Network coverage of the Super Bowl will resemble a spread offense at this year’s event. While some networks will huddle at Super Bowl Central, the epicenter of activity planned in downtown Phoenix, others are opting for other areas of the metro.
NBC and NFL Network will have sets at Super Bowl Central. CBS Sports will be on Radio Row with its own set. ESPN will set up shop at Scottsdale while Fox Sports will head to Glendale.
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NFL Network plans to have seven sets in the area, including this one at Super Bowl Central.
Photo by: NFL |
As the host broadcaster, NBC will have a big presence at Super Bowl Central during the week before the Super Bowl. NBC plans to use the set for NBC Sports Network coverage of the NHL and English Premier League, in addition to the channel’s NFL shows.
“We want to take our properties and showcase them all week from the center of the universe,” said Dan Steir, senior vice president of production and senior coordinating producer of NBC Sports Group.
NBC Sports will have more than 50 on-air talent in Arizona. But it also plans to produce non-sports shows from the set, like “Today,” “The Tonight Show,” “NBC Nightly News” and “Meet the Press.”
ESPN’s main sets will be a half-hour car ride away, in nearby Scottsdale. ESPN’s production team had their sets in Scottsdale in 2008, the last time the Super Bowl was in the area. ESPN executives were sold on the views of Camelback Mountain, the foot traffic around the site and the number of restaurants and stores in the immediate area.
“Viewers should be able to flip over to our channel and immediately know where we are,” said Seth Markman, ESPN’s senior coordinating producer. “When you watch some of the other shows, you know they’re in a big city, but you don’t know where they are. You turn on ESPN and you’ll know that we’re in Arizona.”
ESPN plans to produce more than 120 hours of programming from Arizona, including around 30 live hours of “SportsCenter.”
The move to Scottsdale is reminiscent of 2011, when Super Bowl XLV was in Arlington, Texas. Most of the NFL’s activity was in Dallas, but ESPN set up in Fort Worth. The past three years — in Indianapolis, New Orleans and New York — ESPN had a big presence closer to the action.
“We treat every city differently,” Markman said.
Fox Sports will operate out of DirecTV’s compound, outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale — the
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ESPN went with Scottsdale for its main set in 2008, and will return there this year.
Photo by: ESPN |
same area where Dan Patrick and Rich Eisen will host their shows. Fox Sports’ set can fit four or five people, said Scott Ackerson, Fox Sports executive vice president of news.
“I felt like we would have a better location at DirecTV than we would downtown,” Ackerson said. “We’ll take advantage of everything that’s happening around DirecTV, but we’re just there to cover the game.”
Rather than have one big set, NFL Network plans to have seven sets in the area: three in downtown Phoenix, one at each team hotel, one at Media Day and one at the stadium.
“Our philosophy is different,” said NFL Network executive producer Eric Weinberger. “We want to be in as many places as we possibly can. We try to put ourselves in the middle of the action.”
Overall, NFL Network plans to produce 87 live hours of programming from Arizona.
All of the networks plan to spend more time on Media Day this year. ESPN, which will have close to 40 on-air talent in town, has committed to produce more live hours from Media Day, after shying away from the spectacle the past several years. “We want to get back to what we feel like we invented,” Markman said. Steve Levy, Ray Lewis and Tedy Bruschi will be live from Media Day.
NFL Network, which will have 41 on-air talent in town, will have a set at the event. Weinberger said the channel plans to have its talent discuss topics suggested by fans using social media sites.
