Van Wagner Strengthens Levi's Stadium's Revamped Control Room To Match Production Needs of Super Bowl LX

The annual production is a partnership between the NFL and the host venue

NFL fans will call the Bay Area home for Super Bowl LX, and for those attending the matchup between the best teams in the league, Levi's Stadium will be jumping from pregame to postgame. Van Wagner will once again be at the controls for the in-venue production of the NFL's season finale, but this time, it'll be done within a familiar venue that played host a decade ago.

We were here 10 years ago when [Levi's Stadium] was a new building, but our show was done with a different infrastructure and produced in a different way, says Bob Becker, President of Van Wagner Productions. We have to reinvent what we do at the Superbowl every year, so while there are still some familiar faces, everything from technology, creativity, and logistics has changed.

The new control room, which debuted in Aug. 2025, is at the core of the in-venue production.All in the Prep: Production Crew Works Closely With San Franciso 49ers to Establish a Plan

Nearly a year before the fateful day of Super Bowl LX, both the production and operations teams at Van Wagner and their counterparts at the San Francisco 49ers began discussing how this game would be put together. Many of the initial steps in the process naturally take place a few days after the confetti falls on the last Super Bowl, but this year in particular required an extensive amount of time for preparation. Recruiting a local crew of 175 staffers to accommodate for the growing size of the show, Vice President of Van Wagner Productions Lindsay Anson - who now leads detailed production planning on Van Wagner's NFL productions, including Super Bowl, the NFL Draft, NFL Combine, and NFL's growing number of international games - kept a close eye on what was going on at Levi's Stadium throughout the year. We were watching in the wings as [the 49ers] were going through a complete rebuild of their control room and videoboards, so we worked alongside them during this process, she says. We saw how the 49ers used these videoboards, then thought about what we could learn from them but also what we wanted to try to do differently.

From the 49ers' perspective, their focus was zeroed in on three different silos: they needed to produce high-quality shows for their slate of home games in the 2025 regular season, they needed to finetune workflows in this less-than-one-year-old control room, and they needed to devote adequate enough time to get ready for the NFL's biggest game on the calendar. For further guidance on the technological front, San Francisco 49ers' Senior Director of Game Presentation and Live Events Laura Johnson reached out to Van Wagner's Director of Technical Operations Nate McCoart following Super Bowl LVII in 2023.

The first of two Ross Video Acuity production switchers drives A primary Ross Acuity production switcher handles all live game action. We knew we were hosting a Super Bowl [in three years], but we also had Super Bowl production aspirations for our own game presentation, says Johnson. We wanted to build out a room that was capable of what Van Wagner were going to bring and what they wanted to do, but also capable for what we're trying to do at Levi's Stadium for world class events.

Pushed to the Limit: Super Bowl Show Taps Every Ounce of Control Room's Tech Firepower

When you fast forward to Super Bowl LX, the control room in its current state has become the standard bearer for SMPTE 2110-flavored builds around the industry. Not only is this the first glass-to-glass 4K production ecosystem, but the aggressive levels of technology required to pull off a show like the Super Bowl are a bit easier in this futureproof room. Reflecting on its first full NFL season in use, Johnson looks back at this time with satisfaction of their hard work.

It was challenging because we're blazing trails with these technologies, she adds. August to February is a short runway for hosting a world class event like Super Bowl, so we needed to get some of those kinks out while producing top-notch 49ers home games. But as we stand today, with how Van Wagner is using the system and the elements that are going into this production, I feel so much pride for what we put into the control room. I can't wait to see it shine on Sunday.

The second of two Ross Video Acuity production switchers handles fan entertainment and content during commercials and quarter breaks.From a tech point of view, this championship-level show will feature the control room's typical bells and whistles but also added workflows from Ross Video and additional video sources from NBC Sports. In total, the space will bring in more than 50 video feeds, which is pushing the limits of the two production switchers at use for the gameday production. Although this show will be this control room's toughest test to date, Johnson credits her colleagues' willingness to put everything they had to make this project a success.

From the day we decommissioned [the old control room] on Dec. 31, 2024, Feb. 8 was a date we had circled on our calendar, she continues. It takes a lot of people to make all of this happen. Everyone from our systems integrators and vendors to the role that [San Francisco 49ers Chief Broadcast/AV Engineer]Ted [Slominski] and our entire team played to get everything ready for this game.

Evertz DreamCatchers are being used for replays of the game.Getting Creative: In-Venue Show Aims to Elevate Production Quality for Fans in the Stands

As for the creative that will drive the storytelling for the contest between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, Van Wagner's Creative Director Aaron Fletcher is taking many aspects into account. This includes the overall direction implemented by NFL's Senior Director of Global Event

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/02/08/van-wagner-strengthens-levis-st...
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