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NBC Taps John Harbaugh As Super Bowl Analyst, Has Player Features Planned

Ravens coach John Harbaugh "will work as a pregame analyst" on NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX, teaming with regular analysts Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison and host Dan Patrick "as part of a 'Coach’s Clicker' segment," according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. The usual cast of NBC’s NFL commentators "will all get face time during the six hours" including Bob Costas, Dungy, Harrison, Josh Elliott, Hines Ward, Mike Florio and Peter King. Liam McHugh "will serve as an on-site host at University of Phoenix Stadium; Carolyn Manno and Randy Moss will report from the team hotels, and Doug Flutie will appear in on-field segments." Game broadcasters Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya "will weigh in at some point." The "entertainment portion includes Elliott and figure skating analysts Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski interviewing celebrities." Elliott also "has an interview with Super Bowl halftime headliner Katy Perry." The pregame show "will include an interview" with President Obama by "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie. One feature that "looks promising" is one in which NBC producers "visited the hometowns of six players scheduled to play in the game ... and spoke with the people who made an impact on their lives, including former coaches, teachers and friends." The players set to be profiled are Patriots QB Tom Brady, LB Jamie Collins, S Patrick Chung, as well as Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, S Earl Thomas and P Jon Ryan (SI.com, 1/26).

TECH TOOLS: BROADCASTING & CABLE's George Winslow writes NBC's Super Bowl broadcast also will "put a spotlight on some of the latest and greatest live sports production technology features on the planet." Mobile production company NEP CTO George Hoover said, "We will have all the next generation technology and the new production trucks at the stadium for the big game." Winslow notes that "means 27 trailers to NBC and various other channels to produce the game and a variety of events." NBC Sports "will be using some 18 mobile production units, 11 office trailers, eight Avid edit suites, two Final Cut edit suites, 500-plus staffers on game day, 86 cameras and about 33 miles of cabling for the production of the big game and related events." NBC Sports Senior VP/Remote Operations & Production Planning Ken Goss said that the net also will "be putting '4K cameras covering the goal lines' and is deploying Evertz’s Dreamcatcher systems 'to record and zoom in on the action quickly for instant replays'" (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 1/26 issue). SI.com's Deitsch reported NBC "will have a robotic camera in the NFL’s replay booth during coverage of this year’s Super Bowl." That camera "will be focused on NFL VP/Officiating Dean Blandino and other replay officials "reviewing any challenges or booth reviews." NBC in the event of a controversial play "will have the ability to put Blandino on the air for an explanation of the rule." NBC "has had similar access to Blandino for regular season games but never for a Super Bowl." Network officials "asked the league if they would make Blandino available to be used on the air if needed and the NFL agreed" (SI.com, 1/25).

BEHIND THE SCENES: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Kevin Clark profiles Collinsworth, who "will be calling his third Super Bowl Sunday." He "spends about six hours" before a given game "watching film of each team’s offense and defense, then countless more studying anything else he can find." That "doesn’t include the hours talking to each team’s head coach and coordinators." But tape study "is the backbone of the preparation." Collinsworth "has four laptops firing at any given time" in his Cincinnati office (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/27). USA TODAY's David Leon Moore noted the "signal-callers in the NBC truck" will be producer Fred Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff, who will be working "their fifth Super Bowl together." Gaudelli: "When you're planning out the game, first and foremost in your head is that you're not just doing a football game, you're doing the biggest spectacle America has. Everything you do and everything you plan for is with that in mind. While Sunday Night Football is a huge show and the No. 1 show on TV and all that, this will probably be the most-viewed program in the history of American television." Gaudelli "makes a meticulous blueprint of the broadcast during the two-week buildup to the game." He and his staff "sift through clips of the previous 48 Super Bowls, and hope to have a historic clip available for every scenario that might become relevant" in this year's game. Esocoff, "who will make the split-second decisions that could enhance or confuse the moment, will have perhaps a dozen more cameras and a dozen more replay machines than on a typical Sunday night game, as well as 400 production staffers" (USA TODAY, 1/25). SI.com's Deitsch wrote Gaudelli and Escoff "will have film sessions on each team and will watch footage" of Seahawks-Patriots from '12. On Thursday, Michaels, Collinsworth, Tafoya, Gaudelli and Esocoff will meet with Blandino and game ref Bill Vinovich to "talk about the game and cover any non-traditional things that might come up." NBC on Friday "will conduct a rehearsal broadcast" at Univ. of Phoenix Stadium, the broadcasters will "go to team walkthroughs" on Saturday (SI.com, 1/26).

DREAM STREAM? MULTICHANNEL NEWS' Mike Reynolds writes it is "hard to predict the amount of streaming traffic NBC will need to handle." But NBC Sports Group Senior VP & GM/Digital Media Rick Cordella said that the net "has given itself plenty of headroom to deal with the anticipated surge." Cordella: "We’re well-versed and well-equipped to handle these peak streaming concurrencies, but we’re doubling down our efforts and making sure we have backup plans." The free stream of the game "carries a separate ad load than the linear presentation, but those going OTT won’t miss any of the TV spots" (MULTICHANNEL.com, 1/26).

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