Taylor Swift at Super Bowl to be 'God's Gift' for CBS broadcast

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Fred Gaudelli has been the lead producer of Super Bowl television broadcasts on seven separate occasions. If you’re interested in Roman numerals, Gaudelli has produced Super Bowls XXXVII, XL, XLIII, XLVI, XLIX, LII and LVI. He has been in the production truck of some of the most exciting NFL title games in history, including Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, in which New England Patriots rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson at the goal line with 20 seconds remaining Was. New England seal 28-24 win over Seattle. That game averaged 114.4 million viewers, ranking it as the most-watched Super Bowl in American television history before the previous year’s Super Bowl title win.

During his 33 seasons as chief producer of NFL prime-time TV games, which included stops at ABC, ESPN, NBC and Amazon Prime Video, Gaudelli has produced countless NFL games with famous people in the stands. If he were producing the game, how would he feel about the possibility of Taylor Swift attending Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on February 11?

“I would consider it a gift from the gods,” Gaudelli said.

Gaudelli, because he lives on Planet Earth, knows that Swift enters popular culture and that means the product is likely to get more attention. (If you’re an intense hater, this piece is going to be a brutal summer for you, and it’s best to get out of it now.)

The challenge for the CBS Sports production team for Super Bowl LVIII, if Swift comes to the game to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers — is to navigate how often you include images of the singer. broadcast.

The good news for the crew, led by producer Jim Rickhoff, director Mike Arnold and replay producer Ryan Galvin, is that they have plenty of Chiefs action this year, including the divisional-round game in Buffalo and the AFC Championship Game in Baltimore. In which Swift participated. It would be an editorial insult not to show Swift during the game, but at the same time, how much of her do you show?

Then there’s a new question: How much of an influence does the Super Bowl, a game attended by millions of people who are first-time football spectators for that season, have on your decision to show it?

“Let’s go to the last Super Bowl I did,” Gaudelli said of the Los Angeles Rams’ victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on February 13, 2022. We had (Rams quarterback) Matthew Stafford, his wife and kids. We had (Bengals quarterback) Joe Burrow’s parents and girlfriend. We had (Rams wide receiver) Cooper Kupp’s wife. We had (Rams offensive lineman) Andrew Whitworth’s wife and kids. We had (Bengals wide receiver) Jammer Chase’s mom and dad. You have these shots set up because they are part of the game’s story and because there are five times more people (watching) than a normal game. Right from the beginning, you’re already wondering who’s in the game, and in L.A. we had celebrities like LeBron James and Jay-Z. (Director) Drew Ascoff was cutting those shots during the game. So when Stafford threw a touchdown pass, Stafford’s wife had a shot. Burr writhing in pain on the ground? You look at his parents and his girlfriend with the utmost concern.

“Now you have Taylor Swift, who has a direct connection to the game because she is a significant other of one of the stars on the team. You may not show him up for every Kelce sequence, but when he makes a play it will be a part of the sequence.

The amount of airtime Swift has received so far during NFL games has been much less than some people thought. New York Times writer Benjamin Hoffman wrote an excellent article this week explaining “the discrepancy between how often Swift has been shown and how often people think she has been shown.” They reported that Swift was on screen for less than 32 seconds in most games, with a maximum duration of 1 minute and 16 seconds for the Peacock Chiefs’ coverage against the Miami Dolphins on January 13.

“You can’t help but keep him in the air,” said Tracy Wolfson, who will be on the Chiefs sideline for the Super Bowl. “I can’t tell you how many fathers have come up to me and said, ‘My daughter is now watching football because of Taylor Swift.’ I mean, why wouldn’t you take advantage of it or take advantage of it? It’s great for the NFL and it’s great for ratings.”

Fox’s broadcast of the Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears on September 24 set the template for swift coverage as the network had to figure out everything quickly. Head producer Richie Zyontz said that his crew had not received any official notice from the NFL or the Chiefs that Swift would be in attendance. (This changed in the following weeks; Rickhoff knew the Chiefs-Bills game was to be Swift the night before.) He had to figure out which camera operators to use for the shots, as well as how many to use.

“We were in an unknown crisis and were the first ones to deal with this situation,” Zyontz said this week, reflecting on that game. “Restraint immediately came to mind. As the season progressed, there were plenty of knee-jerk reaction shots, yet those were the shots that were talked about and written about on Mondays. For the Super Bowl, there will be millions of new viewers because of that. Hopefully, a good decision will come. But for those who complain, come on, it’s a game of a few seconds at a time, a few times at a time. Is it really that terrible?”

Tracy Wolfson, who will work the Chiefs sideline at the Super Bowl for the CBS broadcast, says of Taylor Swift, “You can’t help but get her on the air.” (Jason Hanna/Getty Images)

The Super Bowl will be very different. If Swift is at the game, the Chiefs and the NFL will know which suite Swift will sit in at the stadium. So there would be no problem finding him for a CBS broadcast production. CBS would request to interview the singer. (If there’s a bet about Swift being interviewed on camera, I’d bet no.) Gaudelli said the production’s best chance would be to go to the heads who would route the request to him through Kelce. You’ll also ask to see if she wants to do anything off-camera.

Gaudelli, who now serves as executive producer for NBC’s NFL coverage, said, “We didn’t make that request during the season because we didn’t think it would reach that level at that time.” “But, yes, I think you kept it for the Super Bowl. You’ll try to get him on the pregame show.

Expect some guaranteed scenes in the postgame. If the Chiefs win, there will definitely be a CBS camera operator following Kelce.

Gaudelli said, “As a producer and director, he’s one of the main guys you want to see at the end of the game because he’s a major part of their dynasty if they win.” “So wherever she is, she will be. You don’t really need to go very far hunting. You will be looking for number 87.”

One person who is watching all this with complete amusement is CBS broadcaster Ian Eagle, who was the first NFL national broadcaster to acknowledge the Swift-Kelce connection. On Kelce’s touchdown call during Kansas City’s 17–9 win over Jacksonville on September 17, the Eagle jokingly tossed him. The “Kelce gets a blank to score” linereferencing a Swift song title.

“Kelce gets a blank to score.”

Ian Eagle is hiding a reference in this Travis Kelce touchdown call

@nfl pic.twitter.com/pQNiqZdh88

– The Athletic (@TheAthletic) 17 September 2023

Eagle said, “In September, some stories linking Travis to Taylor were coming out, but it was not getting major coverage at the time.” “When Kelce scored a touchdown in Jacksonville, I said as a lark, ‘He finds an empty spot to score.’ I thought it was a beautifully thrown line, didn’t think for a moment that it would blow up. I quickly learned of Swift’s power, and interest in this Chiefs run has grown exponentially all these months later. The NFL was already huge. But this relationship has created even more buzz for the league. I’m happy for those two crazy kids.”