Live From Super Bowl LIX: Verizon's Joe Russo on How 5G Can Get to the Next Level for Broadcasters, Fans By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Saturday, February 8, 2025 - 12:11 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Verizon EVP of Global Networks and Technology Joe Russo is on site at Super Bowl LIX making sure that the large Verizon team, and the even larger Verizon 5G and wireless network is running properly. And that network is important as both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles coaching staffs rely on a Verizon 5G network for their communications and, of course, tens of thousands of fans in the stadium will rely on it for their connectivity. Russo discussed the week's efforts and the future of 5G as a tool for broadcast production with SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer.
What does Super Bowl week mean for Verizon given your role working with the NFL but then also supporting wireless needs of fans?
We leverage this event to showcase all our latest and greatest technology. It's not only for the venue itself, or for the back office of the NFL, or the city around it we're trying to put all of the technology we've been developing into the Super Bowl weekend so that we can demonstrate all the new stuff. Several years ago, we first started deploying 5G millimeter wave and we just keep building on that.
This year we have the coach-to-coach communication for the second year. We have a private network for the broadcasters to communicate. And we turned on standalone 5G throughout New Orleans which allows us to then do 5G advanced features this year like slicing for first responders or creators. We can guarantee certain capabilities that they need for what they're trying to do on our networks.
Joe Russo, Executive Vice President and President of Global Networks and Technology (GN&T) at Verizon
You mentioned year two of the coaching communications service. How has that been going?
I meet with the NFL's CIO every month and we talk about lots of different things, and I thought year one was exceptional. The performance of the network, the clarity of the communication is what they were looking for and we over-delivered on that. And now two things have happened since then. First, we are doing it for all their international games via our private 5G portable network that we take with us, and they keep expanding the international games, which makes it challenging for us as we have to work with local carriers. And then the other thing is we're now working with the NFL on expanding the private network we use for coach to coach for other things that they want to do like back-office support or sideline communications. The referees now have watches this year that are connected to the private network so we have proven how a private network can really give them end-to-end communication in a venue.
Obviously, broadcasters have shown they believe in bonded cellular technologies from companies like LiveU or TVU Networks. They are hugely important for broadcasters everywhere. And you mentioned slicing and one of the dreams for broadcasters is the ability to roll out their broadcast cameras for an event and tap into a 5G wireless network. Where are we on the roadmap to making that a reality?
One of four 5G transmission nodes on the field of Super Bowl LIX that will support coaches communications. Only two are active at any one time leaving the other two available as back ups.
We're in the early innings but there are three things that have to come together. The first is you have to have the 5G core to support it and we launched that nationwide last year, so the core now has all the capabilities you need to support 5G advanced features.
The second thing is you have to have the radio access network to support the 5G advanced features. We've taken a bit of a different approach than some of our competitors in that our view is if we're really going to offer these 5G advanced features we need to do them on our mid band or high band spectrums because if it's on the low band spectrum you might as well use 4G LTE. So, our view was let's build out the mid-band spectrum across the nation, get as much of the population covered as we can, and turn that spectrum on with standalone services. So that's kind of our strategy: make our standalone network a true differentiated experience that I could support with the great mid band spectrum, we have the C-band spectrum or millimeter wave, for certain applications like venues.
And then there is the third layer which is the devices have to support it. So today I think Samsung S21, and Apple 14 or newer cellphones all have SA capability. But what we have to work on with the ecosystems of backpacks that may have a 5G chip in it is we need to get them to support standalone networks. And I think that is where the industry is probably the furthest behind: having devices that support standalone networks.
What can be done to speed that along?
There are things we can do like RedCap or reduced capacity 5G which means the core doesn't need to support the kind of complex functions that are on a smartphone. We could reduce the form factor and reduce the cost. Our core now supports Redcap and we're working with all of the device manufacturers to bring the price and form factors down for those 5G SA capable devices so they can be put into backpacks and other things.
And the challenge there is that someone needs to manufacturer devices with those capabilities, but they won't do that unless there is a solid potential customer base who can support the manufacturing of those devices.
Exactly. So, if you look at the tablets on the sidelines that are used by the coaches and players at NFL games as an example, it's a Microsoft tablet today but it doesn't support 5G millimeter wave.
North America Stories
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
11/06/2026
Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...
11/06/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...
11/06/2026
Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...
11/06/2026
FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...
11/06/2026
ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...
11/06/2026
The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering
In...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...
Live From Super Bowl LIX: Verizon's Joe Russo on How 5G Can Get to the Next Level for Broadcasters, Fans By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
