I Spent the Week on the Tremendous Bowl Stadium and Noticed Some Superior Tech

It is the (relative) calm earlier than the Super Bowl storm. At Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, golf carts buzz round carrying individuals and gear. Staff water the plush subject because the afternoon solar beams in. And broadcast crews run by rehearsals to verify every thing appears good in your TV come recreation day. 

Earlier this week, I swung by Levi’s Stadium to get a behind-the-scenes have a look at among the tech powering the US’s largest sporting occasion, which this yr takes place on Sunday, Feb. 8, and pits the Seattle Seahawks in opposition to the New England Patriots. 

The Tremendous Bowl has lengthy been a staple for soccer followers, however lately, it is also morphed right into a showcase for cutting-edge know-how, whether or not it is superior connectivity, improved sound methods or state-of-the-art shows. Throughout my tour, I received a have a look at every thing from high-end digital camera gear to safety rooms and even the custom-made headsets coaches put on to speak with gamers. 

In brief, there are lots of shifting items to make sure every thing runs as easily as attainable — each on the bottom and on TV. Here is what I explored all through the stadium.

Watch this: The Massive Sport and the Tech Behind the Broadcast | Tech As we speak

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Capturing and enhancing the massive recreation

Within the shadow of the stadium sit about two dozen white NBC manufacturing vehicles, the place lots of of individuals work collectively to beam the Tremendous Bowl to viewers at residence. Stepping contained in the unassuming constructions, it is as if a Mary Poppins-like enchantment has made their interiors a lot bigger than their exterior dimensions recommend. Quite a few screens and swaths of cables cowl virtually each inch of house, and switchboards are stacked with infinite pulsing buttons.

Every trailer has a distinct operate. In a single, which homes the principle management room, the technical director will work with the producer and director to make sure the best pictures are being broadcast. An assistant director sees to it that these expensive Tremendous Bowl advertisements run after they’re purported to. And in an adjoining room is the place the audio will get blended.

“A whole lot of vital selections are made on this room in a break up second, so that they have to be executed completely with zero margin of error,” mentioned Keith Kice, NBC Sports activities’ senior director of distant tech operations.

In one other trailer, a workforce displays the footage coming from dozens of cameras to match publicity and colour, so every thing appears as vibrant and true-to-life as attainable. 

In a demo, one of many operators confirmed us how he can change the colour of the purple seats at Levi’s to pink or “Dwelling Depot” orange with the flip of a dial (although he famous he is probably not purported to do that). The workforce may also make the grass a extra vivid inexperienced if the sector is trying a bit useless and dingy (fortunately, it isn’t). Adjustments are made in actual time all through the sport, particularly because the solar begins to dip and the synthetic lights take over, altering the colour temperature. 

A replay trailer, because the identify suggests, permits the crew to decelerate and revisit sure moments within the recreation. That is useful for viewers at residence, but additionally, critically, for officers pondering the best name. 

As a result of the Tremendous Bowl is such a fast-paced and high-stakes occasion, a variety of components are pre-produced. The crew already has pictures available from earlier Patriots and Seahawks video games which are more likely to be referenced throughout Sunday’s large recreation. 

“We attempt to have all that stuff already preloaded,” Kice says. “But when it isn’t, we have now methods of bringing that in.” A large pipeline connects the manufacturing trailers in Santa Clara to NBC Sports activities’ manufacturing facility in Stamford, Connecticut, the place all its recordsdata are saved. “They will discover a clip there and we’ll have it in 15 seconds right here,” Kice says.

Feeding into all of those trailers and, in flip, your TV at residence, is footage captured by greater than 120 Sony cameras. There are practically two dozen several types of Sony fashions used for the Tremendous Bowl, from the HDC-5500 to cinema cameras just like the PXW-FX9. These are stationed all through the sector and stadium, and are additionally connected to drones capturing aerial views of the sport. Nearly all game-facing cameras have a excessive body price, making performs look smoother whereas additionally permitting officers to take a more in-depth have a look at any replay pictures.  

There are additionally round 150 microphones and about 75 miles of fiber cables making the printed attainable.

Sony’s custom-made NFL headsets

The NFL teamed up with Sony to design {custom} headsets for coaches, and this would be the first time they’re used for the Tremendous Bowl. The headsets made their debut throughout final yr’s season (CNET’s David Katzmaier got an early look), and so they’re impressed by Sony’s fashionable 1000X headphone sequence.

Sony engineers labored alongside the NFL for 2 years to know what coaches wanted. Crucial components had been audio readability and noise cancelation, in order that the handfuls of coaches can clearly talk with one another over thunderous crowd noise.

Sturdiness is at all times vital, however that is very true when coaches tend to chuck their headsets on the floor in frustration. Sony constructed these headphones to face up to that, in addition to every kind of climate situations like snow and rain — although that is not a lot of a priority this yr in sunny California. Engineers subjected the headsets to time in freezers and out within the rain throughout improvement to make sure they may maintain up in areas the place actual winters exist.

Maybe most significantly, the gear needs to be snug, particularly when coaches need to put on these for hours. I received to attempt on the Sony NFL headset throughout our Levi’s tour, and it was like a cushiony pillow had enveloped my ear. (There are some variations with two earcups and others with one, for people who need to hear some of the sound round them. I attempted the model with one earcup.) Put me in, coach, I am able to relay. 

Let’s not neglect the musical performances

For some viewers, the true spotlight is not even the soccer recreation, however slightly the halftime and pre-game performances. It is nothing private, Patriots and Seahawks; Inexperienced Day and Unhealthy Bunny are simply that nice.

Audio system engineer Johnny Keirle designed the L-Acoustics sound system for this yr’s Tremendous Bowl, additionally working with audio provider ATK Audiotek to make sure the sport and performances sound good regardless of the place you are sitting — whether or not it is behind Levi’s Stadium or in your sofa at residence.  

Keirle, who additionally led the sound design for the final three Tremendous Bowls, submitted preliminary plans for this yr’s sound system again in Might, which the workforce refined within the ensuing months. Every stadium presents its personal obstacles. At Levi’s, the acoustic challenges stem from the house being giant and asymmetrical. 

“You have truly received twice the workload, since you’re looking for an answer for the totally different geometric constructions of the venue,” Keirle famous. However, the truth that it is an open-air stadium is an acoustics plus, since there is no roof for the sound to bounce off of. 

Levi’s is among the few remaining stadiums with a pure grass subject. Because of this, entry is restricted to protect its look — which means the audio groups had even much less time to arrange and check gear earlier than kickoff. 

“Our time on that grass may be very, very restricted, so we have now to get issues proper. We won’t afford to lose time as a result of methods aren’t working, particularly within the rehearsal course of,” mentioned Kirk Powell, lead audio engineer at ATK Audiotek. “That is why our prep is so vital earlier than we get on that subject. We have now to verify every thing is able to go.”

When Unhealthy Bunny takes the stage at halftime, carts with audio system can be wheeled onto the sector simply earlier than the present begins. Every is loaded with numerous L-Acoustics subwoofers and line arrays, in addition to further loudspeakers to fill in sound. That’ll all work collectively to amp up each nook of the stadium — and, undoubtedly, my lounge.

The rollout of Wi-Fi 7 at Levi’s Stadium

For these fortunate sufficient to be within the stadium on recreation day, maybe an important factor is having good Wi-Fi to immediately brag concerning the expertise on-line. 

Levi’s Stadium started partially implementing Wi-Fi 7, the present and most superior Wi-Fi normal, over the past couple of video games of the San Francisco 49ers’ season, in collaboration with Cisco. It’s going to be initiating a full rollout of the wi-fi tech for the primary time through the Tremendous Bowl, making it the primary outside stadium to take action on the earth, in response to Costa Kladianos, San Francisco 49ers and Levi’s Stadium govt vice chairman and head of know-how. 

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Wi-Fi 7 permits for quicker speeds and decrease latency — which means you may ideally get that Instagram story uploaded extra shortly or have a clean livestreaming expertise, even in a stadium with tens of hundreds of individuals. 

“Our bandwidth has gone by the roof,” Kladianos mentioned. “It was examined through the season; the followers actually observed the distinction, we observed the distinction, so we’re extremely excited.”

There are about 1,200 entry factors throughout the stadium, which permit gadgets to connect with the Wi-Fi community. A few hundred of those factors had been added in preparation for the Tremendous Bowl. 

“It is one seamless journey, the second you scan your tickets all the best way out the gates,” mentioned Anish Patel, the NFL’s director of stadium and wi-fi engineering. “As you stroll by the fan occasions — between tailgate, merchandise, concessions — it is all one giant form of wi-fi community that we lengthen for recreation day.”

The present file for many knowledge transferred at Levi’s Stadium is from Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in 2023 (good occasions), about 90% of which consisted of uploads. With Wi-Fi 7 and an keen crowd, the Tremendous Bowl crew is definite that file can be damaged on Sunday. 

Sustaining safety on and off the sector

The Tremendous Bowl is taken into account a SEAR 1 (or Particular Occasion Evaluation Ranking) occasion, which, in response to the US Division of Homeland Safety, means it requires “intensive federal interagency help.” So it is no shock that safety was such a giant concentrate on considered one of my excursions. 

I noticed a room on one of many prime flooring of Levi’s referred to as the Safety Operations Middle, by which personnel can flag and stop numerous cybersecurity dangers, so there are not any disruptions or delays to the sport.

This middle pulls in and shows knowledge from a wide range of Cisco’s cybersecurity merchandise, together with Splunk, Cisco Umbrella and Cisco Safe Firewall. These methods can monitor for any suspicious exercise in actual time and instantly establish threats. That might embrace dangerous actors attempting to take over the PA system or shows, for instance, or anybody impersonating the NFL model. These methods had been arrange a couple of month earlier than the Tremendous Bowl to make sure any early threats are recognized. 

There’s additionally an NFL management room, by which feeds from lots of of safety cameras across the stadium are on show. The NFL and stadium personnel, together with native, state and federal businesses, can monitor any suspicious exercise on the bottom. Emergency responders may even be stationed on this room, able to intervene if obligatory. Crews can look ahead to bottlenecks, too, and make calls to divert foot visitors as individuals enter and exit the stadium.  

With so many shifting elements, from cameras to communications gear to sound methods, it is overwhelming even simply to watch. However every a part of the well-oiled machine works collectively to make sure the massive recreation goes as easily as attainable for followers, whether or not you are watching from the stands or cheering on from residence — as I will be doing, whereas keeping track of whether or not a type of cushiony headsets goes flying.