Learn How an NBC Sports Super Bowl Show Gets Made 

The 2026 Super Bowl was one of the biggest television shows of all time, with 124.9 million viewers on average, making it the most-watched show in the history of NBCUniversal. It took months of planning across the NBC Sports editorial, technical and operations teams to prepare for the Super Bowl pregame show, resulting in a 5 1/2-hour show that built excitement and anticipation for the big game. 

“What most people don’t realize about any sports production, as small or as big as the Super Bowl, is how many people it takes for a show to be successful,” said Pierre Moossa, director of the Super Bowl pregame show coverage. “No matter your role, you can have an incredible impact on the broadcast.” 

NBC Sports brought in over 500 staff and contractors to cover the Super Bowl and produce the biggest television experience of the year. NBCU Academy embedded with Moossa, producer Matt Casey, director of remote tech operations Matt Hogencamp and director of operations Laura Cronin to see what it takes to produce the Super Bowl pregame show. 

Watch the video above or read more below about how the team made it all come together. We have lightly edited the conversation below for brevity. 

How long have you been planning for the Super Bowl?  

PIERRE MOOSSA, NBC SPORTS DIRECTOR: Preparation for our Super Bowl really started the day after the last Super Bowl. We watch that last game intently, and then we go back and watch the last three or four Super Bowls, especially our last NBC Super Bowl, and take notes on what we enjoyed and what we could do differently and how we can improve our coverage. 

First, we really get together as a production team and come up with a lot of creative ideas on how we can cover the upcoming Super Bowl. The last Super Bowl we did in L.A., I actually recorded our program, which is everything you saw at home, plus my hot mic, which means everything I said. I watched that closely, because in the moment, I said things live that might be able to help improve the coverage now. 

Secondly, over the course of the next 12 months, you’re putting together a creative idea, a technical plan. What do we want to do? What do we want to accomplish? 

And then the third and most important thing we want to do is make sure it’s fun. It’s a celebration of football and a celebration for everybody at home. Preparation takes 12 months, and it’s a collective effort that everybody puts together to be able to put on the best possible broadcast for at home. 

MATT CASEY, NBC SPORTS PRODUCER: By late February, this past year, we were out here doing surveys from the stadium. We were taking our initial trips to Alcatraz and making contact with the park rangers. We scouted a bunch of other locations in the city that we ultimately didn’t use, but we made sure we surveyed. 

MATT HOGENCAMP, NBC SPORTS DIRECTOR OF REMOTE TECHNICAL OPERATIONS: When we get here, we have a plan. We’re going to do our best to execute that plan. But also we know there’s going to be curveballs coming at us. So we’re going to have to change,  we’re going to have to pivot. And so that’s why we have the best crew and the best people here to make that happen. 

What are some of the logistical challenges to staffing a TV broadcast of this size?  

LAURA CRONIN, NBC SPORTS DIRECTOR OF REMOTE OPERATIONS: Being the lead operations manager means that you are in charge of everything logistically on site for the broadcast crew, from ordering heavy equipment, doing all the travel for the crew, in and out. 

Hotel contracts, flights, rental cars, working with the league on where our sets will be, working on the positions we’re allowed to have with them for the Super Bowl. We help set up the NBC Sports compound outside. We are building a mini-city out here, and it takes us months to plan it. 

Between your tech manager and your production manager, those are the two people who are going to make sure that your whole production is up and running and everybody’s hitting their timelines, making sure that everybody is working in unison, and that everybody has all of the information they need to make sure that we’re hitting all of the things we need to hit in a daily schedule. 

How many previous Super Bowls have you worked on?  

MOOSSA: I’ve worked on a bunch of Super Bowls. Off the top of my head, I want to say five or six including my first ever Super Bowl. I was actually a runner for Tommy Roy, when he was producing that Super Bowl in San Diego. I’ve worked in multiple different capacities in Super Bowls. And there is nothing like it. It’s one of the most special opportunities you can get to work on in sports television. 

CRONIN: My first Super Bowl, I was a runner for this show. It was 2012, and I was a runner for “Football Night in America.” By the time I got to that Super Bowl, I had met a lot of the other production managers, everybody else in operations, and I knew that I wanted to speak, be in operations. I grew up an athlete, so it’s just cool to say that this is your job and that you get to do this all the time. It’s not lost on me that I’m very lucky. 

What’s your favorite part about working on the Super Bowl pregame show?  

MOOSSA: One of the most fun things I get to do before any broadcast is that I walk the field and just soak it all in. There’ll be a couple of moments on Super Sunday where I’ll take a quick, quick second and say, “Hey, this is pretty darn special.” I hope everyone in the crew gets to do that, because it is pretty darn special. 

HOGENCAMP: On Super Bowl Sunday morning, I can go out onto the field and walk the sidelines. We all have a 5 a.m. run-through call, which means I’ll be here somewhere between 4 and 4:30 a.m. It’s one of the few times on Super Bowl Sunday where it’s actually going to be quiet. And so I will go out and I’m going to walk on the sidelines, see the massive banners and everything going on, and see what’s around us all, to see the Lombardi Trophy up on the wall, see the teams painted in the sidelines and the end zones and take a moment to say, “Matt, you’re at the Super Bowl.” 

CASEY: I’m most excited to see the final product come to life, because of all the time and sweat and thought that has gone into it by so many people. There is a real reward when someone has an idea and it goes from coming out of their mouth in a production meeting to put it together and then have it come to life. 

And if the show makes someone smarter or makes someone smile watching at home, then we’ve done our job. And that’s the accomplishment. That’s really the goal of what we’re trying to do, is entertain and educate and make people want to hang out and have a good time as they get ready for the biggest game of the year.