Live From Super Bowl LVI: Van Wagner Designs Robust Hybrid Workflow for First In-Venue Show at SoFi Stadium A 10G pipeline will connect remote editors to the onsite control room By Kristian Hern ndez, Associate Editor
Friday, February 11, 2022 - 1:39 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After 54 straight years without a team playing in a home championship game, Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles will be the second consecutive season with exactly that. SoFi Stadium is the Rams' house, but, with Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment (VWSE) managing the in-person atmosphere, it will be serving Cincinnati Bengals fans as well. Displaying this particular event on SoFi's videoboard brings a unique set of challenges.
This is our Super Bowl crew's first event in this building, says Bob Becker, president, productions, VWSE Productions. We'll be rebuilding the entire show to make it our own, so fans that are used to attending games at SoFi Stadium will see a completely different videoboard show.
MORE FROM SUPER BOWL LVI:
On Eve of Big Game NBC Sports Talks Unique Efforts, Tech Advances
Telemundo Deportes Brings Latin Flavor to Its First Over-the-Air Broadcast of the Big Game
Gaudelli, Esocoff Focus on Storytelling for Their Seventh Super Bowl
A Tour of the Lakeside and Interior Studio Sets at SoFi Stadium
With 27 Trucks and More Onsite NEP Group Supports Super Coverage
No Place Like Home for NFL Media as it Tackles Super Bowl Programming, Halftime Show, NFL Honors from Home Facility
NFL Media's Dave Shaw on Hosting Studio Shows, Providing Workflows for Neighboring Super Bowl
ESPN Calls Disneyland Home for Week-Long Studio Programming
Verizon Powers 5G Multi-View for In-Venue Fans, Halftime-Show Option for At-Home Viewers
Devlin Design Group Handles Creative Direction of FanDuel Studio Set on Radio Row
Canon Broadcast Support Back in Action
Riedel Beltpacks Keep Officials, Broadcasters, and Venue Connected
ATK Audio Boosts Subwoofer Complement for Hip-Hop Halftime Show
Mixed Method: THUMBWAR Helps Build Synchronized Production Model Located inside one of the National Football League's newest stadiums, the production staff will be dealing with an unfamiliar centerhung videoboard this Sunday. Unlike any other LED display in professional or collegiate sports, the Infinity Screen by Samsung presents a challenge that is disrupting the typical workflows of VWSE's creative individuals. Because of its size, rendering any large-scale takeover graphic takes a long time: for example, completing 50 seconds of video of that magnitude takes a full 12 hours. Nearly a half day dedicated to rendering means that any mistake, big or small, is amplified - resulting in deadlines being shifted and the possibility of rehearsals being reduced.
Inside the control room at SoFi Stadium
Without a doubt, this venue has been the most challenging project we've been fortune enough to work on, says Ryan Kehn, creative director, VWSE Productions. From the dual-sided, 360-degree video screens to five levels of asymmetric ribbon boards to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, this building has stretched every bit of our creative and technical capacity. Finding ways to make the most out of this LED real estate for unique visuals without burying ourselves in render times took a lot of foresight and planning.
This turnaround time is a massive undertaking to manage, and adding to Van Wagner's plate is the fact that a handful of editors continue to work onsite. Luckily, through an ongoing working relationship with THUMBWAR, they were able to assemble an efficient hybrid model ahead of time for one of the largest crews for an in-venue show at a Super Bowl. This includes instruction of 17 designers, editors, and loggers who are critical to the show's preparation.
Because of the scale and scope of the files we're dealing with, says Kehn, we set up workstations onsite at SoFi a week earlier than usual. Our creative team remoted in advance of our travel to work off high-speed, onsite servers to collaborate more effectively and save on transfer times. We maintained a handful of remote editors throughout the onsite preproduction as well as a team of five loggers from our Studio City office that were working off of on-prem virtual machines.
The decision to keep remote editors on the West Coast and within the city limits will provide a major advantage on Sunday. Rather than having to rely on a long-haul connection for staffers tapping in from across the country, the NFL is supplying a 10G pipeline of connectivity.
VWSE's Nate McCoart (left) and Bob Becker are two of the 75-person production team.
It wasn't efficient to bounce [the files] up to the internet, put them in cloud storage, and download them back to the venue, says Nate McCoart, director, technical operations, VWSE Productions. Keeping everything on a local level, we're able to leverage faster connectivity speeds between storage and the final machine that it's playing out to.
Backed by the Best: The Nuts and Bolts of In-Venue Technology After developing this operational foundation, the onsite team will have ready access to a wealth of high-powered technology: 21 in-venue feeds, including six main cameras (high end zone, two low end zones, two in the slash position, and two RF handhelds in the lower bowl); two onfield RF Steadicams for the pregame show featuring NFL Network's Scott Hanson, New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan, and Los Angeles Chargers team reporter Hayley Elwood; and a shallow-depth-of-field camera featuring a Canon EOS C500 on a M VI rig dubbed Sexy Cam.
Inside the control room, the onsite team will rely on a technological backbone comprising Ross Video equipment and solutions. The game-day toolbox will feature two hyperconverged Ultrix Acuity prod
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Live From Super Bowl LVI: Van Wagner Designs Robust Hybrid Workflow for First In-Venue Show at SoFi Stadium A 10G pipeline will connect remote editors to the onsite control room By Kristian Hern ndez, Associate Editor 
