Van Wagner Strengthens Levi’s Stadium’s Revamped Control Room To Match Production Needs of Super Bowl LX – Sports Video Group

The annual production is a partnership between the NFL and the host venue

NFL fans will call the Bay Area home for Super Bowl LX, and for those attending the matchup between the best teams in the league, Levi’s Stadium will be jumping from pregame to postgame. Van Wagner will once again be at the controls for the in-venue production of the NFL’s season finale, but this time, it’ll be done within a familiar venue that played host a decade ago.

“We were here 10 years ago when [Levi’s Stadium] was a new building, but our show was done with a different infrastructure and produced in a different way,” says Bob Becker, President of Van Wagner Productions. “We have to reinvent what we do at the Superbowl every year, so while there are still some familiar faces, everything from technology, creativity, and logistics has changed.”

All in the Prep: Production Crew Works Closely With San Franciso 49ers to Establish a Plan

Nearly a year before the fateful day of Super Bowl LX, both the production and operations teams at Van Wagner and their counterparts at the San Francisco 49ers began discussing how this game would be put together. Many of the initial steps in the process naturally take place a few days after the confetti falls on the last Super Bowl, but this year in particular required an extensive amount of time for preparation. Recruiting a local crew of 175 staffers to accommodate for the growing size of the show, Vice President of Van Wagner Productions Lindsay Anson — who now leads detailed production planning on Van Wagner’s NFL productions, including Super Bowl, the NFL Draft, NFL Combine, and NFL’s growing number of international games — kept a close eye on what was going on at Levi’s Stadium throughout the year. “We were watching in the wings as [the 49ers] were going through a complete rebuild of their control room and videoboards, so we worked alongside them during this process,” she says. “We saw how the 49ers used these videoboards, then thought about what we could learn from them but also what we wanted to try to do differently.”

From the 49ers’ perspective, their focus was zeroed in on three different silos: they needed to produce high-quality shows for their slate of home games in the 2025 regular season, they needed to finetune workflows in this less-than-one-year-old control room, and they needed to devote adequate enough time to get ready for the NFL’s biggest game on the calendar. For further guidance on the technological front, San Francisco 49ers’ Senior Director of Game Presentation and Live Events Laura Johnson reached out to Van Wagner’s Director of Technical Operations Nate McCoart following Super Bowl LVII in 2023.

“We knew we were hosting a Super Bowl [in three years], but we also had Super Bowl production aspirations for our own game presentation,” says Johnson. “We wanted to build out a room that was capable of what Van Wagner were going to bring and what they wanted to do, but also capable for what we’re trying to do at Levi’s Stadium for world class events.”

Pushed to the Limit: Super Bowl Show Taps Every Ounce of Control Room’s Tech Firepower

When you fast forward to Super Bowl LX, the control room in its current state has become the standard bearer for SMPTE 2110-flavored builds around the industry. Not only is this the first glass-to-glass 4K production ecosystem, but the aggressive levels of technology required to pull off a show like the Super Bowl are a bit easier in this futureproof room. Reflecting on its first full NFL season in use, Johnson looks back at this time with satisfaction of their hard work.

“It was challenging because we’re blazing trails with these technologies,” she adds. “August to February is a short runway for hosting a world class event like Super Bowl, so we needed to get some of those kinks out while producing top-notch 49ers home games. But as we stand today, with how Van Wagner is using the system and the elements that are going into this production, I feel so much pride for what we put into the control room. I can’t wait to see it shine on Sunday.”

From a tech point of view, this championship-level show will feature the control room’s typical bells and whistles but also added workflows from Ross Video and additional video sources from NBC Sports. In total, the space will bring in more than 50 video feeds, which is pushing the limits of the two production switchers at use for the gameday production. Although this show will be this control room’s toughest test to date, Johnson credits her colleagues’ willingness to put everything they had to make this project a success.

“From the day we decommissioned [the old control room] on Dec. 31, 2024, Feb. 8 was a date we had circled on our calendar,” she continues. “It takes a lot of people to make all of this happen. Everyone from our systems integrators and vendors to the role that [San Francisco 49ers Chief Broadcast/AV Engineer]Ted [Slominski] and our entire team played to get everything ready for this game.”

Getting Creative: In-Venue Show Aims to Elevate Production Quality for Fans in the Stands

As for the creative that will drive the storytelling for the contest between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, Van Wagner’s Creative Director Aaron Fletcher is taking many aspects into account. This includes the overall direction implemented by NFL’s Senior Director of Global Event Presentation and Entertainment Tim Tubito, the culture and pulse of the Bay Area, the cornerstones and traditions of both team’s respective shows, and more.

“Bringing the story of the Super Bowl to life every year is an incredible experience and opportunity, and we have an incredible team that we get to collaborate with to impact the thousands of people that get to come to the stadium to watch it,” he says. “We come into each stadium as early as we can to test out the LED video displays and try to find that balance between creative execution and technical precision achieve the NFL’s desired look.”

When you add the complexities that come with going to a new stadium every year, devising new and refreshed ways of telling this story can be a tall task. To differentiate this year’s show from the past, Fletcher and his crew lean deeply into what makes the host city a unique locale for the Super Bowl and how they can leverage the 49ers’ top-of-the-line control room to raise the production bar.

“We try to find the stories that fit the Bay Area and how we can connect everything back to the Super Bowl,” continues Fletcher. “Everyone gets involved and brings their ideas to the table, so we push ourselves to make this the most special event that we do every single year.”

A Noteworthy Title Game: Van Wagner Rises to the Occasion to Exceed Expectations

On the note of this being a collaborative experience, Super Bowl LX is a chance for every team to outdo what they did the previous year. On the production side, the team relies on the trust of each individual to match the intensity and passion of the moment.

“We still know that it’s pregame, four quarters, a halftime show, and postgame, but it’s up to us to live up to the scale of the event,” says Anson. “We understand that this show is always growing and that each host city brings its own narrative, but that’s only going to bring out the best in our team.”

On the creative side, all of the concepts that become real-life activations for storytelling couldn’t be done without the tireless work of their engineering and logistics teammates. This includes Van Wagner’s Director of Technology Jeremy Havens and Manager of Operations for NFL Projects Cassidy Colpoys.

“Jeremy, Cassidy, and their respective teams are many times the unsung heroes because they make our jobs possible and without them, we wouldn’t have a show,” says Fletcher. “The hours and hours that they put before event allows us to work efficiently and effectively.”

On the technological side, as well as on a personal level, Super Bowl LX will be Johnson’s 10th Super Bowl in her star-studded career. Sunday will symbolize a pivotal moment in her journey, but will also encapsulate the dramatic evolution of technology that’s taken place since her first Super Bowl in 2008 while serving as Scoreboard Production Coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals.

“I met Bob at Super Bowl XLII when we were the host site,” she says. “It was a relatively small group at the time, and seeing how the scope, complexity, and collaboration behind a Super Bowl has evolved since then has been remarkable.”