Gaudelli (l) said 3D player graphics will be used 5-6 times during Sunday's gameGETTY IMAGES
Sunday marks NBC’s fourth Super Bowl broadcast since winning back NFL TV rights prior to the '06 season, and "more than anything," NBC Sports Exec Producer Fred Gaudelli "hopes the game lives up to the suspense their three previous Super Bowl broadcasts offered," according to Rob Tornoe of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. New this year will be the "use of two SkyCams, a first for any network’s Super Bowl broadcast." NBC director Drew Esocoff said that the net also will "utilize camera angles" it did not use on "Sunday Night Football." That includes "adding more ultra-slow-motion cameras and 20 pylon cameras, which the network plans to turn to only if the game action calls for it." Viewers should also "keep their eyes out for virtual versions of three Eagles players" -- QB Nick Foles, DT Fletcher Cox and DE Brandon Graham. Those Eagles players, along with Patriots QB Tom Brady, LB James Harrison and WR Danny Amendola, were "body scanned earlier this week so their 3D likenesses could be featured in-game alongside statistics and information designed for the broadcast." (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/2). Gaudelli said, "I would say maybe five or six times during the game, you'll see these graphics pop up. It's been done in Europe a little bit, but I have not seen it done here" (ADWEEK.com, 2/1). In Chicago, Phil Rosenthal notes the NBC's pregame show "will use another 30 cameras, bringing the total to 106." Every net "seems to trot out its latest high-tech gadgets on Super Sunday for its broadcast and live streams, spending money as it makes money." A typical regular-season game "may get by with 12 to 20 cameras." Esocoff said, "It’s the biggest sporting event in the world, and our goal is to have the best look of any scoring play, any penalty that comes into question, so on and so forth" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/2).
JUST NOT FOR ME: NBC's Bob Costas said of not working the event, "Is there a rift between me and NBC? No. I respect their position. They’re broadcasting the biggest event in American sports and the person who hosts that ought to feel either entirely positively, or overwhelmingly positively." He added, "In recent years, ... I didn’t have the genuine enthusiasm (for the NFL) I had for the NBA in the ’90s or that I have every time I walk into a baseball park." NBC's Dan Patrick and Liam McHugh will be co-hosts Sunday, and Costas said that McHugh "deserves the chance to rise" on the Super Bowl platform. Costas said, "At this stage of his career, it's something he has earned, something he should do." Costas: "At this stage of my career I’m more about covering sports than just presenting them. Sometimes the two can be done at the same time. But other times it just isn’t quite the right fit. I don’t think I’m any longer quite the right fit for the Super Bowl" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 2/2). In Albany, Pete Dougherty writes, "As traffic cops go, few do it better than Patrick, who will coordinate the 5 1/2 hours of pregame coverage." But McHugh is "best known as host of the network's mediocre NHL studio shows." Using McHugh for the Super Bowl instead of Costas is like the Patriots "starting Brian Hoyer instead of Brady" (Albany TIMES UNION, 2/2).
ALL DAY, EVERY DAY: In Houston, David Barron wonders if Rich Eisen can "make it through NFL Network's 8 1/2-hour pregame slog without howling 'I want this show to be over already!'" Eisen will be "back for NFL Network's pregame show, the most potentially entertaining portion of which looks to be Steve Mariucci and Michael Irvin on an ice-fishing expedition" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/2).
