How Your Sunday NFL Football Gets Made

The television production crews that help bring professional football games to some 15 or so million people on any given network on any given Sunday are kind of like NFL placeholders. You don’t really recognize who they are or what they do until something goes wrong. But one of the main differences between those television production crews and NFL placeholders is nothing ever goes wrong with National Football League television broadcasts, at least as far as your average viewer is concerned.

That level of quality and near perfection is achieved by some 200 credentialed workers (including stage managers, statisticians, runners, producers, directors, camera operators, remote controlled camera operators, and more) helping to contribute and move over 3,500 signals on eight fibers between two trucks that transmit and deliver one broadcast to your viewing screen.

It’s a complicated dance where humans and advanced technologies with innumerable built-in redundancies work with one another to produce a fluid, seemingly effortless final product. It’s also a marvel for any fan of football or anyone with a production background to see in action. And SB Nation has a first-hand look.

The channel dedicated to independent sports coverage from a fan’s perspective (that was originally part of YouTube’s now defunct $100+ million Original Channels Initiative) recently released Sunday Symphony, a 13-minute and 25-second mini-documentary that points the cameras towards the people that usually control them.

Give the video a click below. It’ll change the way you football and/or give you a greater appreciation of those not on the playing field that help to make it.