Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From Super Bowl LIX: Fox Sports' Rod Conti on How Fox Sports Will Turn Bourbon Street into a Super Bowl Pre-Game Studio

07/02/2025

Live From Super Bowl LIX: Fox Sports' Rod Conti on How Fox Sports Will Turn Bourbon Street into a Super Bowl Pre-Game Studio By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Friday, February 7, 2025 - 6:39 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Over the years Rod Conti, Fox Sports, VP of Remote Studio Operations, and Fox Sports have tackled some pretty challenging locations in an attempt to find the perfect studio location for big events like a World Cup or a Super Bowl. Each required some out-of-the-box thinking but nothing has compared to what Conti and the team have pulled off for Super Bowl LIX: getting a studio show on Bourbon Street. Not only is it only 21-feet wide but Fox had to ensure that the sidewalks would be clear and things like deliveries and street cleaning could proceed as normal.

Rod Conti at one end of Fox Sports' Super Bowl Boulevard on Bourbon Street.

We knew those complications between street cleaning and all the dynamics and deliveries that happen in this small quarter that make this near impossible, he says. And when we found out this hasn't been done before the team got excited and we put our challenge hat on and said, let's figure this out.'

Yes, as crazy as it sounds there has never been a pre-game show done on Bourbon Street. As iconic as it is, it poses a number of challenges that have made it impossible, until now. First, the narrow streets prevent parking a 53-foot production truck for a number of days. And Bourbon Street is, after all, a street that has to be open to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic so shutting it down for a week or two to build a set is a non-starter.

The desk was the easy part as the challenge is Bourbon Street is a moving ecosystem and one needs to be sensitive to pedestrian flow and vehicle traffic has to have a way to deliver to the bars and restaurants, says Conti. There's this ebb and flow and if you cut off one artery here, it affects the whole quarter.

Being on Bourbon Street means that the effort has to be almost stealth in nature, with minimal rehearsal and set-up time. So, for the Fox Sports team that means one day of rehearsal and a super-quick set up in the wee hours of the morning.

Having a Super Bowl show with one day of rehearsals is hard and nerve wracking, says Conti. Our guys really won't see this a 100% built until Sunday morning. So, we really have one day to set that up; to bring the float and carpet in, build the scenics and build the lighting.

What is in store for Super Bowl viewers this Sunday when they tune in for the pre-game show beginning at 12 pm local time? A studio show that will take place on top of a float built by Kern, the legendary float maker for Mardi Gras parades. The float will be home to the studio desk and will be located in the intersection of Bourbon and St. Peter Streets and nestled between two bars that are serving as production and technical support spaces (the show's production control room will be in Game Creek Video Prime One which is parked at the Superdome compound).

Getting to that point begins the day before with a rehearsal on Saturday. Then at 4 am on Sunday morning the float rolls into place, a massive purple carpet will be unrolled down Bourbon Street from Toulouse Street to Orleans Street, a demo field will be installed on Bourbon Street, the FlyCam which runs from Toulouse to Orleans will be ready to go. All video and audio signals will be managed upstairs in the Krazy Korner bar before being sent to a production truck at the Fox compound at the Superdome. Also, no cameras will be located on the float. Instead, all cameras will be located in the intersection of Bourbon and St. Peter with additional coverage coming from the 40-foot Scorpion crane, the FlyCam, a robotic mounted on the second floor of a building on Mason Street. Drones from Beverly Hills Aerial will complete the coverage.

Greg Pfeifer, Fox Sports, director, remote studio engineering (left) and Rob Mikulicka, Fox Sports, director of operations, remote studio, on the balcony of Krazy Korner on Bourbon Street.

When the Pre-Game show starts at 12 pm local time it promises to capture the true unique heart of a city that has been through so much recently and in times past but always knows how to celebrate even in the darkest of times.

While the plans and tone of coverage from Bourbon Street has changed in the wake of the terrorist attack on New Year's Day, Conti says the original goal, to make it very clear to viewers at home that the show was in the middle of Bourbon Street, remained. Symbolizing New Orleans resiliency.

Conti says everyone expects big crowds on Sunday and with Fox having access to not only the street but the balconies it promises to be an exciting production. And, ultimately, a tribute to all of those working on the show but also to the 14 people who lost their lives, and the 57 others injured during the terrorist attack on the early morning of New Year's Day.

After that happened people from the city came to us and said we're going to help you pull this off, says Conti. This is a resilient city and this city bounces back. And this is also a city of hospitality and a city of known for good cheer and celebration. More than ever, it needs to be reminded that terror is not going to erupt the heartbeat of this city and we've all been empowered to bring this to this city and have a celebration right in the heart blocks away from where the tragic event happened. And we're proud to be the lucky steward to do that.

A Week-long Presence

Historically Super Bowl Sunday sets have been in use for most of the week prior to the big game. And while this set will only be active on Super Bowl Sunday that hasn't stopped the Fox Sports family of networks and content creators from producing shows on Bourbon Street.

In order
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/02/07/live-from-super-bowl-lix-fox-sp...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

14/04/2026

Sinclair's WTOV Taps Brightline for Lighting Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

Grass Valley Showcases Alliance Ecosystem at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

FCC Selects New Lead Administrator for U.S. Cyber Trust Mark Program

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

Gray Media Names Jim Hays GM of WTHI

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

NAB Blasts CTA in FCC Sports Probe Comments

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

Wowza to Showcase AI-Powered Video Workflows and Emerging...

Wowza will return to NAB Show 2026 with a set of live demonstrations focused on how video infrastructure is evolving for a new generation of AI-powered and oper...

14/04/2026

Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackle Piracy in Live Sports Streaming

Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackle Piracy in Live Sports...

14/04/2026

Living in Boston: A Guide for Incoming Boston Conservatory Students

Living in Boston: A Guide for Incoming Boston Conservatory Students From navigating the T to balancing school with professional gigs, a current student shar...

14/04/2026

Just What Is Genre These Days, Anyway?

Just What Is Genre These Days, Anyway? Understanding the business and art of genre-bending in 2026. April 10, 2026 By Bryan Parys Illustration by Jack Fla...

14/04/2026

Lenora Helm Hammonds Is Turning Passion Into Plan A

Lenora Helm Hammonds Is Turning Passion Into Plan A The dean of the Professional Education Division has seen the industry from all sides. Now shes bringing it...

14/04/2026

How Michelle Zalabak Found Her Dream Career in Music and Finance

How Michelle Zalabak Found Her Dream Career in Music and Finance The Warner Music Group deal analysis manager helps determine what artist catalogs are worth a...

13/04/2026

Jnger Audio Joins EBU ADM Implementers Group as Founding Member

Telos Alliance has announced that J nger Audio has joined the EBU ADM Implementers Group (ADM-IG) as a founding member. The group is focused on advancing ADM an...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Grass Valley to Showcase Alliance Partner Ecosystem

Grass Valley will demonstrate its Alliance Partner ecosystem at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C2408, Central Hall, April 19-22), showing AMPP integrations across live pr...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Media Links to Demonstrate IP Transport Solutions

Media Links will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), demonstrating IP transport solutions for live production including hitless protection technology, Xscen...

13/04/2026

NBC Sports Partners with Overtime for OT7 Football League and Navy All-American Bowl

NBC Sports has announced a programming, distribution, and sales partnership with...

13/04/2026

FloSports Promotes Jayar Donlan from COO to President

FloSports has promoted Chief Operating Officer Jayar Donlan to President, effective immediately. In his new role, Donlan will lead the company's commercial,...

13/04/2026

MASV Case Study: PanCam Pictures Uses MASV for Remote Post-Production at Senior Bowl 2026

PanCam Pictures, the documentary production company founded by Paul Camarata, us...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Mimir to Showcase Cloud Production Platform

Mimir will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (North Hall, Booth N2850), demonstrating its cloud-native media production platform with new capabilities including Mimir Cu...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: BBright Adds RIST Protocol Support to IP Gateway

BBright has announced that its IP Gateway now supports the Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) protocol. The addition will be introduced at NAB Show 2026 ...

13/04/2026

Net Insight Awarded ESA NAVISP Development Project for PNT Technology

Net Insight has been awarded a development project through the European Space Agency's Navigation Innovation and Support Program (NAVISP), with co-funding f...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: intoPIX to Showcase JPEG XS, IPMX, and SMPTE 2110 Solutions

intoPIX will exhibit at NAB Show 2026, marking the company's 20th anniversary. The company will demonstrate its JPEG XS compression portfolio and IPMX-appro...

13/04/2026

Inside the Launch of BravesVision: How Braves, Raycom Sports Pulled Off One of the Most Ambitious Efforts in Regional-Sports-Media History

Starting from scratch, the team built an in-house content platform comprising ga...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: AI Will Make Its Presence Felt in Audio Offerings, Presentations

Here's a look at some of the new products and updates, along with audio-centric conferences, that attendees will find next week at the show When the 2026 N...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Avid to Demonstrate Integrated Newsroom Capabilities

Avid will launch new integrated newsroom capabilities for Avid for News at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2226, April 18-22), demonstrating how Avid Content Core connect...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Synamedia Launches Cloud-Controlled Edge Playout Version of Quortex PowerVu

Synamedia has announced a new version of Quortex PowerVu, an IP-native, software...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Mediaproxy Adds AI Brand and Advertisement Tracking to LogServer

Mediaproxy has developed a suite of AI-powered tools for brand and advertisement tracking, integrated into its LogServer compliance logging and analysis platfor...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Disguise to Demonstrate Media Server and Software Integrations

Disguise will demonstrate its media servers and software at NAB Show 2026, appearing across five partner booths in Central Hall: MRMC, B&H, Planar, CarbonBlack,...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: OpenDrives Introduces Edge Hybrid Cloud-Edge Performance Accelerator

OpenDrives is introducing OpenDrives Edge at NAB Show 2026, a hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator for distributed video and rich media workflows. The prod...

13/04/2026

ESPN Returns to The Shed for 2026 WNBA Draft, Expanding Camera Arsenal and Deepening Fan Coverage

The show will deploy 18 cameras across two sets and the draft floor, including a...

13/04/2026

When Missiles Move at 5X the Speed of Sound, Timing Is Everything

L3Harris is accelerating the development of infrared payloads for Space Development Agency's Tranche 2 Tracking Layer, to help meet urgent national defense ...

13/04/2026

US Army Selects L3Harris for Next-Generation Night-Vision System

By leveraging cutting-edge unfilmed Gen III image intensifier technology, NOVA delivers unmatched clarity, range, and reliability in low-light environments - en...

13/04/2026

Harvey Arnold Represents the Best of Broadcast Engineering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/04/2026

Ross Video and HighField AI to Deliver AI-Assisted Graphics Creation

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/04/2026

Disguise to Showcase Cutting-Edge Experience Tech for Bro...

Explore new Disguise plugins, including Sony's VP integration; Listen to panels across partner booths at Sony and B&H Disguise, the company powering everyt...

13/04/2026

TAG Video Systems Joins MXL Interoperability Initiative t...

TAG Video Systems, the leading IP-native Realtime Media Platform, has announced its participation in the Media Exchange Layer (MXL) interop initiative. TAG has ...

13/04/2026

Chaos Launches Free V-Ray for Blender Community Edition a...

Today, Chaos launched V-Ray for Blender Community Edition at BCON Austin 2026, making its production-proven 3D renderer free for all Blender users. The same Aca...

13/04/2026

LTN Appoints Mark Romano as Vice President Multichannel P...

Additions strengthen LTN's leadership as broadcasters scale satellite-to-IP transition LTN today announced the appointments of Mark Romano as Vice Presiden...

13/04/2026

NUGEN Audio Updates Halo Vision With New Precision Analys...

LEEDS, UK, APRIL 13, 2026 NUGEN Audio releases Halo Vision v1.2, a significant update to its real time, customizable audio analysis suite for 3D, surround and...

13/04/2026

Atomos to Acquire Flanders Scientific

Atomos today announced the acquisition of Flanders Scientific (FSI), one of the most respected names in professional reference monitoring. This strategic move r...

13/04/2026

How Mei Semones Built Her Sound from J-Pop, Jazz, and Bilingual Songwriting

How Mei Semones Built Her Sound from J-Pop, Jazz, and Bilingual Songwriting The indie-pop artist combines agile guitar lines, rhythmic shifts, and lyrics that...

13/04/2026

Cue the Change: Jonathon Heyward Is Making Classical Music More Relatable

Cue the Change: Jonathon Heyward Is Making Classical Music More Relatable Nicknamed the Converse Conductor, the Boston Conservatory alum holds top conductin...

13/04/2026

Heat Wave: Inside Miamis Sizzling, Boundary-Blurring Latin Music Scene

Heat Wave: Inside Miamis Sizzling, Boundary-Blurring Latin Music Scene In a city shaped by migration and exchange, Berklee alumni are helping drive a Latin mu...

13/04/2026

TikToK, Major Ad Groups Back Influencer Certification Program

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/04/2026

DHD Marks 30th Anniversary with Brand Relaunch

DHD audio, developer and manufacturer of digital audio systems for professional broadcast, has launched a comprehensive brand update to mark its 30th anniversar...

13/04/2026

Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackl...

Stegawave, an Irish technology company specialising in forensic watermarking for video content, today announced the launch of its anti-piracy platform for live ...

13/04/2026

Synamedia PowerVu cuts broadcast distribution costs by up...

New version of Quortex PowerVu delivers a standards-based approach to satellite-to-IP transitions, eliminating the need for baseband workflows and complex infra...

13/04/2026

Studio Berlin Invests in Cinematic Live Production with G...

Grass Valley LDX camera systems enable leading German production company to support broadcast and cinematic live production within a single environment. Grass ...

13/04/2026

Techex and MediaKind partner to bring resilient IP transp...

London, UK, 13 April 2026 Techex and MediaKind today announced a partnership to integrate Techexs IP transport and orchestration technology, tx edge, directly...

13/04/2026

Transforming modern education environments with Lightware...

In today's hybrid education environments, there is no one-size-fits-all' AV solution. Lightware's extensive AV portfolio addresses this challenge, ...

13/04/2026

Mediaproxy adds AI toolset to LogServer for brand and adv...

Mediaproxy, the global standard for software-based IP compliance monitoring and multiviewing solutions, has developed a new suite of AI-powered tools designed t...