Superbowl-Nfl Entertainment And A Broadcaster's Nightmare


by Ken Pursley - Date: 2007-01-07 - Word Count: 1170 Share This!

The American football season is coming to and end. A few selected teams go into the playoffs and the ultimate goal is to advance to the final game-the Superbowl. It's as popular as a World Cup final, with last year's domestic and international viewers totaling over 141 million. Each year it is held at a different venue, this year being Dolphins Stadium in Miami. It is one of the most widely viewed entertainment events, but for the broadcasters and technicians responsible for putting it all together it can be a nightmare.

The National Football League is responsible for accreditation. They look at the organization you work for and the reason you need a media credential. A background check is run and your name is added to the list. If you are only working in the production trailers, you will be granted a specially colored pass for only that. It does not allow you access to the stadium. If you need inside access you are given a different colored pass for only the level where your work applies. Sometimes different colored stickers are used. A full access pass is very hard to get. You would have a better chance of getting into the White House.

The broadcasters usually arrive weeks before the event to park their multi-colored 40 foot long office trailers- and the area surrounding the stadium is turned into a broadcast center. Miles of video and audio cables are run from inside the stadium out to the huge production trucks parked next to the office trailers. Last year in Detroit there were 10 of them in use. The coax, or fiber cables, connected 39 high definition cameras. An additional 15 HD cameras were used for the pre and post game shows, and 7 more for the halftime spectacle. In order to show the superimposed first down lines on the field they needed 5 more of them. The dozens of satellite uplink trucks, with their huge white K and C-band antennas, make up the rest of the compound.

Most of the international broadcasters have booths on the upper level of the stadium. Trying to bring the microphones, amplifiers, TV monitors and all the other technical equipment up that high from ground level isn't easy. Sometimes the elevators don't work or you are not allowed to use them. You are forced to place everything on a dolly and push it to the top. The security, especially after 911, has made it almost impossible to get around the stadium. They stop you at each level to check your pass and make sure you have the correct one. If you don't then you go nowhere. Once you do get to the booths you can start your work. Amplifiers, audio mixers, headsets, and television monitors are connected. Digital circuits and phone lines, already installed by the local phone company, must be tested.

Another important piece of equipment to test is the RF, or radio frequency, microphones. Each broadcaster wanting to use one is assigned a specific frequency by the network coordinator. The microphones must be tested to see if they work properly in the stadium and that there is no one else using the same frequency. I was using an RF microphone in Sun Devil Stadium in 1996 for Superbowl XXX. The commentator began interviewing someone seated close to the playing field. I could hear their voices clearly, but unfortunately I could also hear crosstalk from a cabbie on the same frequency. He was obviously parked just outside the stadium close by. RF interference is one of the major problems at events like this.

The official media hotel is another location that must be organized for the hundreds of domestic and international radio stations from around the world. It is known as "Radio Row," where the broadcasters interview the players and analyze the game during the entire week. Tons of broadcast equipment is scanned and checked then brought into the media center where it is interfaced with the overpriced telephone and digital broadcast lines. I say overpriced because a normal telephone line might cost $150 installed, but for an event like this the broadcasters will pay up to $600. Thick electric power cables are run and standby portable power generators are made available in case of power outages or overloads.

In the stadium the technicians are busy running cables and testing the RF cameras and microphones. All of the cameramen's headsets must be checked and the feeds going to the satellite uplinks tested. A domestic satellite path is used to feed the picture and audio back to the broadcaster's network center. That's where the very expensive commercials are injected into the program. Another satellite path is used for the international broadcasters. They call it the "World Feed." This feed has pictures and sound effects from the game, but without commentary. They use a digital circuit or another satellite path in order to get their own broadcasters commentary back to their home station. When the American network goes to a commercial break they switch to a World camera. This might show a picture of the playing field or a wide shot of the stadium- with their commentators talking over it stalling for time until the Americans return from commercial break.

All the work must be completed before security shuts the stadium down for their walkthrough. In the afternoon, a day before the game, no workers are permitted inside. All technicians are told to leave and no work is allowed. This is another reason to finish setting up and testing everything early on. Security walks their dogs around the inside of the stadium checking for explosives and fire hazards. This takes hours to accomplish and they take their time doing it. The two football teams arrive on busses. They go into the locker rooms and check the field and what the playing conditions will be like. This usually takes a few more hours before they return to their busses and are driven back to their luxury hotel. At this point the entire stadium is shut down until game day.

After years of planning, months of onsite surveys, weeks of running cables, testing circuits, installing broadcast equipment, testing satellite trucks, rehearsals, and all the other planning that goes into an event like this game day arrives. The viewers sit in their living room and turn on the television. They eat their snacks, drink their beers, and watch the big game. With Prince performing at this years Superbowl it will indeed be entertaining. The production team, planning the halftime show, will be holding their breath hoping nothing goes wrong with all the pyro-techniques being used.

In a few hours it's over and a new Champion is crowned. The network hosts analyze the game, players are interviewed and the network goes off the air. Most people around the country switch their TV sets off and go to bed. Next time you do though; think of the technical crew. They will spend the next few days de-rigging it all and preparing for next years Superbowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona.


Related Tags: sport, football, nfl, superbowl, broadcasting

Ken Pursley is a broadcast engineer living in Orange Park, Florida. Traveling all over the world he assists foreign television and radio stations to broadcast sport and news events. Most of his experience came from working in New York as an engineer for the BBC from 1972-1994. He now has his own small broadcasting company, enjoys writing and is working on his first novel.

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