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

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

13/09/2025

Cox Media Group's Misti Turnbull Inducted into the NATAS Silver Circle

ATLANTA Cox Media Group has announced that the company's vice president of news, Misty Turnbull has been inducted into the National Academy of Television Ar...

13/09/2025

Shotoku Debuts Swoop Cranes for Studio Robotics at IBC2025

AMSTERDAM Shotoku Broadcast Systems, a major developer of robotic systems, has announced plans to take studio robotics to the next level at IBC2025 by debuting ...

13/09/2025

Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom...

At IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero Mini, the company's lightest and flattest wireless intercom beltpack to date. Designed to del...

13/09/2025

Shotoku Takes Studio Robotics to New Heights with IBC Deb...

Shotoku Broadcast Systems, the international developer of dependable, userfriendly robotic systems, is taking studio robotics to the next level at IBC 2025 with...

13/09/2025

The Bitmovin Video Developer Report 2025-26 Reveals Cost...

Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, today released the 9th annual Video Developer Report 2025/26, offering an in-depth look at the evolvi...

13/09/2025

Bitmovin and StreamShark Partner to Deliver High Quality...

Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with StreamShark, the trusted video platform for enterprise...

13/09/2025

Ikegami Announces VFE-P711AD 7-inch OLED Multiformat On-C...

Ikegami has chosen IBC 2025 in Amsterdam as the launch venue for a major addition to its range of viewfinders. The new VFE-P711AD is a 7-inch high resolution OL...

13/09/2025

KitBash3D and Greyscalegorilla Announce Merger

Founder-led Merger to Fast Track R&D, Asset Library Upgrades, Tools and More; No Disruption to Pricing or Support for Users Today, KitBash3D, a pioneer in 3D a...

13/09/2025

Mavis Puts Itself at the Heart of Mobile Production

With NDI certification, Atomos integration, Grass Valley collaboration, and a new Monitor app, at this year's IBC, Mavis is showcasing a series of powerful...

13/09/2025

Creamsource Expands Vortex Family with Vortex24 Soft

Creamsource, maker of artisan LED lighting for film and television, has unveiled the Vortex24 Soft (V24S), a 1950W native soft light and the largest soft source...

13/09/2025

DAZN streams 2025 FIFA Club World Cup to billions of fans...

When international sports streaming service DAZN secured the global rights to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup football tournament, it set out to deliver an unmatch...

13/09/2025

Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interface

Riedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface from Broadcast Solutions, bringing a powerful, vendor-agnostic control system to it...

13/09/2025

RTW chooses Calrec as technology partner for its AI ready...

Building on its long-term relationship with audio metering specialist RTW, Calrec has integrated the company's brand new TMxCore metering platform across it...

13/09/2025

Calrec unveils 48 fader Argo M at IBC2025 and demonstrate...

Calrec is expanding its family of future-ready self-contained Argo M control surfaces at IBC2025, with the addition of a brand new powerful 48-fader console. Co...

13/09/2025

Reaching Across the Isles: UK-LLM Brings AI to UK Languages With NVIDIA Nemotron

Celtic languages - including Cornish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh - are the U.K.'s oldest living languages. To empower their speakers, the UK-LLM sover...

13/09/2025

SKY Perfect Modernizes Playout-to-Delivery with Harmonic

Harmonic's Software-Based XOS Advanced Media Processor Provides Unparalleled Efficiency and Unlocks New Business Models SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 13, 2025 -...

13/09/2025

September 11, 2025

Researchers find brain region that fuels compulsive drinking Study by Scripps Research scientists shows how the brain learns to seek alcohol for relief, not jus...

12/09/2025

College Football Kickoff 2025: Fox Sports Ups Look as Canon, Sony Power Shallow Focus Coverage

College Football Kickoff 2025: Fox Sports Ups Look as Canon, Sony Power Shallow ...

12/09/2025

ABC/ESPN Excited For WNBA Postseason Coverage In Revamped Format

ABC/ESPN Excited For WNBA Postseason Coverage In Revamped FormatThe Finals moves to a best-of-seven series in 2025By Mark J Burns, SVG Contributor Friday, Sep...

12/09/2025

Rabbit Trap Pulsates With Folklore Dread

(L-R) Jade Croot, Rosy McEwen, and Bryn Chainey attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Rabbit Trap at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park ...

12/09/2025

Spotify's The Drop Weekly' Brings You the Week in New Releases, Straight From Our Editors

For fans, we know how important it is to stay plugged into music culture and dis...

12/09/2025

Agama and Consult Red announce RDK Accelerator integration

Link ping, Sweden and Shipley, United Kingdom, September 12, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer expe...

12/09/2025

IBC2025 Opens for Business

IBC2025 began on Sept. 12, with exhibits and conferences running through Sept. 15 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center. Explore the full TV Tech coverage of t...

12/09/2025

The Best Fictional Bands (and the Artists Who Make Them Great)

The Best Fictional Bands (and the Artists Who Make Them Great) With Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hitting theaters and songs from KPop Demon Hunters ruling...

12/09/2025

Tom Baldassare Joins Advanced Systems Group

Industry veteran Tom Baldassare has joined Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, as a Se...

12/09/2025

Maxon Unveils a Brand New Look for its Growing Family of...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, and more, today announced a...

12/09/2025

PlayBox Neo US Partners with AI-Media to Deliver Scalable...

PlayBox Neo, a leading provider of media playout solutions, has partnered with AI-Media, pioneering developers of AI-powered captioning technology, to integrate...

12/09/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

12/09/2025

Keepit and Ingram Micro launch strategic sales agreement...

New alliance strengthens the IT channel in Germany and Switzerland in protecting business-critical SaaS data. Keepit, the world s only independent, cloud-nativ...

12/09/2025

Mediaset selects Fincons Group AllRights to evolve rights...

Fincons Group, an international IT business consultancy and systems integrator company with more than 40 years of experience in the market, is proud to announce...

12/09/2025

EVS Acquires XD motion

Following its acquisition of Telemetrics, EVS continues its push into robotics with an announcement at IBC2025 that it is acquiring XD motion....

12/09/2025

Televisa Executive Joins NABA Board

TORONTO The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) has announced the appointment of Eduardo Ruiz Sanchez, deputy director, broadcast operations at Telev...

12/09/2025

Ed Miller, Former SBE President, Has Died

Ed Miller, a longtime broadcast engineer in Ohio and a former national president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, has died....

12/09/2025

IBC2025: Dynamic HDR Gains Traction

AMSTERDAM At this year's IBC2025, the Advanced HDR by Technicolor initiative will be pushing broadcasters to adopt a more dynamic, frame-by-frame conversion...

12/09/2025

Granville opens up one last time for U&GOLD in Open All Hours: Inside Out

Feature-length retrospective from Studio Crook to air in 2026 Sir David Jason returns to the nation's favourite comedy channel, U&GOLD, for Open All Hours:...

12/09/2025

Bob Geldof to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sky Arts Awards 2025

Friday 12 September 2025 The Boomtown Rats, Nyah Grace, Soweto Kinch, Royal Ballet and Madness also announced to perform at the ceremony on Tuesday Sky today ...

12/09/2025

Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom Beltpack

Wuppertal September 12, 2025 Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom BeltpackAt IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero M...

12/09/2025

Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interface

Wuppertal September 12, 2025 Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interfaceRiedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface fro...

12/09/2025

New International Crime Series Road (WT)' Explores Twisted Murders Across Borders

Back to All News New International Crime Series Road (WT)' Explores Twiste...

12/09/2025

First Look: Thai Crime Drama Everybody Loves Me When I'm Dead' Premieres October 14

Back to All News First Look: Thai Crime Drama Everybody Loves Me When I'm ...

12/09/2025

Netflix Marks 10 Years in Japan, Announces Three New Series That Will Keep You Hitting The Next Episode

Back to All News Netflix Marks 10 Years in Japan, Announces Three New Series Th...

12/09/2025

What Is CORE+ Technologyand How Does It Elevate Church Sound?

CORE+ virtually removes distortion, setting a new standard for church sound and giving worship teams the clarity and confidence they need. Read the full artic...

12/09/2025

Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Mary Robinson and Conor Murray amongst guests on Late Late Show season opener

The Late Late Show is back with a bang after the summer break, and Patrick Kielt...

12/09/2025

Another jam-packed weekend of live, free-to-air Sport across RT

The World Athletics Championships, Ireland v France in the Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final, the Irish Champions Festival, and two Sports Direct Men...

12/09/2025

Katie Hannon explores the shelves of Ireland's National Archives in new series

The Records Show starts Sunday at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player. Katie Hanno...

11/09/2025

Report: Busy Live Sports Streaming Execs Have Low-hanging Fruit' in Front of Them

Report: Busy Live Sports Streaming Execs Have Low-hanging Fruit' in Front o...

11/09/2025

Inside Game Creek Video's Big Week as Ovation, Flagship Make NFL Debuts

Inside Game Creek Video's Big Week as Ovation, Flagship Make NFL DebutsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 7:00 am Pr...