“The Super Bowl is the granddaddy of big event television, and our approach this year is unlike anything we have ever done,” said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation. “For the first time, CBS Corporation will have week-long, round-the-clock Super Bowl coverage on more than a half-dozen platforms. Creating CBS Super Bowl Park at Jackson Square as the center of all this activity will make it even more compelling, and also illustrate the collaborative efforts across the Company.”
The NFL is one of the few sure ratings generators in an increasingly time-shifted universe. So CBS flooded the zone for its coverage of Super Bowl XLVII, enlisting virtually all of the assets of CBS Corporation – including CBS News, CBS Sports Network, Showtime, syndication, daytime and late-night – in coverage of the game, Feb. 3 from the Superdome in New Orleans.
“It’s unlike anything we’ve done at the Super Bowl before,” Sean McManus, chairman, CBS Sports, told The Hollywood Reporter.
In the past, the sports division would begin their coverage late morning the day of the game, while CBS News would generally broadcast its morning show from the Super Bowl city. But for Super Bowl XLVII the network’s broadcast center – dubbed CBS Super Bowl Park – in New Orleans’s historic Jackson Square became home to 15 different shows beginning Monday, Jan. 28, a full six days before game day.
“If you have the biggest event on television it’s important to maximize that value, not just for the sports division but for the rest of corporation as well,” noted McManus.
"This, in CBS lore, is historic," said Ken Aagaard, who has overseen the installation and will supervise its operation. "It's unusual for all of us from entertainment, news and sports to do something all in one venue together. Nothing in my 43 years of doing this really compares to this. Putting all the various divisions together all on the same site, plus the game.”
CBS This Morning broadcast from New Orleans Thursday through Saturday. The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley and CBS Evening News Saturday broadcast from Jackson Square Friday and Saturday. Bob Schieffer kicked off CBS’ Super Bowl Sunday programming with a special edition of Face the Nation at 10:30 a.m. The Talk broadcast from New Orleans Monday through Friday in front of a live audience, while OMG! Insider host Kevin Frazier was in the Big Easy all week. Craig Ferguson hosted a special Sunday edition of The Late Late Show that aired after the network’s episode of Elementary – which landed the coveted post-Super Bowl slot. Showtime’s Inside the NFL – hosted by James Brown, Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth – held their Super Bowl edition the Wednesday before the game. And the CBS Sports Network leveraged interest in the year’s most-watched telecast to get eyeballs to CBS Sports Network with several programs originating from New Orleans including daily editions of Inside the Super Bowl and Super Bowl Live, NFL QB Monday, late-night program Lead Off and Jim Rome’s show Rome. Meanwhile CBSSports.com had a daily one-hour show hosted by Kevin Corke and various NFL experts. And James Brown, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason kicked off the broadcast network’s coverage of the game Sunday afternoon.
“We’re really showcasing all the different platforms at CBS," noted McManus. "It’s exciting, but it’s daunting because the size of the actual production in Jackson Square rivals what we’re doing at the game itself.”
