The tech behind Super Bowl 50: 1,300 Wi-Fi hotspots, 16 camera angles and more

The Super Bowl is a long American tradition of brute force meeting skill on the gridiron as the world waits to see who will emerge victorious.

But in our newly tech-powered mediascape, how exactly will all that action find its way to the eyeballs of millions of footballs fans watching on Sunday? We investigated, talked to both the NFL and CBS, the official broadcaster (in the U.S.) to find out exactly how much tech it takes to put on football's Big Game.

The CBS broadcast will include:

256 microphones to record sound.

100+ cameras shooting pre-game and game footage for the TV show.

16 camera angles from eight new Pylon Cameras, the first time the Super Bowl has employed this on-the-field technique.

11 complete Avid editing suites, along with 10 graphics stations and a voiceover booth will work in real-time to produce the broadcast.

5K cameras to capture 360-degree game footage for quick playback in what the production calls "EyeVision 360."

3 aerial camera systems will work to capture game action from the sky.

Wi-Fi Access

This year the game's Wi-Fi access is being handled by Hewlett-Packard's Aruba Networks. The company will provide 1,300 802.11ac Wi-Fi access points throughout the stadium, supported beacons under every 100 seats.

The wireless connectively, which surfaced in a report from Network World, are expected to be able to handle the online activity of the almost 70,000 football fans in attendance. The report also notes that, compared to the data traffic from last year's Super Bowl 49, which was around 6 terabytes, the data traffic for Super Bowl 50 is expected to nearly double that at around 10TB.

Watching at the Game

If you have bad seats (stop — there are no bad seats at the Super Bowl, but anyway…) you'll still be able to catch the action via two 48-foot-tall and 200-foot-wide high-definition video boards situated above each end zone.

Additionally, the stadium has installed 2,000 Sony televisions around the stadium, ensuring that you'll be able to stay abreast of any expected developments if you need to leave your seat for the concession stand during the game.

Virtual Reality & Interactive Games

No, no, you won't be able to watch the game in virtual reality, but rest assured that, based on current developments, that's probably coming soon. What you will be able to do in VR is go through a football training program produced by SAP at its "Fan Energy Zone" in downtown San Francisco. The company will also provide interactive football experiences and games at the facility through a 50-foot-wide video wall. The wall will also display statistics from the Super Bowl game as it happens as well as user-generated content.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

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