Fox will produce seven hours of pregame programming for Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2, with content being shot from three locations. Coverage will kick off at the net's South Beach studio at 11:00am ET with “Skip & Shannon: Super Bowl Special,” followed at 12:00pm by NFL Films’ “Road to the Super Bowl.” Fox at 1:00pm will move to a set outside Hard Rock Stadium for “Fox Super Bowl Kickoff” featuring Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, Michael Vick, Dave Wannstedt, Colin Cowherd, Peter Schrager and Greg Olsen. The net then will move inside the stadium at 2:00pm for a four-and-a-half hour version of the “Fox Super Bowl Pregame Show” with Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson and Jay Glazer. Fox Sports Exec Producer Brad Zager said, “We went back and watched previous Super Bowls to see what you did well and what you can improve on. We needed to follow the flow of the day a little bit better. Instead of going from South Beach directly inside the stadium, we felt like there should be one more stop, and that’s outside the stadium, where people are starting to accumulate and come inside.” Fox Sports will produce seven studio shows from South Beach during Super Bowl week -- including non NFL-related programs like “WWE Backstage” and “NASCAR Race Hub.” All told, Fox will produce more than 100 live hours of programming across Fox, FS1 and Fox Deportes from a compound that will be right on the beach. “When we sat down over a year ago to start our planning for this Super Bowl, the first thing we did was try to embrace where we are,” said Zager. “We want to make sure that we embrace that Miami feel starting Monday when we come on air."
ESPN RETURNS TO RADIO ROW: Meanwhile, ESPN’s national radio shows will return to the Super Bowl’s Radio Row for the first time in around a decade. Four shows that run weekdays from 6:00am-6:00pm will be produced from the Super Bowl Media Center next Wednesday-Friday, rather than from ESPN’s production compound on South Beach. ESPN pulled its national shows out of Radio Row years ago, mainly for financial reasons. From a production standpoint, it made more sense for ESPN to produce its national radio shows alongside the network’s TV studio shows, which are housed every Super Bowl at a compound away from the Media Center. At a recent ESPN Radio affiliate board meeting, some local affiliates suggested bringing the national shows back to Radio Row. Most of those local affiliates stayed on Radio Row even after ESPN’s national shows left. The affiliates believe they will be able to get some of ESPN’s national radio personalities to appear on their local shows before and after their national ones air. ESPN started working with the NFL months ago to free up enough space for their national shows. ESPN Senior VP/Audio Traug Keller said, “It’s a big deal to our affiliates, so it’s a big deal to us. We’re returning to our radio roots.”
