NFL Playoffs 2025: FOX Sports Puts New Tech Through Paces To Ensure Super Bowl LIX Broadcast Shines

17/01/2025

NFL Playoffs 2025: FOX Sports Puts New Tech Through Paces To Ensure Super Bowl LIX Broadcast Shines The broadcaster proves out gear and workflows during regular season and playoffs By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Friday, January 17, 2025 - 10:10 am

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FOX Sports is handling broadcast duties for Super Bowl LIX, set to be played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9. After making regular-season and playoff games sparkle technologically, the broadcaster is fully prepared to make the Super Bowl LIX production all it can be.

Super Bowl years are always the busiest, says Ted Kenney, director, field and technical operations, FOX Sports. With more than 100 NFL games during the regular season, we can use many of those games to test new technology, whether it's a new camera, audio complement, software, or another component of the technical workflow. These real-world tests during regular-season games allow us to ensure the technology and workflows are fully operational. They also enable our onsite technicians to identify potential issues, address concerns, and make real-time adjustments effectively.

Topping the list of innovations getting a full work-through is the use of a Sony high-speed 4K camera on a second Skycam. The overall goal is to get a more tactical overview of the field. We can zoom in on certain areas of interest at 120 fps, explains Mike Davies, SVP, technical and field operations, FOX Sports. It's an analyst's dream and works great for both telestration and highlights. Thanks to Skycam and Sony for their support on this project.

FOX Sports Director, Remote Engineering, Matt Battaglia has found it exciting to partner with Sony, Hawk-Eye, and Skycam on the use (and debut) of the new Sony HDC-P50A 4K HFR box camera for the playoffs and eventually the Super Bowl.

The camera brings a multitude of options to the production that we couldn't provide in the past, he says. We have been testing this camera for the last couple weeks of the season and all through the playoffs on a High Skycam system. Its shoebox-like form factor allows us to put it on the Skycam, and the 4K resolution allows us to get a wider field of view. We process that through a Hawk-Eye server, perform a zoom extract at 1080p HDR for air, and can even do 120 fps, which is a big plus.

The Sony HDC-P50A camera mounted on a Skycam plays a big role in FOX Sports' coverage of this year's NFL Playoffs.

The project is also an example of why an innovation squarely focused on making a difference at the Super Bowl is most effective when the production team can use it on other games and learn how to get the most out of it. The production team is finding new ways to use the High Skycam every game, notes Battaglia. If you've been watching, I believe you've been seeing a lot of all-22-style telestration being done by our lead analyst over the High Skycam.

The FOX NFL A crew, which will be front and center for the Super Bowl, has been carrying extra tools and toys all season from the likes of EMG, which is providing RF video, and CP Communications, which handles wireless audio. As we get into the first round of the playoffs, he says, camera count jumps up slightly, and, when we get to the NFC Championship, we add upwards of eight cameras plus back-line pylon cameras and goal-post cameras provided by Cosm.

Game Creek Encore mobile unit is on playoff duty for the entire run and will be at the NFC Championship, for which Game Creek Video Prime One will be added to the mix to support the two-hour pregame studio show.

Although not all the crew members who have worked on FOX NFL games this season will be at the Super Bowl, each of them was integral to getting the production and technical efforts dialed in. I am both thankful and amazed by the talent FOX Sports brings together each week for our remote operations, Kenney says. Our crews are consistently prepared to handle any new challenge or request we present throughout the season. Their exceptional technical expertise enables us to innovate and remain at the forefront of cutting-edge technology year after year.

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NFL Playoffs 2025: FOX Sports Puts New Tech Through Paces To Ensure Super Bowl LIX Broadcast Shines

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