Live From Super Bowl LIII: ESPN’s Production Team Doubles Down at AmericasMart Location

An 80x80 stage at Centennial Park is the crown jewel of ESPN's coverage in Atlanta

ESPN’s efforts during Super Bowl Week make the network a force across Atlanta. It has a main presence at Super Bowl Live, located in Centennial Park, as well as two studios on the fourth floor of the AmericasMart, where Golic and Wingo, First Take, and Stephen A. Smith’s radio show were on location through Friday morning. As of Saturday, all of the ESPN activities shift to the 32×32 sq. ft. stage at Centennial Park.

From left: ESPN’s Kim Bloomstone, Carlton Young, Jill Clark, and Cindy Pennington oversaw operations for two sets at AmericasMart at Super Bowl LIII.

Both locations give fans plenty of chances to engage with the ESPN programming efforts, according to Carlton Young, operations manager, ESPN.

“It’s been fantastic here in Atlanta,” he says. “Everything is so close by, and, here at the AmericasMmart, we have the space to do all of these shows. Generally, we don’t have this amount of space. We even have a nice green room.”

The two sets in AmericasMart are located next to each other in the same ballroom so it is easy to share and transition cameras and other equipment from one show to the next. In addition, the production teams for the shows are able to share Mobile TV Group’s 27 HDX unit, which has dual-feed capabilities.

“Usually, if you share a facility, you need to have the final segment being taped so that the next team can get into place,” says Young. “But we have the luxury of not having to worry about that. With the dual control room, while one team is on-air, the other one can be in preproduction. It’s truly like being back in Bristol with studio sets and everyone doing their own thing.”

ESPN’s Super Bowl LIII set at Centennial Park will be right in the center of the Super Bowl buzz this weekend.

The Centennial set is located a five-minute walk away, giving a new level of flexibility for the teams, which have been able to easily share guests, equipment, and anything else. Harb Production Services is providing the remote-production unit for the set in the park, and, tomorrow and Sunday, ESPN will find itself right in the center of things as the New England Patriot, Los Angeles Rams, and NFL fans descend on Super Bowl Live to experience some Super hype.

“It has natural fan engagement and also the ferris wheel, Atlanta skyline, and giant Super Bowl trophy as a backdrop,” says Young.