NYC Stations Super Prepared For Super Bowl

Bracing for everything from the inevitable  flood of people to possible wicked weather and transit meltdowns, New York’s TV stations are making serious investments to be sure they are prepared, no matter what happens when the Super Bowl comes to town.

Having spent months plotting out logistics, planning special programming and obtaining security clearances, local broadcasters in the country’s largest market say they are more focused on covering the hoopla — and the potential ramifications — surrounding the Feb. 2 game at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey than which teams will wind up playing in it.

In turn, New York broadcasters have plans in place that include measures like having extra live trucks in case of equipment problems, holding hotel rooms near the stadium should traffic be a nightmare, renting a trailer so crews can stay warm and setting aside ample time to go through security checks.

“We try to prepare for every conceivable issue we could encounter,” says Fox-owned WNYW News Director Byron Harmon. “In the last six months we have been hammering away on this every day to make sure there are no surprises.” (Taking advantage of Fox’s carrying the game this year, the station is also running numerous specials, culminating in the week of Jan. 27 just prior to the game; see related story here.)

Having kicked off the New Year with a snowstorm big enough to close highways and airports, New York’s TV news heads say weather, and its potential to wreak havoc on everyone from football fans to regular folks, is of primary concern.

Which means the NFL — which says it will move the game should a super storm hit — isn’t the only organization out there with a contingency plan.

Harmon, for instance, says WNYW meteorologists will have a big role in news coverage the week leading up to the NFL championship, much of which will be broadcast from the 14-block “Super Bowl Boulevard” that will be set up on Broadway through the heart of Times Square. The journalists and traffic reporters who will be covering other angles of the football frenzy will be prepared to switch gears should weather or any other event force them to, he says. 

“It’s not like we’re going to wake up on Sunday morning and there will suddenly be a snow storm,” he says.

Still, the NAB’s Dennis Wharton says New York TV stations are, to some degree, forging new ground, as this year marks the first time in Super Bowl history that harsh weather and related issues could be a factor.

“It’s going to require a lot of planning, but that’s what TV stations are good at,” Wharton says. Having covered stories like Hurricane Sandy, New York broadcasters have already shown their strength, he says. “Broadcast TV stations are equipped to handle these types of events, even if they are unforeseen.”

Susan Sullivan, the VP of  news at NBC-owned WNBC, says prepping for the Super Bowl is no different. Sullivan says she puts the Super Bowl — which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors, and hundreds of millions of dollars into the city and surrounding area — on par with other major news stories that have hit the area.

“It’s like a major ticker tape parade except that it’s for more than one day,” she says.

For Sullivan, a large part of those Super Bowl preparations involves putting in place safeguards to make sure the station’s journalists — and the equipment they need to broadcast — are where they need to be, regardless of outside problems like traffic.

As recently as yesterday, a team from WNBC was at MetLife Stadium working with staff to iron out the logistical details of issues like game day access, parking and broadcast locations.

The station has reserved a block of New Jersey hotel rooms, should traffic make it too hard for the station’s New York-based reporters to cross the Hudson River.   Live trucks parked at the NBC facility in Fort Lee, N.J., will be ready to go should WNBC need them, she says.

The NBC O&O is also considering renting a trailer to have on-site on Super Bowl Sunday should the temperature fall and staffers need to warm up, she says.

Sullivan says being prepared for the unexpected is not unusual. “These things can happen any day,” she says, adding that reporters are, for instance, well versed in going into weather mode should the conditions call for it.

Yet even the country’s premiere sporting event — and the onslaught of people, press and potential that come with it — doesn’t rile New York’s broadcast journalists, says David Friend, the news director at CBS O&O WCBS.

The station, he says, has been concentrating its efforts on coverage that brings viewers “as close to the excitement and action” as possible.

And although Friend says he is taking all the necessary steps to pull off football-related coverage as planned — working with organizations from the NFL to NYPD to make sure reporters are covered — Friend says he’s not worried about the “what ifs” that come with the game.

“Traffic is always an issue in Manhattan and the weather could be a problem,” he says, adding that both are par for the course. “It’s just another big event for New York.”

Read other Air Check columns here. You can send suggestions for future Air Checks to Diana Marszalek at [email protected].