CBS Promises Innovative Super Bowl LV Coverage

Super Bowl LV will have far fewer fans in attendance this year. But CBS4 Miami reports the millions of viewers tuning in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be treated to an unparalleled viewing experience. CBS Sports is poised to introduce a wide array of technology to its coverage of what promises to be one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent history

“We are doing our 21st Super Bowl, which is the most of any network,” notes CBS Sports Chairman, Sean McManus. “We’re proud also that, at the Super Bowl, we’ve premiered and we’ve showcased some of the most incredible technology over the years. And this year is going to be no different. We have all the bells and whistles. We have cameras that have unique views and never-before-seen perspectives. And it’s going to be an incredible technical showcase for the latest state-of-the-art technology.”

Coverage of Super Bowl LV will have a more cinematic feel, thanks to cameras and camera enhancements never before used in football’s biggest game. One of those enhancements is the Trolley Cam, which will zipline along a wire extending from one end of the stadium to the other at speeds up to 65 miles per hour. It will be as if the viewer is watching from the eighth row of the stands. Three sky cams will also be deployed.

Among the several on-field cameras will be two Sony Venice cameras. Usually reserved for commercials and movies, these cameras will provide a sort of 3D look, akin to walking on the field with the players.

CBS Sports is also set to deploy a 53-foot Movie Bird crane, typically used in major movies and television productions. This crane, which will be set up on the stadium’s upper concourse, will give the viewer broad, dramatic views of all the action.

According to Harold Bryant, Executive Producer and EVP, Production, Harold Bryant, "we’ll have four cameras that are flying cameras. And one of those will be a trolley cam that can zoom along, speed along with the players as they run the field. 

"And we’re going to have a MovieBird crane that we use in our pregame show. That’s a very cinematic look. It’s been used in movies. And it’s the first time we’re using it, I think, anywhere in a sports production. We’re going to have 8k cameras, 4k cameras, all of these looks that’ll make it a very intimate and really up-close and personal feel. We also have something called a Venice camera, a cinematic camera, almost a 3D look that’s moving and walking on the field with the players during timeouts."

Those 10 4K and two 8K cameras are among the 120-plus cameras CBS Sports will weave throughout the broadcast. They will be positioned at key vantage points around the stadium and facilitate close-up shots at important moments in the game. The 32 cameras embedded into the eight endzone pylons will be able to show close calls on touchdowns.

TROLLEY CAM – For the first time ever live at the Super Bowl, CBS Sports will deploy the Trolley Cam. The Trolley Cam will speed from one end of the stadium to the other, ziplining along a wire and positioned to provide the viewing angle of a fan in the eighth row of the stands. The rig can travel up to 65 mph and will provide a look at the players from a vantage point not used in the history of the Super Bowl.

The new technology and camera angles will bring the Super Bowl to football viewers in surprising detail. While in-person attendance will be relatively sparse, the extra space in the stadium allows CBS Sports to present an even more enhanced broadcast for the viewers at home.

CBS’s coverage of Super Bowl LV begins this week with programming on CBS Sports Network leading up to Super Bowl Sunday. On February 7, CBS Sports is airing seven hours of coverage on CBS beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET and leading right up through kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET.