Evertz Keeps Its Cool — And Helps Others Do the Same — at Super Bowl XLIX

From the truck compound to the venue control room and seemingly everywhere in between, Evertz has this year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ, covered.

Evertz will provide support in the truck compound to the small army of mobile units serving NBC Sports’ broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX. Because nearly every truck onsite features some form of Evertz gear, the supplier will be on hand with spare parts and support equipment to ensure that the broadcast runs smoothly.

“We probably have somewhere in the ballpark of a million dollars of support equipment that we bring with us,” says Joe Cirincione, VP, sales, U.S. sports and entertainment, Evertz. “Because we don’t have time to ship things in and out, we just bring it down here, and we support everybody here.”

In addition, Evertz will set up its DreamCatcher replay server in the compound for the five 4K cameras that NBC plans to deploy for replay during the broadcast.

However, 4K replays aren’t just for the fans watching at home. Prior to last season, University of Phoenix Stadium upgraded its videoboards, control-room technology, and broadcast infrastructure and added two Sony F55 4K cameras to each end zone. Those cameras will deliver high-resolution replays to fans on Sunday, thanks to the addition of the five DreamCatchers.

From the earliest stages of the project, Evertz partnered with the Arizona Cardinals to design and build out a state-of-the-art control room. The company expanded the existing EQX router; upgraded the multiviewers, conversion gear, and fiber equipment; and added its Magnum unified control system and the DreamCatcher servers.

The first and second DreamCatchers support the two end-zone 4K cameras, which are captured and archived in 4K but downconverted to 1080p for playout to the videoboards. The third and fourth servers are configured for six video inputs, accommodating 12 camera feeds for the game-day presentation. The final DreamCatcher serves the Cardinals’ Fan Cam feature, enabling the team to build playlists of fan-created mobile video for the videoboard.

“Evertz has been a great partner,” says Mike Conner, video and scoreboard operations manager, Arizona Cardinals. “I wouldn’t want any other control room. … Without those kinds of deep relationships and the support we’ve gotten from [companies like] Evertz, we wouldn’t have been able to pull off what we pulled off and in a very, very short period of time.”

Evertz’s role at Super Bowl XLIX extends to downtown Phoenix and Scottsdale, where Cirincione and his four-person team will also check in on the mobile units broadcasting from the convention center, Fashion Square, and the mall. In every location, Evertz works closely with production personnel, tech managers, and crews.

“Everyone knows what their job is, and they just do it,” says Cirincione. “Most of these guys have been doing this for years and years, so we all know each other very, very well. Between the tech managers and the crews, because we’ve worked together all these years, we know what we have to do, and we do it.”