Live From Super Bowl LIX: FOX Sports Stuffs Graphics Package With Stats From Sportradar

Live From Super Bowl LIX: FOX Sports Stuffs Graphics Package With Stats From Sportradar Sportradars Radar360 tool supports the crews efforts in pre-building graphics and designing more on the fly By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Friday, February 7, 2025 - 7:40 pm

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One of the highlights at Super Bowl LIX for FOX Sports is the debut of a new graphics package, which includes a complete redesign of everything from insert graphics, full screens, and even the scorebug. In an era where stats are a bigger part of the storytelling process than ever before, those graphics will be packed with data and insights from FOX Sports' research team, which is supported through a partnership with Sportradar.

FOX Sports' NFL graphics package is filled with real-time statistical data, analysis, and historical context through a partnership with Sportradar.

Through this collaboration, Sportradar provides a suite of statistical insights and graphical support, ensuring that every moment of the game is enriched with engaging and accurate data. Whether it's historical context, statistical superlatives, or predictive trends, the information provided by Sportradar ensures that each play is presented with meaningful context.

Our department uses stats as our way to tell stories, says Matt Gale, Broadcast Associate for FOX Sports. We'll try to find the best storylines, and Sportradar will help us with some of those big storylines. Confirming the accuracy of the information in all of our graphics is paramount.

At Sportradar, our collaboration with FOX Sports is redefining the way fans experience live sports, says Mark Holland, SVP North America Media Products at Sportradar. By integrating real-time data, advanced analytics, and unique insights into broadcasts, we're not just delivering stats-we're enhancing storytelling, uncovering key narratives, and allowing viewers to connect deeper to the game.

This is the third Super Bowl in which Sportradar is assisting FOX Sports. This time around, the company's Radar360 analytics platform is the tool supporting the crew's work. With more than 200 data insights available for each professional game, FOX Sports leverages Radar360 to create around 120 pre-produced graphics. However, only 5-10% of these graphics make it to air, as the majority are developed in real-time based on the game's flow. This dynamic approach ensures that the broadcast remains responsive, relevant, and immersive for viewers.

For a game like the Super Bowl, the goal for Gale and his team is to keep things are similar to a regular season game as possible. That consistency is key to simplifying the process for the production side.

I make a conscious effort of keeping it simple and playing it like it's a regular game, says Gale, because the more stuff you have, the harder it's to sort through. You have to have everything organized in an efficient manner and if you have too much, it's makes it difficult.

FOX Sports' graphics team will build approximately 120 statistical graphics in advance of the game broadcast. Only about 5-10 percent of those will ever make air.

Sportradar's responsibilities extend far beyond providing statistics. Before the game even kicks off, the team compiles extensive game notes for the FOX NFL A-Crew. These notes include detailed matchup insights, trends, historical data, and player superlatives. For the Super Bowl, these notes expand to over 25 pages, featuring 70+ charts and insights that form the foundation for on-air graphics and analysis.

I try to be as forward-looking as I can with my notes, says Zach Robinow, Project Manager for Content at Sportradar, who has worked with the Fox A crew since 2018. I'm trying to anticipate things that are likely to happen or that could happen in this game and what that would mean in a historical context.

Typically, Robinow is on a headset remotely during regular season games but come Playoffs and Super Bowl, he moves to on-site in the production compound. During the game, Sportradar's role shifts to live support, ensuring the accuracy of on-air content, researching significant statistical milestones, and responding to real-time queries from the FOX production team.

Robinow notes that Radar360 is where he does the bulk of his work on gamedays. He describes it as a super powerful tool capable of generating complex data insights in seconds. With the ability to slice and dice statistics in countless ways, Radar360 allows the FOX Sports production team to uncover storylines as they unfold. Additionally, Robinow utilizes over 60 pre-built SQL queries during each game, enabling him to quickly retrieve critical insights without having to construct new database queries on the spot.

We've done a great job expanding our data coverage to cover more of an all-time range, Robinow adds. In addition to that, I'm able to directly query our database for certain things that Radar360 can't handle.

The scale of data preparation for Super Bowl LIX is immense. FOX Sports is expected to field over 50 statistical queries during the week leading up to the game and another 50 on game day. The FOX A crew alone will generate 15-20 in-game questions and more than 100 throughout the week, underscoring the critical role Sportradar plays in the production process.

FOX Sports producer Richie Zyontz and his team rely heavily on Sportradar's insights to drive graphics production. The ability to anticipate significant statistical moments and seamlessly integrate them into the broadcast allows the network to provide viewers with a deeper appreciation of the game.

Sportradar's impact goes beyond just delivering insights-it is backed by a robust infrastructure. The company has a team of over 30 dedicated resea

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