Thursday Night Football Crews Prepare Heinz Field For Big Rivalry Game
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Heinz Field is once again the site of Thursday Night Football. CBS crews prepare for a game to be played more than 24 hours later.
Ken Aagaard, executive vice-president of operations, says Thursday Night Football is a huge endeavor.
"I mean, I call it Super Bowl in a box," he adds. "We travel some 400 people, 12 to 13 trucks, a lot of equipment."
He says the production trucks were built by NEP of Pittsburgh.
"We have audio coming for all kinds of different sources. So when we have a problem, this is where we do our troubleshooting," says Aagaard.
They keep track of some 50 cameras, like Sky Cam.
"It'll be at about 25 or 30 feet, and it'll go up and down the sideline, but always be placed pretty much over the line of scrimmage."
Other cameras look down on the announcers' desk for pre-game and halftime shows. Just before the second half begins, it collapses, almost down to the field level - leaving unobstructed views for fans, and those who work in the Game Truck.
That's where coordinating producer Lance Barrow somehow "monitors" 180 monitors.
"My attention span is very short, so it works well, looking around," he smiles. "Because you look at them you forget it, and you go on to the next thing."
Despite the multitude of equipment, and quick decisions to be made, mistakes are few and far between. There's one trait the CBS crew shares with players on the field.
"We're on live," Aagaard says. "The clock is ticking. Re-dos don't happen in live sports."
There are no mulligans in live broadcasting.
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