Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From Super Bowl LVIII: Iconic CBS Sports Belaggio Studio Is at Center of a Busy Week

11/02/2024

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
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/02/11/super-bowl-lviii-cbs-sports-bel...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

10/06/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Team Whistle's Joe Caporoso on Building World Cup Content Around Fans, Culture, IRL Experiences

DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...

10/06/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager

Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...

10/06/2026

Caretta Research: 2026 World Cup Revenue Growth Due to More Matches; Rights Revenue Up 32%

An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...

10/06/2026

Women Without Boundaries Awards Are Back!

The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...

10/06/2026

On Eve of World Cup Kickoff, FIFA and HBS Offer Deep Dive into IBC Operations, Commentary, and Ref Cam

Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...

10/06/2026

SES Supporting World's Biggest Soccer Tournament Broadcast Distribution Worldwide

SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...

10/06/2026

BirdDog Achieves Full NDI 6.3 Compatibility Across Entire Product Line

NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...

10/06/2026

Emmy Award-Winning Audio Team To Present at SVG Audio Symposium

Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...

10/06/2026

FOX One Set to Deliver World Cup in 4K; Personalization via AI Drives Experience

FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...

10/06/2026

PWHL Scales Broadcast Operation in Season 3, Relying on World-Feed Model and Key Vendors

Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...

10/06/2026

NFL Films Application Deadline for Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship, Augusts 26-29 in Mount Laurel, Closes June 18

The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...

10/06/2026

NBAs In-House Broadcast Ops & Engineering Teams Power Global Finals Coverage From NYC, San Antonio

The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...

10/06/2026

MoonPay X Games League Winter Draft Set for September 16 at Cosm Los Angeles

The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...

10/06/2026

University of Oklahoma and Learfield Extend 30-Year Partnership, Announce Sooner Evolution Center

The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...

10/06/2026

VSF Releases RIST Satellite-Hybrid Out-of-Band Specification

The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...

10/06/2026

Riedel Artist Intercom Powers Live Neurovascular Conference in Lisbon

Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...

10/06/2026

Sundance Film Festival 101: Films by LGBTQ+ Directors

A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute) By Lucy Spicer Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...

10/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Interfaces & Mic Preamp Update

Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...

10/06/2026

MONO Music Conference 2026

November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...

10/06/2026

ebbandflow launch with deFORM

Debut instrument free for limited time deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...

10/06/2026

Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast

Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast 10 June, 2026 Media releases WATCH THE TRAILER Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...

10/06/2026

DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH 50 YEARS OF DEADLY

DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...

10/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS

Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...

10/06/2026

MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern driver assistance systems

MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...

10/06/2026

NFVF CALL FOR FUNDING APPLICATIONS: PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT 2026/27

Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...

10/06/2026

Nielsen launches Four-Screen Ad Deduplication measurement on YouTube campaigns in Japan

Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...

10/06/2026

Ecoflow X Launches as Experimentation Arm for Sustainabil...

Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...

10/06/2026

Frequency Appoints James Smith as General Manager - Monet...

Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...

10/06/2026

Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurova...

At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...

10/06/2026

Globecast Unveils Content Exchange Platform Powered by Or...

Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...

10/06/2026

Venues and integrators shift toward professional recharge...

Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...

10/06/2026

VSF Releases Specification for RIST Satellite Hybrid Out-...

The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...

10/06/2026

Microphone Maker Audix Adds Eric Reese as VP

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/06/2026

VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football Fans in Bangladesh on Toffee

10 Jun 2026 VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...

10/06/2026

How to watch every ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports

Wednesday 10 June 2026 How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...

10/06/2026

PRLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care TV campaign to screens nationwide with Sky

Wednesday 10 June 2026 P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...

10/06/2026

Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upcoming crime drama Fightland

Wednesday 10 June 2026 Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...

10/06/2026

Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference

Wuppertal June 10, 2026 Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...

10/06/2026

Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC

Back to All News Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC Product 10 June 2026 GlobalSouth KoreaJapan Link copied to c...

10/06/2026

Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions

Back to All News Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions Business 10 June 2026 Global Link copied to clipboard Download all assets N...

10/06/2026

June 10, 2026

Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...

09/06/2026

Kiswe Expands Partnership With ONE Championship To LaunchGlobal Subscription Platform

Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...

09/06/2026

SiriusXM to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches via FOX Sports Commentary

SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...

09/06/2026

EVS Broadcast Equipment Rebrands as EVS

EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...

09/06/2026

FOX and NFL Announce Multi-Year Agreement for NFL Coverage in Mexico Starting in 2026

Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...