Live From Super Bowl LVII: Game Creek Video Encore, PrimeOne Ready for Fox Sports Studio, Big Game Production

Super Bowl LVII preparations took a big step yesterday afternoon when the field at State Farm Stadium was rolled from outside to inside the stadium. Not only does that mean that final preparations for the playing surface can begin, but the Fox Sports domestic broadcast compound, comprising eight Game Creek Video trucks, will get some breathing room: the compound is located beside the space the field occupies when it is outside the stadium. And, for Game Creek Video Technical Solutions Manager Matthew Caron and a team of about 50 Game Creek employees, the extra space makes it easier for all involved to serve the needs of Fox Sports.

Game Creek Video’s Matt Caron (left) and Steve Dolce at the Super Bowl LVII compound

“Fox is a very dynamic client,” says Caron, “and there are constant changes to what we’re doing to make it the best production possible. We’re here to support those resources and be able to respond.”

Helping in that effort is that Game Creek Video has on hand not only Encore A, B, and C and Edit4 trailers for the main game coverage but also PrimeOne A, B, C, and D for production of the studio show.

“With two mega facilities,” notes Caron, “we are well-positioned the best that we can be to support Fox. It’s just a matter of getting everything connected together.”

Having the Super Bowl studio trucks and game trucks located next to each other enables the Game Creek teams working on the studio show and game to support each other.

“It has been a massive benefit for resource sharing, production, and technology sharing,” notes Caron.

To Game Creek Video Project Manager Steve Dolce, things like sharing camera inventory have made a difference. The Super Bowl is basically the second show that PrimeOne has ever done; the truck worked all season on Thursday Night Football for Amazon.

“This has been a test to see if we can flex it into doing a standup show,” he says, “and the guys are killing it.”

Getting Connected

Two flypack systems that Fox Sports used last year for the World Cup in Doha, FSJE 01 and 02, are playing a major part in connecting everything, both in the domestic compound and in the international and halftime compounds.

“EVS Neuron blades in the FSJEs turn the ST 2110 inputs and outputs into SDI for all the trucks as they pass signals to the NFL, international NFL, replay, and other rightsholders and stakeholders,” says Caron. The demarcation point not only gives everybody SDI signals — a common gateway that all rightsholders can use — but also improves IT security.

With many new IP facilities in this year’s Super Bowl compound, Game Creek built a new reference and timing distribution system. “We’re calling it the ‘PTP Palace,’” says Caron. “This system allows us to generate PTP IP and baseband reference signals in several formats and PTP domains.”

Super Bowl LVII will be the second that Fox Sports produces in 1080p HDR, and both the Game Creek and the Fox teams have had a full season of 1080p HDR productions this year.

“For us,” says Caron, “it hasn’t been more complicated because we’ve been doing it since the first TNF game in 2019. It’s about continuing to build on what we’ve been doing for a few years. It has become a well-oiled machine, and we are refined in what we’re doing. We’ve also been leaning on EVS and some of their new features to do color space conversions on footage coming into the truck from [Fox Sports Pico [facility in Los Angeles].”

There was a time when the scale of a Super Bowl production meant the addition of numerous resources that were not used during the regular season. But at the center of the past few Super Bowls have been production trucks with IP-based systems that can scale to handle just about any size show without the need for an additional three or four trucks.

“We start talking about a triple-digit worth of cameras or very close to that,” Caron explains. “It’s not that intimidating because of the systems that we have here and the firepower of Encore and PrimeOne. We’ve found a way on the backend to interconnect the system so that it’s very easy to get up to those high, high, high levels of cameras, EVS, and just integrated connectivity. And we have everything coming here — signals from the inside set and the great-lawn studio set — and both game and pregame have access to all of that.”

Super Bowl LVII Sunday is a little more than 48 hours away. For Game Creek’s team working on the game and studio show (Game Creek is also involved with the Halftime Show, a first, as well as with ESPN, NFL Network, and NFL Honors), it’s all about execution.

“We did a good job planning this out,” adds Caron. “I think I’ve been involved personally onsite with Fox since we started doing site surveys last year. It’s something that we’ve planned out meticulously.”