By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Friday, January 24, 2025 – 4:01 pm
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Arrowhead in January. At this point, it almost seems like a foregone conclusion for NFL fans. However, for CBS Sports, the annual pilgrimage to Kansas City each year for the AFC Championship – it’s sixth in the past seven years – is a welcome routine for the network’s biggest NFL production of the season.
“At this point, we have a phenomenal working relationship with the on-site stadium team at Arrowhead and it’s always a great experience being here,” says Patty Power, EVP, Operations and Engineering, CBS Sports. “It’s the sixth time in seven seasons for the AFC Championship, so it kind of feels like a repeat of all those years we were going to New England [during the Patriots’ dynasty]. Although the compound is a bit challenging as far as the size, their team is really great to work with and we’re looking forward to it as always.”
With nearly 80 cameras scattered throughout Arrowhead Stadium – including the return of the DoinkCam and TrolleyCam systems – CBS will have no shortage of resources to cover bring the Bills-Chiefs matchup to what many expect to be a record-breaking audience. In addition, the NFL Today studio show will be on-site in KC with a full production of its own.
“During the regular season, we have six 4K cameras to help zoom in on those game defining moments plus pylon cameras, Skycam, and drone and blimp aerial coverage,” says Jason Cohen, SVP, Remote Technical Operations, CBS Sports. “So we already felt really good about our [equipment] levels heading into the playoffs; it’s not like we’re building a house from scratch. So with that elite complement already established for our biggest game each week, we can now turn our attention to the fun stuff: specialty equipment and technology enhancements like the DoinkCam and the TrolleyCam.”
CBS’s army of cameras is headlined by the return of the aptly named Doink Cam, which debuted last year at Super Bowl LVIII, and the TrolleyCam, which has drawn rave reviews on CBS’s Playoffs coverage in recent years since debuting in 2021.
CBS will be using the exact same uprights that used at Super Bowl LVII for the doink cams with Antelope Nucleus 4K robotic camera systems from BSI attached to the left and right goals posts in both endzones.
The TrolleyCam point-to-point cabled camera system, which is provided by Flycam, zips along a wire from one end of the stadium to the other at up to 65 mph to capture “front- row” angles for viewers. The system is equipped with a Sony HDC-P31 and Canon 5×20 lens.
As is standard on its A-game throughout the regular season, CBS will deploy four pylon camera systems in each end zones. The front pylons are provided by BSI and feature 4K Antelope robos with a wide-angle lens, while the back systems are 180-degree cameras systems from C360 Technologies (a Cosm company). CBS will also have line-to-gain pylon cameras from BSI as usual.
For aerial coverage, CBS has its trusty Skycam four-point system on hand at Arrowhead along with a fixed-wing plane from Winged Vision and a drone from Beverly Hills Aerials.
CBS will have a multitude of Sony HDC-5500 and HDC3500 cameras on hand at Arrowhead – including eight 4K super-slo-mo systems. An RF Atlas Steadicam (provided by Aerial Video Systems) featuring a Sony PXW-FX9 camera and 35mm lens will also be roaming the sidelines. Fletcher is providing all specialty robotic systems, while Marshall POV cameras will provide looks inside both teams’ tunnels.
In terms of glass, CBS is using a mix of Canon 111x and 122x lenses on its hard cameras, Canon 40×9.7 and 18×28 lenses for robos, and Fujinon 23×7.6 lenses for handhelds.
“We never try to overly persuade [the production team] on what tools to use and when to use then; we just try to give them the best possible toolbox and then let the game play itself out,” says Cohen in reference to the large camera complement. “Oftentimes the game dictates that the technology be used by the front bench and oftentimes it doesn’t.
“You’re not going to use a Doink Cam if there’s no field goals, but if a ball hits the upright then then you’re going to be prepared for that,” he continues. “Same with TrolleyCam – if there’s a great 60-yard play on the far side of the field where trolley is positioned and the camera can run with the player down the sideline, then that’s going to be a pretty compelling shot. So every tool has its place and its moment – it’s just a matter of what the game dictates and the front bench can go from there.”
NEP’s Supershooter CBS A, B, C, and D units – the network’s A-game fleet throughout the regular season –is in the compound serving the game production. NEP’s Supershooter 4 (A and B units), which handled CBS’s B-game this year, will serve the studio show operation, while an additional QC unit from NEP – dubbed Supershooter QC – is also on hand in the compound.
“Obviously, it starts in the compound with our robust mobile unit infrastructure,” says Cohen. “This year in Kansas City, we’re going to be an entirely NEP TFC [Total Facility Control] compound, which we think is really going to make things smooth for us as far as moving sources around and sharing signals between our game truck and our studio truck.”
TFC is NEP’s proprietary software platform for solving the issues our industry faces with the adoption of IP infrastructure. TFC provides a single touchpoint to configure, provision, monitor and control systems, networks and facilities. With TFC, NEP can bring disparate systems onto one unified platform, making highly complex setups seamless and simplified.
The production team, led by producer Jim Rikhoff and director Mike Arnold, is in Supershooter CBS’s A unit, while Audio and Video are in the B unit, EVS replay is in the C unit and robo-land is in the D unit. CBS Sports has 13 EVS XT-VIA 12-channel replay systems and another five Sony Hawkeye systems at its disposal for game coverage.
In addition, CBS will have plenty of virtual graphics and augmented reality elements within the AFC Championship broadcast provided by Fingerworks (telestration), SMT (1st and Ten Line, tracking, and much more), G3Dvu (AR graphics), and Silverspoon Animation (AR graphics).
Redundant power in the compound is being provided by Aggreko, while transmission is a mix of The Switch, AT&T, and Lumen.
As it did for the Chiefs-Bills matchup in Buffalo on Nov. 17, CBS has brought its NFL Today studio show on the road. The set, which features three cameras (including a jib) and a modular desk, will be located on the Bills sideline. CBS’s crew will have to manage tight load-in and load-out windows for the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows.
While having the studio show on-site is standard for AFC Championship Games, this actually marks the third time CBS has brought the NFL Today on the road this season following the Nov. 17 matchup and the Bills-Lions Week 15 showdown on Dec. 15.
“It’s been great to give our studio crew more reps on the road,” says Power. “It makes it easier in terms of the setup, the execution, the tear down and the whole package. Most importantly, I think it adds a lot to atmosphere and we’re really excited to have them out there again with our A-crew.”
As Power and Cohen look back at the past five months of NFL football – not just CBS’s schedule but also the Netflix and NFL Network games they helped to support – both are filled with pride.
“Coming off the Super Bowl last year, I think we rode that momentum and had a strong season – both internally with our own NFL package as well as with our partnerships with NFL Network with Netflix. We feel really good about what we’ve accomplished.”
Cohen adds: The final game of the season to me is such a great event because it’s a true celebration of what we’ve accomplished over the last 20-plus weeks. Whether it’s an AFC championship or a Super Bowl, it’s the pinnacle moment of your season and it’s an opportunity appreciate all the people who you trust and enjoy. We can celebrate the final moments of the season together, which is going to be a lot of fun and special for everyone involved.”
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