KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – When the Kansas City Chiefs face the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday, millions of viewers will see every angle of every play on CBS.
Behind that polished broadcast is a moving army of engineers, camera operators, producers, and technicians – about 135 people in all – making split-second decisions so fans never miss a moment.
Russell Cunningham, CBS’s game technical manager, said the crew starts small early in the week.
When the Kansas City Chiefs face the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday, millions of viewers will see every angle of every play on CBS.(KCTV5/Ryan Hennessy)
“We’ll have a small group of eight people, and then throughout the weekend we’ll continue to grow until on Sunday we have approximately 135 people on site working together to create the football broadcast,” Cunningham said.
That growth comes with long hours.
“To get to that point, we’ve put about 30 hours in just in the week,” Cunningham said.
Even with all that planning, the broadcast evolves as the game unfolds.
“Once the game gets going, you have plans, and you have stories that you’d like to follow, but you’re very much based on the tone of the game,” Cunningham said. “If all of a sudden, say, Kansas City is blowing out the Ravens, and we had a bunch of Ravens stories, those stories are out the window, and then you’re evolving throughout the day.”
One of the quickest decisions in the production trucks involves instant replay.
When the Kansas City Chiefs face the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday, millions of viewers will see every angle of every play on CBS.(KCTV5/Ryan Hennessy)
Jeff Millet, CBS’s director of remote engineering and planning, explained how a single highlight travels through several people in mere seconds.
“By the time it gets to the (technical director), who actually punches the source and rolls the replay in and out, there’s four or five people that that information travels through in a matter of seconds.”
Millet calls the process “organized chaos.”
At the center of what people see on TV are familiar voices to Chiefs Kingdom.
“Jim Nantz and Tony Romo – they’re probably about the best at what they do in telling the story of the game and analyzing the game,” Millet said.
For the crew, weeks on the road have created bonds that go beyond the job.
When the Kansas City Chiefs face the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday, millions of viewers will see every angle of every play on CBS.(KCTV5/Ryan Hennessy)
“It’s your extended family, and going to a place like Kansas City, where there’s so many really good places to eat, things to see, it makes traveling not so bad,” Millet said. “Having a road family is crucial to keeping your mind sane.”
And with production taking place this week in Kansas City, the environment offers its own rewards.
“The barbecue is always so huge. I mean, I was at Q39 last night with a bunch of my friends on the crew,” Cunningham said.
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