Behind the Scenes With NBC's Sunday Night Football Operations Team Despite the lack of preseason prep, the productions are as big and impressive as ever By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Monday, September 21, 2020 - 4:41 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
When it comes to live sports productions, it simply doesn't get any bigger than NBC's Sunday Night Football. In 15 years together, NBC's SNF production and operations teams have seen just about everything. However, with no preseason games on which to prepare for the SNF slate this year, the crew found itself in Kansas City for the highly anticipated NFL Kickoff Game two weeks ago facing a challenge unlike any they had seen before. And despite an array of obstacles, the SNF team pulled it off.
Al Michaels (left) and Chris Collinsworth are socially distanced inside the NBC SNF booth.
It felt like we were sitting there with our parking brake on, says NBC Technical Manager Keith Kice, and then we had to go a hundred miles an hour instantly. That's how we started off the season.
The production team started off strong, delivering a top-flight NFL Kickoff Game at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 10 and following it up with the debut of Los Angeles's SoFi Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 13 and the heart-pounding Patriots-Seahawks matchup despite smokey conditions in Seattle on Sunday, Sept. 20. With the SNF season in full swing, NBC Sports Group VP, Operations, Tim Dekime looks back at the taxing weeks leading up to Week 1.
Those two weeks prior to the kickoff game were probably the most difficult weeks that Keith and I have ever worked on, says Dekime. We had to set up an entire game production - not just a preseason-level but a full SNF-level show. Right out of the box, we had to live up to the standards that we've established over the years to make it a perfect game. It was a thrash, and it was extremely difficult, but we got through it, and we're really proud of the entire team.
Stamford Steps Up: New Workflows for Social Distancing, Remote Working NBC has relocated SNF's graphics and edit teams to its broadcast center in Stamford, CT (seen here handling NBC's Tour de France coverage this month).
To socially distance the crew, NBC added a truck, NEP Supershooter 22B, to its fleet of NEP ND1 mobile units onsite and shifted both graphics and edit teams to its broadcast center in Stamford, CT (one editor is also working remotely from his home in Daytona Beach, FL). With fewer bodies onsite, NBC moved its replay room into areas previously housing graphics and edit.
To manage this decentralized workflow, NBC added 18 JPEG 2000 circuits to its normal transmission plan. The broadcaster has increased the number of muxed paths in and out to help accommodate the edit and graphics operations and now has a total of 45 transmission paths between Stamford and the onsite production. Although NBC Sports Group is no stranger to this at-home production model, having used it for multiple Olympics and several events during the pandemic (including the NHL, NASCAR, Triple Crown horse races, and the Tour de France), SNF takes the involvement of Stamford to a new level.
We've done this before, says Kice, but not to this magnitude. It's great that we weren't the first ones to have to do this and figure the whole thing out. NHL and several of the other sports have already done [remote production] back in Stamford. That way, we already had plenty of experience to get it done right.
NEP ND1's mobile units are back for another season of Sunday Night Football.
In addition to graphics and edit, NBC has relocated rules analyst Terry McAuley to a studio in Stamford, where he is connected to the SNF announce booth. This provided NBC with the necessary space to socially distance announcers Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth. NBC also added four panels to the background LED screen to cover the foot and a half of space between Michaels and Collinsworth (also due to social distancing is the much ballyhooed Collinsworth Slide ).
In all, Dekime says, about 15 people have been relocated from onsite to Stamford, including researchers, loggers, and the replay operator who works directly with Collinsworth.
I have to be honest: it has gone very well so far, says Dekime. We've done it for three games now, and we haven't had any difficulties in handling graphics, edits, or anything else from Stamford.
SkyCam Goes 4K for SNF With no fans in the stands this season, SkyCam will have extra space to fly.
SNF once again has one of the largest camera complements of any live sports production, rolling out 40-plus cameras, largely a mix of Sony HDC-4300's and HDC-4800's.
After initially exploring the use of a C360 system attached to the SkyCam, NBC instead opted to deploy a 4K SkyCam system - the first ever to be used on an NFL production. The SkyCam system's 4K camera is integrated with a Sony record/playback server that allows the replay operator to pan, zoom, and cut out HD images from the 4K frame. Beginning last night, the SkyCam system was upgraded to a Sony HDC-P43 4K camera running at 120 fps.
For years, says Kice, we've talked with [SNF Executive Producer Fred Gaudelli] about going to a high-speed camera on the SkyCam, but it never ended up happening. So, when the opportunity presented itself to do a 4K SkyCam and he saw what he could get out of it with no limitation to the normal flight of the SkyCam, he was pretty excited. And we're really excited to have the opportunity to be the first NFL games with a 4K SkyCam.
Empty-Stadium Impact: Adjust Camera Positions in the Stadium, in the Booth The Sunday Night Football booth features large LED board and new Panasonic robo.
With largely empty stadiums as a backdrop this season, NBC ha
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
Behind the Scenes With NBC's Sunday Night Football Operations Team Despite the lack of preseason prep, the productions are as big and impressive as ever By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
