NFL Kickoff 2024: NBC Sports Starts the Party with Thursday Night Opener; Adds Peacock-Exclusive Friday Night Game From Brazil Crew bolsters super slow-mo tally; takes advantages of greater on-field access By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Thursday, September 5, 2024 - 3:06 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The NFL is back and the action begins in earnest tonight in Kansas City as the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock).
For two decades, it has become a tradition for the NFL to kick off its season on a Thursday night at the home of the reigning champ. It's also become a bit of a tradition for NBC Sports to do so at Arrowhead Stadium. This is the second consecutive year and the third time in the past five years that Kansas City has hosted the NFL's season-opening celebration.
Tonight's opener is also just the first in a stretch of three games in four nights for the NBC Sports team with a new International Game in Brazil between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles being played on Friday night (that game will stream exclusively on Peacock) before the official Sunday Night Football opener brings the Los Angeles Rams to Detroit for a playoff rematch with the Lions.
More High-Frame Rate Cameras; Added Audio Access It's a hot start for the team at the helm of primetime television's #1 show for the past 13 consecutive years but for SNF coordinating producer Rob Hyland this is a job that his team has been preparing for all year.
We dissect and break down every single element of the production, says Hyland, who is entering his third season in the lead chair. We truly do. We challenge every element and how we've done it. I watch tape of other broadcasts.
These days nearly every NFL game is treated with an A game complement of production tools. Elements like SkyCams, PylonCams, and augmented reality graphics with AWS Next-Gen Stats are seemingly a part of every single broadcast. Hyland admittied that the more you watch, the more you see that everyone is basically doing the same show.
So how does NBC and Sunday Night Football continue to differentiate itself and retain its position as the elite NFL broadcast of the weekend? For this season, Hyland says that his crew is pushing for more audio access in the way of landing in-game interviews with and placing microphones on more players and coaches.
On the imaging front, he said in a media call last month that every camera on the show a high-frame-rate camera. That includes all standard game cameras including slashes, high end-zones, pylons, etc. with the only exception being the announce booth camera and the All-22.
Given the fact that I can use my iPhone to record broadcast-quality super slow-motion footage of my daughter's gymnastics practices, I challenged our crew to make every camera on our show a high-frame-rate camera, says Hyland. We converted seven more cameras to be high-frame-rate super slow-motion cameras. There's no excuse not to have every frame available. There are calls that come down to the centimeter sometimes, and I just really wanted to challenge our group to make sure that we had the best possible video available for our viewers to experience Sunday Night Football. That might look and feel a little different to a sophisticated eye.
NBC and Sunday Night Football will also benefit from a couple of new wrinkles being allowed by the NFL this season. NBC is going to be allowed to speak to a home team player in full uniform either at the end of warm-ups or just after run-outs and all head coaches are required to conduct an in-game interview with a sideline reporter. Also, all network partners for the first time will have locker room access after the field clears with a cap of 20 seconds of video per team allowed in the live broadcast.
Friday Night Game in Brazil Adds Operational Challenges The major new wrinkle to this opening weekend for NBC Sports is the addition of a Friday night game between the Packers and Eagles on Friday night. A different production crew both behind-the-scenes and on-air are on-site in Sao Paolo to produce that game which will be streamed exclusively on NBC's streaming platform, Peacock.
NBC Sports turned to EMG/Gravity Media to design a flypack to help handle the unique operations and engineering loads of broadcasting this game from Corinthians Arena.
The live production solution from EMG / Gravity Media is a specially designed baseband fly-away system for rapid deployment, that delivers 1080p HDR visuals with immersive Dolby 5.1 audio. Key components of the setup include a high-capacity, modular Grass Valley Sirius 850 routing system, an EVS Cerebrum centralized interface for broadcast control and monitoring of custom workflows, and a Calrec ImPulse core with extensive audio processing power to handle complex mixing and routing tasks. Grass Valley's K-Frame XP mainframe delivers advanced processing capabilities, powering a 4ME Kahuna panel for seamless integration of switching and effects.
We look forward to working on this landmark game with our longstanding partners EMG and Gravity Media, whose expertise and reliability will help us deliver a best-in-class presentation, says Craig Bernstein, VP Remote Technical Operations, NBC Sports.
MORE: NBC Sports Selects EMG/Gravity Media for NFL's First Game from Brazil
Last year, NBC and the NFL made headlines by distributing a Playoff game (between the Miami Dolphins and the Chiefs) behind Peacock. It was the first time a postseason game was not broadcast on television. As a part of that stream, NBC Sports presented 40% fewer commercials than it normally would on broadcast television. Additionally, NBC Sports presented a regular season game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers without c
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...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
When MMA icons Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano meet inside the Hexagon at Intuit Do...
15/05/2026
Daniel Roher attends the Tuner Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Theatre on January 22, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Neilson Bar...
15/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
15/05/2026
Rebranded show announced
Ahead of their 2026 return, Music Expo have announced that they have now officially changed their name to the MONO Music Conference...
15/05/2026
Fuzz pedal joins UK companys line-up
UK-based pedal makers Buzzing Bugs Audio Devices have recently unveiled their latest creation, the Bolster. Said to pay...
15/05/2026
Joint Statement: News Bargaining Incentive
28 April, 2026
Media releases
The vibrancy of Australian democracy relies on the robust and open exchange of new...
15/05/2026
Call it Deltavision, Australia's through to the Grand Final of this year'...
15/05/2026
Join Calrec at MPTS 2026 | May 13-14 | Stand A40 | Olympia, London We're looking forward to meeting up with customers and partners at this year's Media ...
15/05/2026
86% of media planners would move more linear TV budget to CTV if they had show-level targeting and reporting - and 65% would also shift dollars from programmati...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Clear-Com will showcase new communications solutions and major platform updates at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7005), June 17-19, in the North and Central Halls of t...
15/05/2026
Following an outstanding inaugural year in 2025, Rise AV is proud to announce the return of its flagship leadership initiative, Elevate. The programme continues...
15/05/2026
Berklee Announces Lineup for Inaugural AI Music Summit The three-day event puts musicians at the center of the future of music creation, ethics, and the indus...
15/05/2026
Lightware returns to InfoComm 2026 with a focused showcase of scalable USB-C connectivity, next-generation AV-over-IP solutions, and technologies that help over...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Delivering a live, arena-scale production of a massively popular band is no small feat. Between expansive in-arena LED walls and a global live stream fed to onl...
NFL Kickoff 2024: NBC Sports Starts the Party with Thursday Night Opener; Adds Peacock-Exclusive Friday Night Game From Brazil Crew bolsters super slow-mo tally; takes advantages of greater on-field access By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
