Fox Sports always goes out of its way to shine a spotlight on the U.S. military on the NFL Sunday ahead of Veterans Day and this year is no exception as it is FOX NFL SUNDAY is calling the Naval Base San Diego home beginning at 11 am EST. And after a week of preparation a team of 125 production professionals are set to do some fun and unique programming that has never been seen before.
“This is my favorite show to work on and I always try to make it everyone else’s favorite show as well,” says Greg Pfeifer, Fox Sports, director, remote engineering. “This year we have a couple of cool things like dropping Gronk [Rob Gronkowski] out of an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter and into the water about a half mile from the pier where our set is located. He’ll be doing a simulation of how they disable a mine with a small charge.”
The Fox NFL pregame show will broadcast live from Naval Base San Diego on Sunday morning beginning at 11 am EST.
Capturing that requires several cameras (including a hard camera with a 122x lens shooting from the pier). Other means of capturing his jump include a heavy-lift drone from Beverly Hills Aerials, a fixed wing plane flying at a higher altitude, and a helmetcam worn by Gronk.
“We will also have two boats and one of the boats has a handheld camera operator and then the other boat has a frogman who will have an underwater camera,” says Pfeifer. “And then we have an ENG camera in the helicopter with Gronk and a helmetcam on Gronk, so we basically have six cameras for that shoot.”
Beverly Hills Aerials provided a drone with a 42-pound payload for this weekend’s Fox Sports Veterans Day tribute.
As for audio, military helicopters aren’t known for their quiet ride so the production team has placed plenty of microphones in the chopper to capture Gronk getting ready and for his jump.
“And AVS, who has been a great partner on this, came up with a waterproof system so he can wear the helmet camera, a microphone, and an IFB that will all be able to keep working after he jumps in the water,” adds Pfeifer.
Other production highlights include a 75-foot Techno crane as well wireless cameras and hard cameras on the stage.
“We also will have some cool POV cameras to show Gronk climbing up the side of the pier and those should be pretty awesome,” adds Pfeifer.
Piers can sometimes be tricky to work on given that they can often have limited space and power. But the pier Sunday is a maintenance pier with plenty of power so Fox will rely on a mix of shore power that will feed a UPS. There are also two backup generators that can run the whole production, including the Game Creek Video Yogi truck which is at the center of the production.
“Yogi came here straight from the World Series,” says Pfeifer. “We dropped steel on Sunday for the set and then the trucks were parked Monday morning. We were off and running from there.”
Military facilities always have their own challenges to deal with as security is always an issue and this year the challenge was making sure the drone was cleared for use.
“It took quite a bit of time to get that approved and there are a lot of anti-aircraft and ant-drone systems,” he adds.
Currently in its 31st season, the show’s cast features Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, Jay Glazer and Gronk.
“This is the time of year our entire network collectively looks forward to honoring and saluting our troops here at home and stationed across the world,” says Eric Shanks, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer, FOX Sports. “We can’t wait to spotlight Naval Base San Diego as FOX NFL SUNDAY prepares to pay tribute to all those men and women who bravely sacrifice and defend the core values of our country.”
Other programming highlights will include a visit to the world-Famous I-Bar, the Navy’s iconic and exclusive bar, which was featured in the movie “Top Gun: Maverick.” The entire cast will train with Navy SEALs as part of their experience at the Naval Base
“Today, we celebrate our nation’s veterans for their service and stewardship of the next generation of warfighters,” says Vice Admiral Brendan McLane, commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. “We honor our heroes and their families during the FOX Sports Veterans Day Show at Naval Base San Diego with a long, proud tradition as home to the U.S. Navy.”
