Editor’s Note: Tyler Strong, The Augusta Press’s Business Editor, is away on assignment with CBS as the network prepares to broadcast the LV Super Bowl on Feb. 7. He will file an occasional story on what’s it’s like to work behind the scene in preparation for one of the most watched sporting events of the year.
Picture in your mind a forklift in reverse. The driver’s careful gaze, the exhaust pipe’s hazy cloud wafting up, and that oh-so-familiar beeping. Multiply that by ten and you’ve got an idea of the organized chaos of the CBS Sports compound, nestled in the shadow of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Come hell or high water, Super Bowl LV is on.
The season wasn’t without its share of scares, with NFL players and personnel being shuffled on and off the COVID-19 list and multiple games being postponed.
This was the first year in the league’s modern era (since 1950) that an NFL game took place on every day of the week. Mid-week games are rare — the last instances were in 2010 when a Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles game was postponed due to a blizzard in Philly, and in 2012 when the season-opening New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys game was shifted from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid clashing with President Barack Obama’s keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.
But some how, some way, all 256 scheduled games were played, and the playoff picture has been set. There’s a little drama around the compound as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a shot to host the NFC Championship game at Raymond James if they were to upset division rival New Orleans and the Los Angeles Rams knocked off the top-seeded Green Bay Packers. It’s a bit of a longshot, but it would throw everything into overdrive if it came to pass.
Less exciting, at least to this point, has been the daily preparations around the site. CBS Sports rolled in right after the first of the year to begin setting up the facilities for one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.
Everyone working with CBS has the same start to the day: a two-fold health screening process conducted by both NFL and CBS health officials with temperature checks and a questionnaire about COVID-19-related symptoms. Feeling feverish? Been around someone in the last 14 days that had COVID? Stay home.
But from there, the task list is varied for every staff member. It could be anything from guiding the journey of a desk chair from furniture rental truck to pick-up truck bed to its final resting place in a portable trailer. It could be picking up one of a thousand forgotten zip ties trampled into the dirt at any given time. Or it could be swinging by the airport to pick up Jim Nantz or a more unknown (but equally important) person like a CBS producer, whose oft-thankless work in the trucks ensures the folks at home get to enjoy the action.
But the questions viewers are asking themselves as the event still looms weeks away are questions wondered aloud by on-site staff as well, and there’s one big question in particular: “Are we going to have fans? If so, how many?” And it’s still up in the air, as far as many can tell.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said weeks ago in a letter to Rob Higgins, president of the Tampa Super Bowl Host Committee, that he wanted healthcare workers to take up at least some of the stands.
“We are currently discussing with public health officials our desire to invite vaccinated health care workers to the Super Bowl as our guests,” Goodell said. “Subject to their approval and in consultation with your team, we aim to do this in a safe and responsible way.”
It’s a good and well-deserved gesture, but the number of everyday fans allowed in is still a point of contention and could be mulled over to within days of the event, given the COVID-19 pandemic’s unpredictable nature. Regardless, the event’s preparations roll on and the overall goal is the same, fans or no fans: Help people forget about everything else for just a little while and enjoy a game.
Tyler Strong is the business editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
