Live From Super Bowl LII: NBC Sports Embarks on Largest-Scale Live Game Production in History An army of personnel and gear are deployed in Minneapolis - and then it's off to the Olympics By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, February 2, 2018 - 1:36 pm
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Each year, the Super Bowl broadcaster looks to up the technological ante at America's highest-profile sports event. This year, to put it simply, NBC's overall presence in the Twin Cities this week is mind-blowing: 14 trucks, 250 engineers, 126 cameras, 32 EVS replay systems totaling 295 channels, 130-plus microphones. And not to be forgotten: just five days after the final whistle, the Peacock will embark on an even larger-scale production in Korea with the Opening Ceremony at the PyeongChang Olympic Games.
NBC's operations team leaders (from left): John Roche, Ken Goss, Keith Kice, and Craig Bernstein.
This has been 2 years of planning, and we have meticulously walked through every aspect technically and operationally, says Ken Goss, SVP, remote operations and production planning, NBC Sports Group. There is no better way to exhibit all that we have accomplished this year than the Super Bowl, and it is also the perfect launch pad into the Olympics for our whole team. Our team [does] it seamlessly. That's where experience of our team comes together the best.
Covering Every Angle: NBC's Largest Camera Complement Ever
In terms of the game production, camera levels are (not surprisingly) at an all-time high. The 73-camera complement (including 20 pylon cameras provided by Admiral Video) deployed on Sunday will feature a bevy of 4K and high-speed systems: four Sony HDC-4800 4K robos, three HDC-4300's in 4K mode, four HDC-4300's running at 4X slo-mo, another seven HDC-4300's running at 6X slo-mo, and two more HDC-4300's at 8X slo-mo.
NBC has deployed Sony HDC-4800 robos (provided by Fletcher) high above both endzones to capture close touchdown plays.
Outside of the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby is our biggest show, with about 55 cameras. We outrival that pretty significantly when you count our pregame and remotes here, says Tim Dekime, VP, NFL operations, NBC Sports Group. So this is easily the largest camera deployment we've ever done. And what's amazing is, [producer] Fred [Gaudelli] and [director] Drew [Esocoff] are so squared away that we were here a year and a half ago and they had pretty much all the cameras selected already.
NBC will also once again deploy two SkyCam systems - a low and a high - as it did for selected games in the second half of the season on SNF and TNF.
The camera complement also features nearly a dozen robos (provided by Fletcher), including a pair of new positions: an HDC-4800 overlooking the entirety of each end zone to capture close plays along the side or back lines. Two robos apiece are also positioned in the hallways for the Patriots' and Eagles' walkout from the locker room.
You could say that we do a Super Bowl every week with the [camera and equipment] levels we have on [TNF and SNF], but there is truly nothing like a Super Bowl, says Keith Kice, senior technical manager, NBC Sports. To go through the whole football season and have it culminate with an amazing Super Bowl production is just awesome. Our job is to bring the fan experience here at the stadium to the fan at home that doesn't have the opportunity to be here. If you can make them get chills while sitting at home, that is our goal.
On the lens front, NBC is deploying almost exclusively Canon lenses - 66 in all, including five 100x's, 20 95x's, and five 22x's - with the only exceptions being 85x Fujinon lenses on the HDC-4800's and Fuji 18x lenses on the two SkyCam systems.
Inside the NBC Compound Actually, Make That Compounds
With 14 mobile units onsite, NBC Sports was forced to expand its compound beyond the loading-dock area inside U.S. Bank Stadium. Although this is the norm at any Super Bowl, the potential subzero temperatures of a Minneapolis February made an outdoor compound unviable. As a result, NBC has erected a massive climate-controlled tent just outside the stadium to house the overflow trucks.
Inside NEP ND1's A unit, which will serve as the core of NBC's Super Bowl LII game production
We planned this knowing that there could be inclement weather and that we would have a tremendous amount of equipment that needed to be housed outdoors, says Goss. Since we have an interior upper and lower compound, that takes weather out of the equation. It's another example of our team thinking ahead and accounting for all the possible scenarios.
Inside the primary compound in the bowels of U.S. Bank Stadium, NEP's ND1 (A, B, C, and D units) is housing the primary game production, accompanied by ND4 (A and B) for tape release and additional camera/replay sources. The pregame studio show's mobile unit, ND7's A and B units, is also in the main compound.
The upper-level tented truck compound houses ND7's C and D units, NCP14 serving Telemundo's Spanish-language game production, and two Denali trucks. AVS and BSI have their mobile units on hand to manage RF needs for video and audio, respectively. Because there was no room for a full truck, for transmission and distribution management, NBC worked with NEP to build an ESU flypack, which is also located inside the tent.
Due to the extreme cold, NBC Sports has erected a massive tent outside US Bank Stadium to house its upper truck compound
I would have to say that this is the most challenging Super Bowl that I've ever been a part of, says NEP Senior Technical Manager John Roch . A huge amount of planning went into this, and we had to account for a lot of different factors. But we're definitely ready and excited for this week. We just
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Live From Super Bowl LII: NBC Sports Embarks on Largest-Scale Live Game Production in History An army of personnel and gear are deployed in Minneapolis - and then it's off to the Olympics By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
