Live From Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports' Mike Davies on the Team Effort To Be the Steward' of Super Bowl LVII

Live From Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports' Mike Davies on the Team Effort To Be the Steward' of Super Bowl LVII From AR to 8K, 5G to HDR, Sunday's Big Game promises to have it all By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Friday, February 10, 2023 - 3:10 pm

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Mike Davies, SVP, technical and field operations, Fox Sports, and his team have been working tirelessly with numerous vendors, technology partners, the NFL, and others to ensure that Fox Sports' production of Super Bowl LVII, as well as pregame coverage, meets the needs of NFL fans across the country. Davies sat down with SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer at State Farm Stadium on the eve of the Big Game to discuss an effort that has been months in the making.

Fox Sports' Mike Davies: We try to get the business done but also do so in a way that is sustainable, fun, and relaxed as possible.

How did you and the team approach this Super Bowl in terms of production planning?

There are two parts: the game and the pregame. For the game, I don't have any reluctance in saying that we start from the last time we had the Super Bowl [in 2020 at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL]. You look at the cameras and other show elements that may not have been available last time. From there, one tries to try to figure out where the tools can be better positioned. But you don't just add tools for tools' sake.

The pregame is the part that changes every time and is a complete redo because it is dependent on where you are and what the producer wants to do. In our case, it's Bill Richards[, producer, Fox Super Bowl Sunday pregame show]. One thing about Fox is the collaboration with him and Rod Conti[, VP, studio remote operations, Fox Sports, and his] remote studio crew.

Here in Arizona, there's little in common that this pregame show has with Miami from a technical standpoint. We're doing it all quite differently, but we are still about tracing the fans' journey into the stadium. We start with the outside set and then move our show into the stadium to our inside set.

The lower compound outside State Farm Stadium

It seems like the fans who attend the game this Sunday will be able to get engaged with the Fox studio show given its location on the Great Lawn.

In Miami, we had a Fan Plaza on game day, and it was a surprise at how active it was. We may start a little slow from an in-person-audience standpoint because our coverage starts even before the gates open, but the electricity of the onsite game-day experience is the vibe that we want. The NFL has done a great job with the area they call Game Day Experience, and we're looking forward to being a big part of that.

What are some of the key highlights for you in new technologies?

When you do a Super Bowl, the broadcasting network becomes the television steward of the biggest one-day show on Earth. Global sports around the world - the World Cup, the ICC, and the Olympics - are all huge shows, but they don't happen on one day.

And that means we need to make sure that we are able to demonstrate state of the art while not incorporating gimmicky elements that could take away from the coverage. We've worked with our director Rich Russo and our producer Rich Zyontz and President, Production and Operations, Brad Zager to come up with those things that we think will be useful in the coverage.

Like Super Bowls before us, we have an extravagant number of cameras for this game - 94 at last count. I'll bet, though, at least a few of them won't get tallied at all. We have as many cameras as this so that we have coverage on any eventuality, no matter how unlikely.

Let's take the end-line pylon. That may not get a tally. but, if it does, it's going to be pretty important.

I always get asked about the bells and whistles, and the important thing in our opinion is not to add technical gimmicks as tempting as it may be. The tools we seek are the ones that elevate the resources available to production, to broadcast the game and not miss a thing. Some of the unusual items for us - things you wouldn't see on a regular game - are the 8K high-frame-rate camera on the reverse 50-yard line, all the Sony 4K cameras that we use down the lines and goal lines, the addition of literally dozens of super-motion cameras. They are there for that purpose. Certainly, they can look cool, and that's great. But, ultimately, it's to help to do two things: to cover the game and to convey its drama.

The use of 8K here has a bit of a story because, when we did this game back at Super Bowl XLII, it was an old Vision Research camera, and it got the best look of the David Tyree catch. We have an Astro 8K camera in that position to maybe catch lightning in a bottle again. And we also have all the Sony 4K cameras as well.

Game Creek Video trucks in the upper compound

I spoke with Rich Russo and Brad Zager, and each of them said that the production plan for the Super Bowl reflects experiences during the season.

I think that's right. A Super Bowl season is always a different kind of season. Moments during the regular season inform decisions for the Big Game at the end.

But, at the end of the day, the Super Bowl is an enhancement of what this production crew does during the year, both in the studio and at the game.

One of the technologies that debuted on your Super Bowl LIV production in Miami was the EVS Xtra Motion system. How will that be used this time?

It's interesting to look back at what we had in the Super Bowl Tech Tent in Miami and what is still relied on. I think Xtra Motion is one of those things. It's an on-premises solution to turn non-super-motion cameras into super-motion, and we're thinking about it for the pylons and other shots that aren't going to be super-motion. I'm also looking forwa

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/02/10/live-from-super-bowl-lvii-fox-s...
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