Fox Sports brings Super Bowl-level setup to Chiefs-Eagles. See inside
A rematch of Super Bowl LIX takes place Sunday, Sept. 14, when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s not the only thing returning from February’s big game that saw Philadelphia defeat Kansas City 40-22.
The Fox Sports equipment crew has been hard at work setting up a broadcast booth inside Power & Light District’s KC Live! block and inside the parking lot at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium all week, as pre-game talk show FOX NFL Sunday brings its first-ever live broadcast from Kansas City.
The two-spot setup is similar to what Fox ran in New Orleans during their Super Bowl broadcast, said Rod Conti, EVP of studio operations with Fox Sports.
The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon, and guests will get the chance to interact with Fox color commentator and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady hours before he commentates “America’s Game of the Week” at 3:25 p.m. Fans will also be able to hear insight and analysis from Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jay Glazer and Rob Gronkowski.
If you’re going to the game, you can catch analysts Charles Woodson, Charissa Thompson and Julian Edelman in Lot C outside Arrowhead Stadium before the game.
Conti took The Star on a tour of the setup and what goes into bringing a Hollywood-style production to Kansas City.
Pre-game at KC Live!
KC Live! has been showcased on nationally broadcast sporting events in the past, notably for other Super Bowls the Chiefs played in and during the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups over the past 15 years. Conti said it was only natural to bring the Fox Sports setup to Kansas City with this in mind, and that he’s currently working with FIFA to see what they can do with fan activation zones during the tournament in 2026.
Crews arrived in town Monday and immediately began constructing the stage, positioning the light fixtures to avoid blocking the screen above the stage, and testing everything to ensure it was ready. While their focus is on Sunday, the same stage was used Friday, Sept. 12, for “First Things First,” a sports talk show on Fox Sports 1 hosted by Kansas City native Nick Wright.
The setup involved constructing the desk, which is placed on the small stage visible on the outside of the Grand Boulevard and Walnut Street entrances. Construction added a ramp that the analysts will walk down and lead to a small football field in the middle of the crowd, where they’ll hang out and throw footballs and shirts to the fans on-air and during breaks.
It’s much easier to set up the show in the heart of downtown Kansas City as opposed to in the middle of Bourbon Street, Conti said. He credited that to the local crews who have been a guiding hand in directing where everything needs to be.
“Coming to downtown Kansas City has been a joy, and again, working with the people of KC Live! has been fantastic,” Conti said. “Matter of fact, I may even put it at the top of my list of places all time.”
Most of the hurdles and contingency plans they have for outdoor shows are solved thanks to the roof. If rain were to appear, the analysts and fans inside the venue will be protected from it and other weather elements.
The biggest challenge will be moving the on-air talent from KC! Live to Arrowhead before the game kicks off so they can provide additional analysis from the field. It’s a 15-minute drive from downtown to the stadium, and they’ll be competing against traffic from fans going to the game.
Access to KC Live! is free to the public until 1 p.m, and Conti encourages fans to show up early to get the best spot. The event will also overlap with the free New Heights Tailgate on the outside of the venue in between 13th and 14th Walnut streets, complete with fan activities, giveaways and barbecue tastings from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Tailgating at Arrowhead
The second part of Fox Sports’ game coverage takes place in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot.
Right in the middle of Lot C is a larger stage with no desk and an arch-style covering to protect the football field-designed carpet and the analysts that’ll be interacting with the crowd before the game. A large statue of Cleatus, Fox Sports’ robot mascot, will sit in the background.
Fans can also expect to play games and win prizes from the analysts at Arrowhead. They may also be treated to Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue, which Conti said will be cooking in the open area behind the stage.
Velvet ropes and security fences block the area from the rest of the parking lot, but fans are invited to get as close to the action as possible as they wait for the Week 2 showdown. This part of the pregame entertainment runs from the moment the pregame show goes live to halftime of the first set of games starting at noon.
“We want to be with the fans,” Conti said. “We want to be surrounded by fans, and we want them to play a part in this broadcast, because it really is about the fandom that surrounds this team and this matchup.”
The flat surface makes it easier to set up the stage and get the production trucks and green rooms for the analysts in place to broadcast the shows to the nation. Conti said the hardest part is taking everything down while all the cars are surrounding the area, a complete difference from the emptiness they had to work with when setting the stage up.
There’s also a third smaller setup on the visitor’s side bench inside Arrowhead that takes around 8-10 people to move in and out of place when they’re broadcasting. They only get around 90 seconds to get it in and out of place to not interfere with the in-game action or the players.
It takes a team to put this together, and after 20 years of working with Fox Sports on the production side, Conti’s got the perfect team to bring the show to football fans.
“It’s truly a gift to work with a collaboration of different people in different cultures, and bring what we do,” Conti said. “It seems to work everywhere, and I love it. There’s no better place.”
