CBS aims to strike balance with added Super Bowl cameras

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With some 70 cameras located from the pylons in the end zone to those isolated on single players, the ability to show plays from a 360-degree perspective and tracking technology that determines how fast and far players run, almost no aspect of the Super Bowl will be out of reach for the CBS crew.

The job for producer Lance Barrow and director Mike Arnold will be to make sure that all those bells and whistles added for the biggest television event of the year complement, rather than overshadow the football game.

CBS is using eight custom-made pylon cameras to give views of each sideline and the goal lines, as well as 36 cameras spaced around the stadium to offer a 360-degree perspective that can be frozen and revolved around the play to show how a hole opens or closes or better illustrate what a quarterback sees on the field.

The network also will have tracking devices that can show how much separation a receiver gets from a cornerback, how fast players are running and how far they run over the course of the game or on any given play.

Simms considered himself a skeptic of pylon cameras when first told about them but has been won over by some of the shots they have produced in the College Football Playoff and NFL postseason.