San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser Spectacular Stunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium tech By Dan Daley, Audio Editor Monday, December 29, 2025 - 11:33 am
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Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, is going to be a very busy place in 2026: two of sport's biggest spectacles, Super Bowl LX and the FIFA Men's World Cup, are headed to the venue. But, even before the ball drops on the new year, its resident San Francisco 49ers have given the old one quite a send-off: the NFL Week 17 game with the Chicago Bears (Dec. 28, NBC) took halftime extravaganzas to a new level, this time with lasers.
An approximately eight-minute-long laser light show visually electrified the gridiron, painting it in ways that could make digital scrimmage overlays look steam-powered. The production - designed and executed by Image Engineering, which also designed the tunnel experience for a more dramatic players' field entrance and other fan-engagement efforts - is the centerpiece of a year-long $200 million renovation of the venue's technology infrastructure that enhanced the stadium's LED videoboards, lighting, and audio systems.
As we were looking at what we were going to put together from an entertainment standpoint, explains Laura Johnson, senior director, game presentation and live events, San Francisco 49ers, we wanted to make sure that our entertainment slate for that night would showcase the technology that we have been able to put in at Levi's Stadium as we continue to prepare for Super Bowl LX and FIFA on the horizon.
The laser concept - prosaically titled Bay Area Rock & Roll Laser Halftime Show - was enabled largely by the venue's shift to all-LED illumination, installed by Musco Sports Lighting as part of the renovation. Because all the stadium's lights can be switched on and off immediately, without the lengthy warmup and restrike needed for the metal-halide lighting typically used in stadiums, transitions from game to show and back to game are nearly instantaneous, allowing shows like this to use more of the mandated 13-minute NFL halftime break.
And then there's the area's musical legacy, reflected in the program's score as well as its title. But Jefferson Airplane wasn't part of it: according to Johnson, market surveys suggest more affinity for 1980s rock, like Journey and Huey Lewis & The News. The score was pumped through a newly installed Clair Global sound system featuring an additional pod of subwoofers and Powersoft amplifiers.
San Francisco 49ers 2025 Season: Chicago Bears vs San Francisco 49ers Sunday, December 28, 2025 in Santa Clara (49ers Photo)
The laser concept aligns with the Bay Area's high-tech Silicon Valley identity as well, she notes. That was part of the team's motivation to become one of the handful of NFL teams that have made the leap to next-generation videoboards. The venue's two new 4K- and HDR-capable videoboards from ANC, the NFL's largest of their kind, are managed by a new ST 2110-based control room, whose infrastructure backbone is an IP-based Nexus router supplied by Cisco, also an event partner for the halftime show.
Ultimately, everything comes down to fan engagement, says Johnson. For us, it's not only showcasing what we're capable of from a technology standpoint; it's also about the fan experience and elevating the fan experience. That has been one of our driving components for this year: we look at everything we're doing for game presentation and for marketing [as how it elevates] the fan experience.
Ahead of the event, Johnson declined to answer questions about the show's content beyond the laser show itself, in part because surprise is an element of that content. I have two philosophies when it comes to this: suspense and surprise, she said. You always want to build suspense in the beginning, right? We're going to build suspense in the beginning, and then we're going to have a surprise element at the end. For me, it has always been about suspense and surprise when you're creating a really high-level engaging fan experience.
More Than Just an Exciting Show Johnson considers the laser show the right blend of tech and NFL-level pomp for the 49ers, but it also has a practical aspect: field preservation.
One of the great pieces about this, she explains, is that it doesn't require anyone to be on the field, which can damage the turf. And eliminating the time-consuming task of moving scenic elements around brings a very Silicon Valley kind of efficiency to the halftime process. You can really extend how much entertainment programming is going on.
Although viewers were given only a taste of the halftime show, the 49ers worked closely with the broadcaster, coordinating with Rob Hyland, coordinating producer, SNF, NBC Sports, and his team. That was critical, Johnson says, because, in the days and nights before the game and the event (which needs darkness for rehearsals), both entities were setting up for their respective productions. NBC Sports is also in the beginning stages of its implementations for Super Bowl LX, which will take place at the venue Feb. 8, 2026.
What viewers did see of the laser show, though, came through the stadium's new complement of high-end cameras, including Sony HDC-3500's and HDC-5500's, and the venue's own Sony Alpha FX3 Cinema Line full-frame, shallow-depth-of-field RF camera on a DJI RS 4 Pro Combo three-axis gimbal stabilizer system.
It gives us this amazing cinematic look, said Johnson, whose team includes Chief Broadcast and A/V Engineer Ted Slominski; Manager, Entertainment and Live Events, Toby Mak; and Senior Manager, Game and Live Event Production, Kody Acevedo. We also have our PTZ cameras aro
