For Super Bowl broadcasters, game 'boards' are an indispensable booth secret

NEW ORLEANS — The communicative of Super Bowl LIX is successful the cards.

And by cards, deliberation of a ample expanse of heavy-stock insubstantial loaded with accusation — subordinate names, numbers, statistic and sometimes annotated trivia — ever wrong scope of the broadcasters calling the game.

They’re called “boards” and they’re usually created from scratch by the play-by-play announcers and colour analysts successful the days starring up to a game, a meticulously organized survey expanse that provides a commentator with elaborate accusation successful a pinch.

Fox is broadcasting Sunday’s crippled betwixt the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, and though the web volition connection each conceivable camera angle, not 1 of the much than 100 cardinal viewers volition get a wide glimpse of the boards utilized successful the booth by Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady.

Exactly what those boards look similar is unclear due to the fact that Fox did not marque Sunday’s crippled announcers disposable to The Times.

But it’s apt that their boards are akin to those of different Super Bowl announcers, who trust connected the sheets arsenic much information nett than script.

Play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt, left, and colour commentator Tom Brady volition beryllium successful the booth for Fox calling Super Bowl LIX connected Sunday.

(Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)

“None of it is read,” said legendary CBS play-by-play antheral Jim Nantz, who has worked 7 Super Bowls, including the astir caller 1 successful New Orleans erstwhile Baltimore bushed San Francisco. “You don’t work your broadcast. They’re small reminders.

“During a commercial, I’ll spell backmost and look conscionable to spot if there’s thing that mightiness steer maine toward a communicative enactment should this adjacent bid of plays pb maine determination — oh yeah, I privation to get this in.”

Like his crippled calls, Nantz is steeped successful nostalgia. So astatine his location successful Pebble Beach helium keeps the boards from each shot and hoops crippled helium has ever called, each neatly organized adjacent though immoderate mightiness person ring-shaped java stains oregon possibly a smudge of ketchup from his halftime blistery dog. He has called 502 NFL games, including past month’s AFC title betwixt Kansas City and Buffalo.

“It’s similar having each word paper, each portion of homework that you accumulate from archetypal done 12th people and successful college,” helium said. “I person them each successful order, their ain stack based connected each year. They look caller and crisp, mint information similar I’d conscionable enactment them unneurotic a fewer hours earlier.”

Some boards are neater than others. Troy Aikman’s handwriting, for instance, is truthful precise it astir looks similar calligraphy. And Dick Vermeil’s boards? They were suitable for framing.

“If determination was a Michelangelo of boards, it was Dick,” said Fred Gaudelli, longtime shaper of “Sunday Night Football.” “They were similar works of art.”

Vermeil’s boards were arsenic colorful arsenic a Bourbon Street king cake. First, they featured the squad colors — truthful the Eagles would beryllium successful greenish — past past season’s stats were successful red, this season’s stats were successful black, and bluish for vocation stats. Academic stats were written successful purple, and wounded presumption was successful pink. Filling retired a committee would instrumentality him an full day.

Whereas Nantz built each committee from scratch astatine the commencement of a week, Vermeil would usage tiny pieces of achromatic portion to screen outdated stats, and constitute connected that to update them. What’s more, helium would person 1 smaller committee for each squad successful the league — accidental 1 for the Eagles, 1 for the Chiefs — past conjoin those 2 halves erstwhile those teams were playing each other. It was each astir ratio for him.

“I deliberation determination are a batch of radical inactive utilizing them, due to the fact that I gave them retired to anybody who ever asked for them,” Vermeil said. “I had them printed disconnected astatine astir 100 astatine a time.”

NFL play-by-play announcer Joe Buck shows his broadcast “board” from Super Bowl XLV (45).

Joe Buck’s archetypal Super Bowl committee was written successful bluish — arsenic in, bluish language. He wrote a cruder mentation of “Forget it” each implicit his archetypal 1 conscionable to punctual himself not to get excessively superior and that it was lone a game, adjacent if the full state was tuned in.

“I started to get a small cleaner with my idiosyncratic reminders conscionable due to the fact that I would extremity up inevitably conscionable giving the committee to somebody,” said Buck, present play-by-play antheral for “Monday Night Football.” “If it’s to immoderate schoolhouse auction, I don’t privation ‘[forget] it’ written connected there.”

NBC’s Mike Tirico doesn’t usage insubstantial for his boards anymore, but alternatively relies connected a integer tablet that allows him to scroll to immoderate accusation helium needs. He has a backup tablet, too, conscionable successful lawsuit 1 goes dark.

But backmost erstwhile helium was utilizing paper, helium would benignant the accusation and spell to a adjacent copying store to person his boards printed connected paper stock. If helium was moving successful an open-air property container and determination was a menace of rain, helium would instrumentality the other measurement of having the boards laminated.

Once, his ornate spreadsheet sparked the curiosity of a idiosyncratic asked to people it.

“He looked astatine maine and said, `Are you immoderate benignant of a high-end gambler oregon something?’” asked the feline moving the copier. “I said, `Nah, I’m conscionable a nerd. I similar to travel the crippled closely.’ After they saw maine 5 oregon six times they benignant of figured retired I indispensable person had thing to bash with the broadcast.”

Nobody is much experienced astatine calling ballgames than Al Michaels — Do you judge successful sphericals? — but helium doesn’t conception his ain boards. He relies connected “Malibu” Kelly Hayes, who has been his spotter for each shot crippled since 1978.

Al Michaels walks connected the tract earlier a crippled betwixt the Washington Commanders and Chicago Bears successful October 2023.

(Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

(A spotter uses a antithetic committee than the announcer and acts arsenic different acceptable of eyes, lasting adjacent to the idiosyncratic connected aerial and, connected a fixed play, tapping names to identify, say, the intended receiver, a defender who knocked the shot distant and the antiaircraft extremity pressuring the quarterback.)

“I person entree to different forms of accusation that volition travel to maine either by talking to our probe team, I tin spell backmost and distant with them successful the mediate of a game, and besides I person different printed worldly I tin get to if I request to,” said Michaels, a fixture for 4 decades connected variously Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights.

“So connected the committee it’s essentials. Where a feline went to school. What twelvemonth helium is successful the league. Height and weight, and possibly a definite item successful his career. You can’t enactment excessively overmuch connected there, due to the fact that for the astir part, for Kelly, it’s pointing retired who made the tackle, who created a fumble, the guys who are coming successful and retired of the game. ... We’ve benignant of thinned it retired to the essentials. There’s not a batch of clip to look astatine it and work a batch of the accusation that’s connected there.”

Curt Menefee, Fox workplace host, had a rudimentary method successful his aboriginal days arsenic an NFL Europe play-by-play announcer.

“I showed up successful Amsterdam, and I virtually had a brownish insubstantial container that I had torn successful fractional and opened up and conscionable benignant of wrote names and numbers connected that,” helium said. “[Color analyst] Brian Baldinger said, `You cognize that’s not however it works, right?’ It was a process, but I started disconnected from scratch.”

Former NFL moving backmost Daryl Johnston, a Fox colour analyst, knows however to enactment a bully committee together.

But once… fumble!

“I was doing a Giants crippled and we were staying astatine the W successful Hoboken,” helium said. “We went down for meal and I enactment my committee disconnected to the near broadside and near it. Got up, paid the bill, went out, got successful the car and drove each the mode retired to the stadium. I had to person a runner spell each the mode back, crossing my fingers that it was there.

“I’ve near them astatine location 1 clip and had to person my woman FedEx it.”

For some, that’s the worldly of nightmares.

“I defender my boards precise carefully,” Nantz said. “It’s like, my phone, my wallet, my Rolex ticker and my shot boards. They’re nether afloat protection. And not needfully successful that order.”