FOX NFL SUNDAY Heads to Naval Base San Diego; Helmetcam, Drone Set to Cover Gronk Taking a Leap into Pacific By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, November 8, 2024 - 5:07 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Fox Sports always goes out of its way to shine a spotlight on the U.S. military on the NFL Sunday ahead of Veterans Day and this year is no exception as FOX NFL SUNDAY is calling the Naval Base San Diego home beginning at 11 am EST. And after a week of preparation a team of 125 production professionals are set to do some fun and unique programming that has never been seen before.
This is my favorite show to work on and I always try to make it everyone else's favorite show as well, says Greg Pfeifer, Fox Sports, director, remote engineering. This year we have a couple of cool things like dropping Gronk [Rob Gronkowski] out of an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter and into the water about a half mile from the pier where our set is located. He'll be doing a simulation of how they disable a mine with a small charge.
The Fox NFL pregame show will broadcast live from Naval Base San Diego on Sunday morning beginning at 11 am EST.
Capturing that requires several cameras (including a hard camera with a 122x lens shooting from the pier). Other means of capturing his jump include a heavy-lift drone from Beverly Hills Aerials, a fixed wing plane flying at a higher altitude, and a helmetcam worn by Gronk.
We will also have two boats and one of the boats has a handheld camera operator and then the other boat has a frogman who will have an underwater camera, says Pfeifer. And then we have an ENG camera in the helicopter with Gronk and a helmetcam on Gronk, so we basically have six cameras for that shoot.
Beverly Hills Aerials provided a drone with a 42-pound payload for this weekend's Fox Sports Veterans Day tribute.
As for audio, military helicopters aren't known for their quiet ride so the production team has placed plenty of microphones in the chopper to capture Gronk getting ready and for his jump.
And AVS, who has been a great partner on this, came up with a waterproof system so he can wear the helmet camera, a microphone, and an IFB that will all be able to keep working after he jumps in the water, adds Pfeifer.
Other production highlights include a 75-foot Techno crane as well wireless cameras and hard cameras on the stage.
We also will have some cool POV cameras to show Gronk climbing up the side of the pier and those should be pretty awesome, adds Pfeifer.
Piers can sometimes be tricky to work on given that they can often have limited space and power. But the pier Sunday is a maintenance pier with plenty of power so Fox will rely on a mix of shore power that will feed a UPS. There are also two backup generators that can run the whole production, including the Game Creek Video Yogi truck which is at the center of the production.
Yogi came here straight from the World Series, says Pfeifer. We dropped steel on Sunday for the set and then the trucks were parked Monday morning. We were off and running from there.
Military facilities always have their own challenges to deal with as security is always an issue and this year the challenge was making sure the drone was cleared for use.
It took quite a bit of time to get that approved and there are a lot of anti-aircraft and ant-drone systems, he adds.
Currently in its 31st season, the show's cast features Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, Jay Glazer and Gronk.
This is the time of year our entire network collectively looks forward to honoring and saluting our troops here at home and stationed across the world, says Eric Shanks, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer, FOX Sports. We can't wait to spotlight Naval Base San Diego as FOX NFL SUNDAY prepares to pay tribute to all those men and women who bravely sacrifice and defend the core values of our country.
Other programming highlights will include a visit to the world-Famous I-Bar, the Navy's iconic and exclusive bar, which was featured in the movie Top Gun: Maverick. The entire cast will train with Navy SEALs as part of their experience at the Naval Base
Today, we celebrate our nation's veterans for their service and stewardship of the next generation of warfighters, says Vice Admiral Brendan McLane, commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. We honor our heroes and their families during the FOX Sports Veterans Day Show at Naval Base San Diego with a long, proud tradition as home to the U.S. Navy.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
At just 20 years old, Sean Melia from Summerhill Co. Meath has been revealed as the winner of Super Garden 2026. Sean is the youngest ever contestant and winner...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
28/05/2026
Thomsons Climate Crisis Toolkit is already being put to work, helping journalist...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
FOX NFL SUNDAY Heads to Naval Base San Diego; Helmetcam, Drone Set to Cover Gronk Taking a Leap into Pacific By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
