NFL Kickoff 2024: FOX Sports Precedes Super Bowl LIX Production With Tantalizing Regular Season Fixtures, Official Booth Debut of Tom Brady

Tech notables include remote 1st and 10 from G3DVu, 10th season with GCV Encore

The roulette wheel of the NFL’s Super Bowl broadcasters has landed on FOX Sports, who will be responsible for producing Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. Before the Big Game in the Big Easy, the network is showcasing a handful of high-profile regular season matchups that will require all of their crews to be at their best every week.

“As the season progresses, we’ll be looking at all seven of our production and operation teams to decide where they should be,” says Ted Kenney, director, field and technical operations, FOX Sports. “The most important thing for us is the fans, so we’re making sure that our crews have all the tools to make every broadcast look like an A game.”

Hybrid Infrastructure: 1080p HDR Show Leverages Tempe-Based 1st and 10, Decade Worth of Game Creek Video’s Encore

Along with the typical arsenal of cameras and other devices seen on FOX Sports’ slate of A, B, and C games, NFL broadcasts are being augmented with remote 1st and 10 technology from G3DVu. The physical equipment will reside onsite in the compound, but the workflow will be executed from the FOX Media Center in Tempe, AZ.

“The equipment has to be on onsite because of the requirements that the NFL has for replay,” says Matt Battaglia, director, remote engineering, FOX Sports. “On the A and B crews, we have optical and head enhanced systems and operators on site, and the C crew’s equipment will be on site but will be operated remotely.”

This aspect of the broadcast comes with two challenges: the on-air product must be as accurate as possible despite offsite operation and the onsite crew at each venue needs to have real-time coordination with the offsite crew.

“We’re speaking with Tempe all of the time to make sure the colors and transparency of the graphics look right,” says Kenney. “We’re very specific about what we do, and since G3DVu offers a lot, we’ve been extremely happy with them.”

In the compound, the network’s A games will be produced via Game Creek Video’s Encore mobile unit. These games will be acquired in 1080p HDR and upconverted to 4K. Entering its 10th season with the NFL on FOX, this will also be Encore’s third Super Bowl in five years after Super Bowl LIV in Miami in 2020 and Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, AZ in 2023. Other games, including B and C games, will work within mobile units from NEP Group and Mobile TV Group.

A G.O.A.T in the Booth: Crew Uses Preseason Games as Dress Rehearsals for Tom Brady

One of the biggest changes for the NFL on FOX isn’t on the field, but within the ranks of talent. Seven-time Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer, Tom Brady, will make his regular-season debut as the lead game analyst up in the booth. Preseason games became dress rehearsals for Brady, which were used to create a chemistry with lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and get a feel for calling a live game from a perspective that he isn’t used to. From a production point of view, these games were critical to understanding his cadence and working on timing of elements that he could comment on, but from an operational vantage point, Brady’s biggest learning curve was being accustomed to the camera angles available to him from his perch.

“It was really about making him comfortable with the technology that already exists,” continues Battaglia.

Fortunately, Brady has been known for years as a meticulous planner that’s infatuated with the details. His illustrious playing career could be attributed to his killer instinct and obsession with winning, but it could also be attributed to watching hours of game film every week. Fans will be treated to insider knowledge that only the best quarterback of all time can provide, and Kenney is excited for viewers to hear that insight.

“I look forward to hearing his stories,” adds Kenney. “I imagine there’s some stories that we’ve never heard before that he’s going to talk about in relation to what he’s seeing on the field.”

Marquee Matchups: Super Bowl LVIII Rematch, Annual Thanksgiving Game Highlight This Year’s Schedule

A challenge that FOX Sports’ operations teams face is covering the biggest games of the year on America’s Game of the Week, which also means that they have to adapt to the standings. Not knowing how all 30 teams will perform, the crews will need to adjust at a moment’s notice.

“We’ll need to see where everybody shakes out as we get closer to the playoffs,” says Battaglia. “When you’re moving multiple crews around on a weekend, and you’re only getting assignments two weeks before, it’s a little tougher for us.”

The A game crew knows at least two games where they’ll be needed before the season starts: one in October and one in November. On Sunday, Oct. 20, the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will travel to the Bay Area to face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7 for a rematch of last year’s title game. The following month on Thursday, Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day will see a contest of NFC East foes between the New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. ET.

A view of the compound at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.

Eyes on New Orleans: FOX Sports’ Countdown to Super Bowl LIX Begins in Cleveland

Prior to these must-watch games, and the biggest of them all in February to culminate the season, FOX Sports will begin their campaign with the Dallas Cowboys vs. Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 4:25 p.m. ET. Later in the year, the operations team will have a true test to deliver a broadcast that’s become a tradition: FOX NFL Sunday’s onsite studio show from a military installation on Veteran’s Day Weekend. On Sunday, Nov. 10, the crew of Curt Menefee, Jimmie Johnson, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, Howie Long, and Jay Glazer will report live from Naval Base San Diego — the world’s second largest surface ship naval base.

“I’m used to integrating hits from the A game into the studio [in Los Angeles] every week, but now its redirecting it to the studio set up that will be in San Diego,” says Battaglia. “It becomes more of a logistical puzzle, but since we’ve produced this show from other locations before, we’ve gotten pretty good at it.”

Battaglia works with FOX Sports’ SVP, Production, Judy Boyd, for this Veteran’s Day activation. This production will allow the team to sharpen their skills, but because of those unknowns of the NFL season, the network might not actually get a chance to produce a game in the Caesars Superdome if the New Orleans Saints aren’t in the playoff picture.

“We would love to get a show in there and test out some of the elements that we’d like to do for the Super Bowl, but technically, we don’t have a game scheduled in there,” adds Battaglia. “If we don’t get a chance, we know the stadium from previous seasons.”

Although the crew might not have the chance to produce a regular season game in the venue, FOX Sports has made initial site visits and is constantly preparing for the final broadcast of the NFL season in New Orleans.

“We’ve looked at camera locations, and our goal isn’t to add a camera for the sake of adding a camera, but using one to enhance the game,” says Kenney. “Every stadium affords you different angles, but it’s figuring out what angles can we add to help out viewership.”