBS Sports Super Bowl pregame coverage will kick off at Studio 2.
The set features multiple jibs, two pedestal cameras, a RF Steadicam, and RF handhelds.
They basically have everything they could ever want, notes Francis. We have roofs over the main stages. The desert gets really cold, too, especially when we start programming super-early in the morning, so built-in floor heating comes up under the desks to keep the talent from freezing for the early stuff.
An affiliates platform, he adds, enables owned-and-operated stations to come in and set up. The platform comes complete with power and lighting; the stations have their own transmission solutions (mostly bonded cellular) to deliver live hits back home.
Heavy use by Paramount shows and CBS stations has made the Super Bowl effort feel like a family affair and, best of all, a busy one. We have constant programming out here, Francis points out. CBS Morning News is here, The Talk has come out for multiple days, and we've been doing tons of CBS Sports Network programming daily on Stage 2, which has been running from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. almost every day. And CBS Sports HQ, which has a pretty big stage here, has been going nonstop all week [and producing its shows remotely from Fort Lauderdale].
The only production and technical facilities onsite at the Bellagio are F&F GTX20 (two units), an interconnect trailer where Lumen has its base of operations overseeing the dark-fiber paths, and plenty of Aggreko power. There is also the team operating the Flycam, which has a 1,000-ft.-long run across the fountain lake, and the drone.
The Flycam is inspected during a long day running back and forth across a 1,000-ft.-long run across the Bellagio Fountains.
We also have several 1-Gbps circuits for all of our needs as well as for anyone else who is working at this site, adds Francis.
The heavy programming schedule on CBS Sports Network has kept the production team in GTX20 very busy all day. They're not only servicing the onsite productions, says Francis, but are also the interface for all the remote productions at the BMW Building in New York.
GTX20 is linked to the NEP TFC (Total Facility Control) at Allegiant Stadium, allowing any feeds to be shared. The intercoms at the stadium and the Bellagio are trunked, creating one big intercom system.
F&F GTX20 is onsite at the CBS Sports Super Bowl LVIII studio at the Belaggio.
The small footprint of the technical facilities is testament to the power of remote workflows. Without the ability for productio
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/09/2026
By Ramona Flume and Lucy Spicer
There's a particular kind of magic that hap...
07/09/2026
Two new full-range, flat-response cabinets introduced
HeadRush have recently introduced a pair of new full-range, flat-response cabinets designed for player...
07/09/2026
Answering questions about AI in game audio
GameSoundCon, the largest professional conference for video game music and sound design, have announced that they...
07/09/2026
New directional headset mic on show at IBC
Just ahead of this week's IBC show, DPA have announced the launch of a new directional headset that's bee...
07/09/2026
We are not building systems to replace human decision-making; we are building systems that execute our decisions at machine speed. The media companies that win ...
07/09/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces New Lower Price for Blackmagic PYXIS 6K and Blackmag...
07/09/2026
GB Labs to Unveil Core.ONE at IBC2026, an Intelligent Storage Platform for Media...
07/09/2026
Monday 7 September 2026
Freddie Meredith joins cast of SNL UK ahead of start of Season 2
Freddie Meredith Images
ZIP (3MB)
Saturday Night Live UK announces ...
07/09/2026
Monday 7 September 2026
Sky and NFTS team up to launch new routes into screen careers
Sky has today announced a new apprenticeship programme, with application...
07/09/2026
Monday 7 September 2026
Sky Sports announces most comprehensive NFL coverage to...
07/09/2026
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's first demonstration of Serial Audio Definition Model (S-ADM) in a cloud-based produ...
07/09/2026
dB Broadcast will showcase APIS Hive, its software platform for designing, deploying and managing modern broadcast infrastructures, at IBC 2026.
Developed from...
07/09/2026
552,000 streams on RT Player
The historic fight, which saw Katie Taylor become...
06/09/2026
Recreates Rolands TB-303 & MC-202
BS-203 MacroAcidizer is the first virtual instrument from Born Second, and it offers a recreation of two Roland classics -...
06/09/2026
London, UK September 2026 PlayBox Technology is inviting broadcasters, OTT and FAST operators, content owners and media organisations worldwide to become De...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
05/09/2026
MK2 & Bass system control app improved
HEDD Audio have just launched a new and improved version of the control software that pairs with their MK2 and Bass m...
05/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
05/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/09/2026
InSync Technology, the leading provider of premium video conversion solutions, will showcase a new generation of products at IBC 2026, designed to help broadcas...
05/09/2026
GlobalM successfully supported quattro media GmbH and World Rowing, the world governing body of the Olympic sport of Rowing, with the international distribution...
05/09/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-In recognition of his exceptional work to understand the chemistry of carbohydrates and the role they play in health and disease, Scripps Family Ch...
04/09/2026
Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional a...
04/09/2026
Eluvio will demonstrate updates to its Content Fabric platform at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.MS5, and Future Tech Zone, Hall 14, Stand 14.A58, September 11-14). C...
04/09/2026
LiveU has joined the IBC Accelerator's Smart Stories consortium, a multi-vendor initiative developing an open standard for Story Context interoperability in...
04/09/2026
Telos Alliance will demonstrate new audio observability capabilities at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D37, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), covering monitoring of audio heal...
04/09/2026
World Team Tennis (WTT) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports, the sports division of Versant. USA Sports will air all six of WTT's live mat...
04/09/2026
Gravity Media has appointed Alex Pannell as Chief Business Officer. Pannell joins from Appear, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer. He will be based in ...
04/09/2026
By Carrie Bowden
Staff Writer
Dalet has announced new agentic workflow capabilities for Dalia, its AI platform for media organizations, ahead of IBC2026. The ...
04/09/2026
L-Acoustics has achieved EN 54 certification across a portfolio of loudspeakers,...
04/09/2026
EVS and Matrox Video have announced a technology partnership integrating Matrox ...