180,000 feet of cable, 99 cameras and 600 crew members are all set and ready to bring viewers the best Super Bowl coverage to date. Rehearsals will begin Thursday for Sunday’s broadcast.
“Viewers will absolutely notice the FOX quality,” explained Kevin Callahan, vice president of field operations for FOX Sports. “We have more high speed cameras, more high-frame rate cameras than any other Super Bowl previously. We have more 4K cameras than any other Super Bowl previously, which to the viewer means a clearer picture, clearer replays and just a better image quality overall.”
The team has also set up an 8K camera, which is so high resolution that they can zoom in to any part of the field to show detail--including the reactions of players sitting on the bench.
“We want to make sure that we can tell definitively if someone is in bounds or out of bounds, if someone caught the ball or did not, if the ball hit the ground or it did not. We want to make sure that we can show the football game,” said Callahan.
FOX will also unveil its new “Be The Player” technology for the Super Bowl. Using 38 cameras mounted all over NRG Stadium, they will be able to create a 3D model of the field and show viewers at home what individual players saw during a big play.
If that is not enough to satisfy people's football appetites, they can also download the FOX Sports VR app on their smart phones to watch the game in virtual reality.
“The best view of this game is at home, absolutely,” Callahan said. “You know, you’ll have access to things that people don't have in the stadiums. The in-stadium experience is great, but if you're a football fan and you want to watch the game, FOX is where to watch it."
Super Bowl LI will be played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Feb. 5 at 6:30 p.m. Full coverage can be found on FOX, starting at 11 a.m.
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