Transcript

The transcript below has been lightly edited for readability and clarity. Click any starting timestamp to jump to that exact point in the YouTube video.

Podcast Introduction

[00:00] Don Costante:

Welcome to the Rundown Podcast hosted by Don Costante, a sports and event management expert with over 25 years experience. This unique podcast provides an opportunity to hear from some of the best professionals in the industry. You’ll get valuable insight and perspective on what it takes to deliver authentic experiences, activate brands, and most importantly, connect with audiences. All on the Rundown Podcast. Let’s get started.

NFL Event Presentation and Fan Engagement

[00:27] Don Costante:

Over the years, the National Football League has been at the forefront in utilizing technology and entertainment resources to fully enhance fans’ engagement and enjoyment with their brand during major events like the NFL Draft, NFL Kickoff, and the Super Bowl. Whether fans are on site or elsewhere, the NFL’s event presentation strategy is to deliver content that entertains all demographics and provides immersive opportunities to fans that enhances their individual experiences. That said, I thought it would be interesting to go behind the shield and take a closer look at the NFL’s methodology and the logistical details involved in facilitating their large-scale events. Today, my guest is Tim Tubito, Director of Event Presentation and Content for the National Football League. Tim is an Emmy Award-winning producer and director with over 16 years experience in production and event presentation. He’s worked for the New York Jets, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corporation, and most recently, the NFL. In his current role, Tim oversees event presentation and content for all the NFL’s major events. In addition, Tim heads the NFL’s event presentation strategy and serves as liaison across all 32 clubs.

Meet Tim Tubito

[01:41] Don Costante:

In this episode, Tim shares his event presentation philosophy and then takes us deep into the NFL’s mindset for the development of the NFL Draft and Super Bowl. During our conversation, Tim uncovers logistical details that illustrate exactly why the NFL is considered a leader in the sports and entertainment industry. Listen as we discuss his role as club liaison, the pandemic’s impact on the NFL Draft and Super Bowl, how technology was utilized to deliver enhanced experiences, and much more. I’m ready to get started. Let’s meet Tim Tubito. Hi, Tim. Thanks for joining me on The Rundown.

[02:20] Tim Tubito:

Thanks, Don. Thanks for having me.

[02:21] Don Costante:

Now, there is so much that we could discuss today, but for the purpose of this interview, I’m going to focus on three specific areas of your job. Your role as club liaison for 32 teams, the NFL Draft, and of course, the Super Bowl. Does that work for you?

[02:36] Tim Tubito:

That works great for me.

Tim Tubito’s Career Path

[02:37] Don Costante:

Perfect. But before we get into those discussions, let’s begin with your career path. Tell listeners about the path that led you to becoming director of event presentation and content for the National Football League.

[02:49] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, so I had a very interesting path to where I’m now. I started in 2002 working part-time with the Jets. I went to Hofstra University out on Long Island, and at the time, that was the location of the Jets practice facility. So I was taking a summer post-production events editing course and heard that there was openings at the Jets. Went in for an interview, and even though I was a Giants fan, grew up a Giants fan. Went in for an interview with the Jets, and I got the job. Started at the bottom. Interestingly enough, the job was primarily focused on more football video content rather than creative content. So working with the coaches, the general managers, scouts, really trying to help them prepare for game day and the draft. It was a part of the business that I wasn’t really aware existed, especially from the video side of things. So that’s where I started in 2002. I was working kind of full-time with the Jets and also finishing up school at Hofstra, which worked out well because they were right on the campus, and I was able to navigate my schedule around that. I worked there for about two years kind of in that assistant role. I left there for a year in 2004 to work at Rutgers University.

[03:57] Tim Tubito:

I took a similar position at Rutgers University with a bit more creative involvement. And then in 2005, I returned back to the Jets in a more full-time role. Sometimes success is hard work, but it’s also kind of being at the right place at the right time. The Jets were just going through some organizational changes, and it let me quickly move up to the director position. I was working on overseeing the video department there, and it gave me some really, really unique opportunities. This was around the time the new stadium was going to be built. The Jets were planning to move to the new facility in Florham Park. So it really put me, even though my background and my studies in college were primarily focused around creative and production and live production, it put me into a world of getting a better understanding of AV infrastructure, stadium design, facility design, and really gave me a stronger background with just technology itself and getting a better understanding of technology. And all at the same time, supporting the football team, supporting the creative side of things, and getting a better understanding of what football coaches need, which gives me some really unique qualifications for the position I’m in today.

[05:00] Tim Tubito:

So getting an understanding of football, the technology, and also with my strong background in post-production, editing, shooting, producing, that all kind of came into play. And at the time, the Jets were very much a kind of a mom and pop small operation. So fast forward, we moved to Florham Park out in New Jersey in the brand new state of the art facility and opened up a brand new stadium. And that’s where my transition started to take place, where I was more focused on content. Event presentation was one part of what I was doing, but content overall for the club itself was a big area of focus. So at that time, when we moved to Florham Park, I took more of an active role in our content production and our producing, and then certainly into event presentation, where I began to kind of take a look at what we were doing with the Jets and what was going on around the league and in the new stadium, how we could use event presentation as a really strong fan engagement tool and utilize the four boards in that stadium to give the fans the same tools they have at home on their phone and really enhance the stadium itself. So for that, a long stint with the Jets, I just thought it was a good time to kind of branch out and expand my knowledge.

[06:07] Tim Tubito:

And I spent a year at Madison Square Garden working with the Knicks primarily and also working somewhat with the Rangers. And this gave me a much different view of event presentation as a whole, because there’s things that the NBA does that the NFL didn’t necessarily do. And again, this would help me in my development. So I spent a year there, got the opportunity to work with a lot more talent with halftime entertainment. That was a great learning process. And then this opportunity came along at the NFL to oversee event presentation content. And it kind of took all the tools coming together that I’ve learned in the course of my career and really put them to use in one position here at the NFL.

Event Presentation Philosophy

[06:44] Don Costante:

Wow, that’s great. A lot of great experience right there. One of the things I love to ask people who oversee the event presentation side is their philosophy. So I’m curious, can you share your event presentation philosophy with the listeners?

[06:57] Tim Tubito:

Sure. A big part of my philosophy is always to innovate. But as a whole, when we look at an event, like you plan and you assess the event and then you execute. And then out of the event, you collect the data and information and receive feedback. And you take a look at that. And as you go into the event, the next time you really take a look at what you did and see how you can grow and improve the event each time. So that’s kind of like the cycle for philosophy. It’s really making sure that you’re creating a high energy event that really entertain and engages the fans. And when we say engaging, it really has to the audience, the fan that is in the venue and the fan at home, because what we do as an event, that all gets picked up on broadcast. Making sure it’s the type of experience that engaging is a word we throw around, but really makes them feel a part of the show. And so constantly using the tools that we have, because even at the basic level, you know, everyone immediately goes to like, well, what high technology tools can we deliver? But really enhancing the game and creating a show around the game or the event that makes people feel a part of it is probably the most important thing.

[08:01] Tim Tubito:

And every fan who’s a football fan, they would love to be able to put on the pads. Not everyone could do that. So how do we make them feel as close to the accident as a part of the accident and that they’re impacting the game and the event as possible?

Treating Event Presentation as a Complete Show

[08:13] Don Costante:

I love that. I love how you use the word show. And in doing some research on you, I actually listened to a podcast that you did and you talked about event presentation as a complete show. It needs to be a complete show in that you look to other forms of entertainment like Broadway shows, Las Vegas shows, live entertainment for inspiration and ideas. I just think that’s fantastic.

[08:34] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, that’s always been a big part of how I look at things. Now, it’s certainly a football game, first and foremost. And that’s something that we never lose sight of because as we plan all these events, especially the Super Bowl, sometimes you really get into like the details of the pregame and it’s so entertainment driven. But that core is it is about football, making sure that we’re not missing the football point. But yes, I do look at it as a complete show. And I think that’s where just going back to my time at Madison Square Garden, taking in these other areas of entertainment and applying them to a football game and a football centric event is so important because that’s how you continue to innovate and grow. If you stay within your sport and you don’t look outside of it, you’ll never grow. So I do that. I think the league as a whole, we do that. And whether we’re looking into what’s going on in the gaming world, what’s going on in the app world. And then certainly our club business development team that we work with really closely. They’re always looking for innovations beyond our sport and how we could bring that into our sport to not only help our events, but also help all 32 clubs.

Serving as Liaison Across All 32 NFL Clubs

[09:33] Don Costante:

I love that. Speaking of all 32 clubs, great transition into your role as the club liaison. So you are the voice for 32 clubs in the NFL and you provide communication, direction and guidelines for game presentation to all the teams. Now, one of the things that we’ve already talked about in your path and I love is that you spent 13 years with the New York Jets. How has that experience helped you in your role with the NFL?

[09:58] Tim Tubito:

I think first of all, it gives me a level of clout and respect between the clubs.

[10:03] Don Costante:

Oh, absolutely.

[10:04] Tim Tubito:

They know I’ve been in it. They know I have an understanding of what they’re dealing with day to day. For me, that’s probably the biggest thing because I understand at the club level how priorities work and that, you know, from one market to another, there could be a different focus on how you engage your fans. But ultimately, the club understanding how they have to strike that balance between putting on a good show and also strongly supporting their football team and making sure they’re putting their football team and creating home field advantage in their stadium. And also the challenges that come along with some of the decisions we have to make at the league level that affect all 32 teams. So I think they understand that when I’m a part of a decision that affects them, I have their interest in mind and I can represent them appropriately and represent their needs appropriately. So I think that’s where my experience of working at the club level has really helped and having a great relationship with all the clubs and, you know, my fellow game press directors. And it’s so important because even as I go into our events, learning what they’re doing because they’re the people who are doing it week in and week out.

[11:04] Tim Tubito:

Whereas now I have quite a bit of time between my events, they are seeing trends firsthand. So I take a lot away from them and we learn from each other and it’s really a good partnership. And then kind of working day to day with them. I also work with a bunch of groups internally, whether that is our broadcast department or our football ops department to just really make the best decisions for the game of football and for what these clubs are doing in stadiums to engage and entertain their fans.

Leveraging Technology to Better Engage Fans

[11:31] Don Costante:

I love that. Now you mentioned engage fans. What new ways is the NFL leveraging technology to better engage fans?

[11:39] Tim Tubito:

So it’s a tough question because we’re doing so much all the time. I think one thing that we do from the event presentations perspective is before we dive into technology, because there’s so much cool technology out there. It’s easy to just say, that’s cool. How do we use this? And let’s kind of force it into what we’re doing. Instead, I try to take the approach of, okay, we have a problem. How does technology solve that problem or create a solution and further enhance what we’re doing? Whether going back to last Super Bowl, diving into mixed reality and using that for our all time team ceremony, there was a problem to solve there or bringing virtual fans to the NFL draft last year. You know, the problem there was the NFL draft is probably our most stand friendly event. And this was at the very beginning of the pandemic almost a year ago. How do we still make fans a big part of this event where they feel like they’re involved in it and they’re close to it? And that’s what kind of led us to leveraging technology and bringing in virtual fans to the event to be a part of it and to be with the commissioner. And so I think those are some of the ways that we’ve done it recently. And we’ll continue to do that by just kind of looking at the problems at hand and how do we continue to use innovation and use technology to engage our fans.

[12:52] Tim Tubito:

It even extended to the Super Bowl, the LED seat cutters that we use during the Super Bowl to further enhance the event. We took what was the problem of creating a safe barrier between the field and the crowd. And we took that opportunity to use the LEDs as a palette to further enhance our show. I think it’s just constantly looking at what’s coming up in the event. What challenges do we have? And then what technology is out there to enhance the event and further engage the fans.

Technology Partners and Innovation

[13:18] Don Costante:

So the next question really is a question I think a lot of people in the industry would be interested in knowing is what tech companies does the NFL work with to brainstorm on the future of game presentation and fan engagement?

[13:31] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, so there’s quite a few partners that we work with depending on what space we’re trying to tap into. We’ve worked closely with Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment for years on the production of our events. And we’re constantly grinding out having long brainstorming sessions on what can we do differently this year? How do we enhance our events? And we work closely with the famous group on our virtual fan side and also our social side. How do we bring social media into our stadiums? One of the new vendors that we worked with this year on the Super Bowl production club. We worked with them closely on how do we really enhance our player intros. Pure entertainment, which we work with on opening night and various kind of pageantry type stuff. And how do we bring what we do down on the field and various others like ETK, who works with us very closely on the championship games and our entertainment teams. We have so many large scale events and all of these groups that I mentioned have such great institutional knowledge from working in the sports industry, not only with the NFL, but they work with so many other sports and being able to take all that information in and continually innovate and challenge. And, you know, some of these things come up and there’s not necessarily technology out there to solve all our problems.

[14:39] Tim Tubito:

So there’s times where I will go to these vendors and say, here’s our problem. This is what we want to do. How do we do this? Let’s all get in a room and figure this out. And sometimes creating things that haven’t actually been done before, which has been really one of the best parts of this position is working with all these great vendors and getting the opportunity to sit down and just say, okay, we’ve never done this before. And we joke about it. There’s times where I’ll be on the call. It’s like, okay, great. So we’re going to do something. We’re going to do something that’s never been done before again at another event in front of the largest audience in the world. And I’m like, yeah, let’s do it guys. Let’s give it a shot. And it’s amazing. And kind of going back to the entertainment side of things and how like we work with a company like production club and bringing them on to the Super Bowl. They have a long history of working with festivals and music events. So that was a real draw for me because they bring a whole nother area of expertise and how do they provide what they’ve done in the musical festival space to what we’re going to do at the Super Bowl. And then also we’re working hand in hand with C3 on the draft right now. And the same with them with their festival and music experience and just kind of blending all those worlds together really makes our event world class and the best in the business.

Leadership, Calculated Risk, and Thinking Big

[15:48] Don Costante:

So impressive. You must have some really forward thinking bosses, people who are open to risk trying new things.

[15:55] Tim Tubito:

Absolutely. I mean, it starts there. And with Matt Shapiro and Peter O’Reilly, who I report into on these events. When I first started, certainly they’re like, you’re going to do what? Is this guy really going to be able to pull this off? Thinking big is definitely a big part of what we do. And taking calculated risks, that makes sense. And that kind of goes back to the not doing technology for the sake of using technology, using it in a way that is really going to make a difference and is appropriate and speaks to the voice of the NFL and the NFL fans and not doing things that kind of go outside of our brand, but really using this technology to just enhance our brand, enhance our events. And Matt and Pete are great with that. And they push me to the point where, you know, we’ll start meetings up and it’s okay, what are we going to do next? What do we have this year? And it challenges me. It’s a challenge I love to take on. And they’re extremely talented too. So they understand what goes into it and they will get down in the weeds with me and get a better understanding of how we’re going to execute things and make sure everything makes sense. So absolutely. You’re right. I work for some really good people and it makes things that much better.

Mixed Reality and Storytelling

[16:57] Don Costante:

What a great situation. How has the NFL used mixed reality in the game presentation and how do you tell this story on broadcast?

[17:05] Tim Tubito:

Yeah. So I think the one big thing to point to is what we did at the all time team ceremony. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was incredible. It was for that specific situation that took a true partnership through working with the famous group and working with Fox on that Super Bowl and really kind of making sure the elements make sense in venue and on broadcast. That’s everything we do. We work closely with broadcast because whatever we do in venue really impacts what happens on broadcast. So it’s a lot of testing. Make sure it makes sense. Does this look good in venue? Does it look good on broadcast as well? As far as the storytelling goes, it depends on what you’re using mixed reality for. In that situation, we used it to tell the story of the all time team, the NFL’s 100th greatest players for the NFL’s 100th season. So there was a natural storyline there. We also leaned heavily into using mixed reality for telling statistical graphics and really bringing those to life. Sure. You know, one thing we do with the Super Bowl is we go heavy into stats and heavy into next gen stats. And we do that in the traditional sense of how we bring those things to life through just kind of video boards and stats and layouts. But by being able to bring those to life in a very visually appealing way in venue and on broadcast, really leveraging mixed reality within that space.

[18:20] Tim Tubito:

It goes beyond the hardcore football fan, that visual appealing appearance of these graphics really help explain the story behind the stats and information and makes it so much more digestible for the casual fan, which is so critical. Because if you’re simply targeting that hardcore football fan that’s deep into fantasy stats and gets the nitty gritty, it’s a miss. You have to make sure you’re hitting the casual fan that needs to understand like why something is important. So we could put speed to the quarterback that our pass rusher gets to the quarterback. We could just put that up there. But why is that important using mixed reality and using next gen stats graphics and really bringing those things to life gives people that visual understanding of why that’s that’s important. And there’s entertainment value in that as well.

Building a Backup Plan

[19:06] Don Costante:

Yeah, no question. I’m assuming when you’re incorporating mixed reality, like the NFL 100, you have a backup plan, maybe a traditional approach if something happens.

[19:14] Tim Tubito:

Absolutely. So in the case of the mixed reality, yes, we had a backup plan. The backup plan was more in a traditional sense. NFL Films put together a great piece that was kind of the string that attached all these storylines and the mixed reality itself. And so that piece was a complete piece covering the entire ceremony with select areas that would allow broadcasts to cut in and out of that video piece to just go live to players. If the mixed reality had failed, we would have just reverted to just tracking along with the video piece and cutting in and out of the video piece to the live shots. So in those spots where the mixed reality was taking place, you would have just seen video of those players. You know, it’s tough in a seven minute ceremony. We want to represent all 100 players alive or deceased. And so the challenge of getting 100 players in in seven minutes, that’s what mixed reality solved. And we might not have been able to completely accomplish that through just using traditional video. But if we had to revert to that, we would have been pretty down course.

LED Seat Covers and the Super Bowl Experience

[20:10] Don Costante:

You were ready for it. Now, COVID’s propelled innovation to maintain corporate partnerships and create engagement with fans and players. Now, due to COVID protocol, the NFL, you mentioned this earlier, required seat tarps for the first few rows of the hundred level of stadiums to help keep social distance between players and team personnel, as well as the fans. Now you use the opportunity to make the tarps LED boards to enhance your show during the Super Bowl. Talk about how those boards were maximized. You mentioned it a little bit, but maybe go into a little bit more detail.

[20:41] Tim Tubito:

Yeah. So we looked at this as like a brand new palette where we can use it to enhance the overall stadium experience. So those key moments, there’s a touchdown, those boards and light up and touchdown graphics all around those boards in sync with the LEDs and the video boards in the stadium to really give a larger than life feel to those key moments, including player intros, the national anthem, America, the beautiful. By having those kind of draped and patriotic colors, really just enhancing the overall event and giving broadcasted another place to go for kind of that big, larger than life look. And then from a practicality standpoint, first and foremost, everything we did and everything we do during COVID is with player safety, fan safety in mind. So yes, it creates that natural barrier and divider point to really make sure that everyone’s staying safe at our event. But beyond that too, it also gave us the opportunity to use that palette to get across league messaging and league marketing material and even our community material that we really wanted to make it larger than life and draw attention to it. And then it also created a new area to provide partners with an area to be displayed in a prominent position to give value back to our partners.

The Showtime Cam

[21:55] Don Costante:

Oh, I thought it looked great. Also new this year was the players’ Showtime cam in the end zones.

[22:00] Tim Tubito:

Yep.

[22:01] Don Costante:

Can you describe what the Showtime cam was and what was the intention and did it reach the goal of engagement you were hoping for?

[22:08] Tim Tubito:

So I’m not going to take credit for the Showtime cam. Our social team is also great at innovating and pushing the envelope. This is something that back at the Pro Bowl two years ago, or is it a year ago? I can’t even keep track anymore. We tested the Showtime cam out at the Pro Bowl. So this was brought to us by our social team, who’s absolutely spectacular to work with. And so at that time, we put one camera with kind of a big mirror in the end zone and a red carpet to kind of draw players to this camera.

[22:37] Don Costante:

Because we just felt like the Pro Bowl is the right place for this, right? Sure.

[22:40] Tim Tubito:

It’s fun. Players want to show their personality. And it was excellent. I mean, players were running 100 yards across the field to get to this camera and celebrate and have a good time at the moment. So it became a really useful tool for creating a moment for the players. It becomes a great content moment in stadium because we could take that camera from that mirror, if you will, and display it on the video board. And then you capture that. And that’s something that kind of becomes this moment that could live on in broadcast and through social and really extend the reach of what we’re doing and show the personalities of our players. So that’s kind of where this started. And then as we started to look at the season and look at different ways to engage our fans that weren’t going to be in the stadiums because of COVID and also create content that can live on through social and also give our players a place where they can celebrate. They’re going from that energy that they feed off of full stadiums and playing to the fans. Think of the Lambeau Leafs. That’s something that those players rely on. They score a touchdown. They no longer had that. So what can we give to the players so they could directly connect with the fans and also give us some really great content?

[23:49] Tim Tubito:

So I think that was the intention there of, you know, first and foremost, connecting our players to the fans and then really seeing that content come to life and being able to share it socially. As far as goals, I think we were very pleased. Our social team was very pleased. Us as a league, we were extremely happy with the outcome of the Showtime Cam.

Virtual Fans and Pandemic Innovation

[24:08] Don Costante:

Were there any other innovative engagement platforms that evolved from COVID?

[24:13] Tim Tubito:

Certainly virtual fans and bringing virtual fans in throughout COVID has been something that we felt went very well this year. It gave the fans who couldn’t be at the stadium a way to be a part of the game. It’s interesting. When we first started this at the draft, we never thought that this would be something that we would carry over to the season. And it’s actually become one of those things that is a norm. Any show that you turn on TV, they have virtual audiences all around, and that’s something that started back at the draft. So, yeah, I think that part of it is probably the next biggest one that has been innovative this year. And you see it, you know, all different sports and sports entertainment groups have used that model, and you see it everywhere.

[24:52] Don Costante:

Oh, yeah, it’s all over now. But it started with you, Tim.

[24:55] Tim Tubito:

Well, we had the first crack at it. So, again, I’m not one to take total credit, but we’re glad that we had the opportunity to start it. And just on the back end of things, from where this started and how we put this together at the beginning of this, to where it is now, where you see TV shows and other sporting events where there’s thousands of people participating virtually. I know how complicated it was at the beginning to just get nine or 12 fans on a screen at one time, now seeing how large we’ve gotten. And it’s the norm, right? It’s just like masks are on the street. People are used to seeing virtual audiences all around, and that’s something that started back at the draft.

Which Pandemic Innovations Will Remain?

[25:32] Don Costante:

Of the new developments, do you see any of them staying as part of enhancing the overall show once we’re back to, quote unquote, a normal season?

[25:40] Tim Tubito:

I do. I think we’re evaluating what will make sense during the season. And so, obviously, as we head into the draft and other events, we’re always going to take the learnings from that draft and how do they become kind of this dual event where it’s a live event and a virtual event. So, I think there’s certainly elements that we’ll look to see how they make sense once we get back to a, quote unquote, normal season and fans are in the stands. How does the Showtime Cam fit in? How do we still continue to bring fans virtually into the stadium, into the event? Because as great as it will be, and it’ll be amazing to have full stadiums again, not everyone can get in the stadiums or not everyone is located in an area where they can get to the stadiums. So, really, still bringing those people and leveraging the technology, both bringing them into the stadium and bringing the stadium to them is still going to be an area of focus. I think we will take a look at all the things we’ve done this season, and we’ll see how we can adjust them and apply them to what would be, hopefully, a more normal season.

[26:39] Don Costante:

Yeah, hopefully, right? So, you’ve mentioned NFL draft a couple of times. Can you talk about the role you play in producing the NFL draft? And I want to make sure that we talk in terms of pre-pandemic now.

Producing the NFL Draft

[26:50] Tim Tubito:

Okay. Yeah, so, interestingly enough, me at the NFL, I have never actually gone through a normal NFL draft because last year would have been my first normal NFL draft planning for it. But with that being said, I actually have attended the NFL draft for about 12 years prior to that because when I was with the Jets, I was one of the team representatives that would come out to the draft every year. So, although I’ve not planned a quote-unquote normal draft, I’ve attended plenty of them. But as we were going into the planning during a normal year, and a lot of our approach this year is certainly looking at it as a normal year, but there’s a bunch of key areas. And I’ll say this with a caveat of this isn’t me operating in a silo by any means.

[27:30] Don Costante:

Sure.

[27:30] Tim Tubito:

It takes a large group of people.

[27:32] Don Costante:

Absolutely.

[27:32] Tim Tubito:

To execute all the things that we plan on doing. But certainly, it starts with kind of laying out what the day is and how each day is going to unfold. The important part of the show itself on day one is the draft kicks. It’s the moments there. So, how do we take the time leading up to that and really create impactful moments leading into the draft? We always look at the opening of each draft as an opportunity to do something special. So, we will look to open up each day in a very impactful way to just kind of kick off the energy. And we’ll have some tricks up our sleeves this year for how we’re really going to kick off the draft and make it strong and entertaining. And that’s something we had planned on before the pandemic in Las Vegas when we were planning out there. We had some really great things. But it’s really kind of planning up what is the running show leading up into that first pick. And then working with our vendors and our partners, what do the screens look like? What does the feel look like? How do we keep the energy going and build the anticipation from each pick in that first round? As well as the second round. And then as well as day two. It’s really kind of what are the segments that are going to take place?

[28:33] Tim Tubito:

How are we going to drive the energy during the draft? And how do we keep people on site engaged? And how do we kind of create that larger than life atmosphere? And I’ll say that a lot. But everything we do, we want it to feel big and larger than life. Much of that starts with the planning of the timeline and all the different key elements that are going on around the draft itself. So, the draft itself is a festival in a lot of ways. It’s a football festival and there’s so much going on. Whether it’s the fan experience area or the red carpet that’ll occur earlier in the day. How do we weave all those things up to the lead-in of the show itself and really kind of build up to what we would call the kickoff of draft in that moment that the commissioner puts the first team on the clock. So, that’s kind of the main area of focus is kind of building out that timeline leading up to each day. And then what are those segments during the day? And what is the flow in between the business of doing picks? And how do we make the business of doing picks more engaging? Whether that is through bringing players out and legends out and special guests and making special picks. So, all of that goes into it.

[29:36] Tim Tubito:

And then another significant component is the entertainment portion of this. And that’s something that, you know, when I say entertainment, musical acts and musical artists. And we had done some really great work preparing for the Las Vegas draft. And we had some really great plans. And last year when we had to pivot away from that and go to more of a virtual draft, how did we still keep that entertainment in? So, we worked closely with our media team. We still brought in those musical acts in the virtual draft. And we’ll look to do that again at this current draft in a live format. So, that is a large portion of the work too. What are those entertainment acts going to be each day, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday? Those big kind of A-list performance acts to just kind of add to that festival atmosphere which the draft has become.

Pivoting to the Virtual NFL Draft

[30:18] Don Costante:

Now, the coronavirus hit the U.S. Strong in March. You had to pivot quickly to a virtual draft that had never been done before. Can you please share the details for the new format that the NFL pivoted to?

[30:29] Tim Tubito:

Yeah. So, when the pandemic hit and there was so much uncertainty, the first thought was, well, can we do this out of a studio at NFL Films or ESPN or something along those lines and still kind of control the environment? How close can we still make this feel to what the draft would have been in Las Vegas? And as time went on, we would make one plan and there would be another step back because the pandemic kept getting worse. Because if you remember, a lot of people thought, okay, we’ll be out of work for a month and we’ll kind of get back to normal. And it just kept going. It was very, again, a collective effort between NFL Network, our broadcast partners, our IT team, and our broadcast technical team really coming up with ways of, How do we now turn the commissioner’s basement into draft central? We pivoted to that kind of late. And how do we make all these consumer products really still put on a good show? Everyone just kind of clicked into gear where we took a look at what we did normally. And, okay, how do we bring this to life virtually? You know, again, the virtual fans, how do we bring the prospects into this by sending remote kits out to each of them? And then how do we utilize call centers to manage the prospects as they come on the clock and conduct interviews?

[31:35] Tim Tubito:

That’s really something that it took an army to put that together. And it was a lot of long hours and a lot of long Zoom meetings of problem solving. And, again, how do we use technology and the things we know work and some things that might not work and put them into play and really maximize what we wanted to accomplish at the NFL draft? And the side effect of that was that last year’s NFL draft gave a really intimate look into the prospect lives, the executive lives at our clubs. And that is something that we still, we want to continue to have be a part of the NFL draft, that intimacy, that kind of live look into people’s draft story, if you will, of what their day is like with their families in their draft rooms. And really what’s kind of that behind the scenes look.

[32:21] Don Costante:

Oh, I love the images of coaches and GMs hugging their kids during picks. I mean, it humanized all of them. It was just fantastic.

[32:27] Tim Tubito:

Yes, absolutely. That’s something that everyone can relate to. And it made for some of the special moments of the draft for sure.

Technology Behind the Virtual Draft

[32:33] Don Costante:

You started talking a little bit about the technology that was used. Can you go into a little bit more detail?

[32:38] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, a lot of this wasn’t really done before. And you’ll find a lot of companies now who do this normally, whether it’s call centers or using Microsoft Teams to bring fans into stadiums or various companies that do that. But for the most part, we were kind of working off of proprietary software built by our vendors to manage a lot of those virtual elements. And it was our IT team sending kits to prospects’ houses and to club personnel’s houses for them to be on all the time. And then our vendors putting various pieces of technology and software together to kind of piece it all together. So for the context of the draft, it’s a little difficult to pinpoint because we really did kind of piecemeal all that together. And I’m sure as I am not the super technology guy anymore, I was at one point. I’ve got people who are much more advanced as far as making sure all the dots are connected and the signal gets to where it’s going. But there were so many different technologies leveraged in the draft to bring that to life. It’s really difficult to know where to start with that.

The Inner Circle Digital Mosaic

[33:41] Don Costante:

You said a big part of the regular in-person event is the crowd and the commissioner’s interaction with the crowd. I mean, you guys created that inner circle digital mosaic that was displayed behind him for each of the team’s picks. Maybe talk a little bit about how those fans were picked and how he interacted with that or the thought process that went into that part of it.

[34:02] Tim Tubito:

Oh, sure. Absolutely. So the draft, it’s one of those events that is so fan-friendly. And it’s an opportunity for the players to get up and close and personal with the fans and the commissioner. And it’s one of his favorite things to do is to interact with the fans during the event. So that was an important priority for us. And him being able to reach them directly and communicate with them directly and have them be a part of the draft. We worked very closely with the clubs themselves to select the fans. Clubs took different approaches on how they would select their fans. Some worked it through contests. Some worked it through just reaching out to their most avid fans and their season ticket members. We really worked hand-in-hand with the clubs on that. And our club business development team and Katie, who’s on my team, Katie Conklin, she took the brunt of this work really kind of working with clubs to reach out to the fans, find those fans, make sure we get them the proper secure links to join the rooms. So there’s no ambush fans in those rooms. And then also make it an experience for the fans that’s fun and engaging because it’s a lot of hours to be on those calls. And that was one of the key learnings from the draft was maybe it wasn’t the optimal experience for a fan to be a part of that.

[35:09] Tim Tubito:

And those are the things that we constantly and continually evolved throughout the season when we went more into the fan mosaics. So, yeah, I was really working closely hand-in-hand with each individual clubs and then the clubs themselves, identifying the fans that they wanted to be a part of it. And then from there, receiving who those fans were, their contact information, getting them links, and then also walking them through the technological challenges. So when you go into these houses, there’s so many unknowns. This even goes for the case of prospect houses. There’s so many unknowns as far as bandwidth and what the signal is going to be like, what type of computer they’re using. There was so much back-end work with our support team to work one-on-one with these fans and prospects to get on the line with them and say, position your camera here. Or this is why you’re having Wi-Fi issues and this is why things are being broken up. So it was a long, long, tough process. Tough might be the wrong word, but a detailed process. It’s a great part of the show, but you have to make sure this is a good, positive experience for the fans because you don’t want to turn something that is meant to be a positive experience into a negative experience.

[36:16] Tim Tubito:

And in some cases, there were clubs who their fans were on for the entire draft and their team traded out and they never picked. And, you know, we found ways to still make it fun and entertaining for them and commissioners taking time to speak with them totally off camera. No one to see, just to spend time with them to acknowledge our appreciation of their fandom and their loyalties in the NFL.

Big Wins From the Virtual Draft

[36:36] Don Costante:

Well, the whole situation was an opportunity to do something special and you certainly did. So fantastic job with that. What were the big wins you took away from the experience?

[36:45] Tim Tubito:

Personally, it gave me the opportunity to work with people I wouldn’t normally work with on a draft. And it gave me the opportunity to, I think I mentioned this earlier, my previous jobs really, you don’t know when you’re in it. All the kind of like little things that you do is you’re coming up in different roles and you sit there and you say to yourself, well, I don’t want to do this. This is why I got into this when I was a young kid. The NFL draft for me last year truly was the culmination of every skill set I’ve ever learned and putting it into play. I was operating a switcher. I was doing graphics. I was wiring things. I was solving IT problems. So for me personally, that was kind of an eye-opening experience where I was like, wow. So there really was a reason why I did all that stuff as I was coming up. Like we mentioned before, not only seeing the human side of the players and the executives and the coaches, the human side of my coworkers and my vendors, you know, how everyone came together. I would love to give you this great technological advance way that’s going to change the world of doing things. But it really came down to being as far apart as we were all forced to be.

[37:56] Tim Tubito:

We still operated so closely together. And it was really humanizing. And it was really pleasant and enjoyable to be a part of.

What Tim Would Have Done Differently

[38:03] Don Costante:

Well, let me ask you, what would you have done differently?

[38:06] Tim Tubito:

Ah, man. Given the circumstances, not much. I think there are little things on timing that we might have missed and could have been better prepared for. But we felt really good about it. I’m sure if I go to my post-event eval and look over some of my notes, I could find and nitpick some little things. But I think overall, everything felt really good. I think I would have liked to find a way to make the experience a little bit better for our fans and a little bit easier for people to communicate between each other. But the technology just wasn’t there at the time. And now it is. I think that’s probably the only takeaway if we could have made the experience a little bit better for the fans and a little bit easier for people to communicate between the fans and players through various paths.

Lessons for Future NFL Drafts

[38:50] Don Costante:

Now, we touched on a couple of things, but what did you learn that you’ll continue to apply to future drafts?

[38:55] Tim Tubito:

Just bringing in that human aspect to the draft. And how do we bring prospects who won’t necessarily be at the draft and expand the roster of people who could be a part of the draft, both fan-wise and prospect-wise and even with our clubs? Just continuing that human look into what they are and what this experience is. We’ve definitely, working with our partners and our broadcast team, have come up with much more streamlined ways to execute a lot of the things we did last year. And I think we’ll look to take the really bright spots of last year’s NFL draft and bring them to this NFL draft and do them in a way that’s more efficient, smarter, and just a better overall experience, both for the people who have to operate and oversee this and the people participating in it themselves.

[39:37] Don Costante:

I’m looking forward to that. And that’s in Cleveland?

[39:40] Tim Tubito:

Yes, that’s in Cleveland.

[39:41] Don Costante:

That’ll be a fun one.

[39:41] Tim Tubito:

The city of Cleveland’s been great and really looking forward to getting out there and working with them. It’s going to be a fun show.

[39:47] Don Costante:

I think a lot of people are looking forward to it. Awesome. Now, let’s shift gears and talk about the Super Bowl. The scale of events that you put on at the NFL are very impressive. Most people, I would imagine, can’t truly understand the magnitude of the Super Bowl until you’re actually responsible for putting it on. Not just logistically, but the sheer number of people needed to successfully orchestrate it is tremendous. Talk about the role you play for the Super Bowl.

Producing the Super Bowl

[40:14] Tim Tubito:

So my role for the Super Bowl is really kind of planning out the full run of show starting hours before kickoff. We plan out a full run of show to entertain our fans, entertain people coming to the stadium long before they get to their seats. So it’s truly about the fan journey. And it starts from when they go to the airport, you know, what that experience is going to be like. When they arrive on site in the area of Tampa and what they see when they come into the airport and when they drive throughout the city. And that extends beyond me, Daphne Wood, who oversees the Corps for our events. And she does a fantastic job of making sure when people come to that city, you know the Super Bowl is in town. And it becomes a huge experience for them from the moment they step into that city to the second they step on our campus. And once they step onto campus, that’s kind of where we take over and make sure that fan journey from when they go through the gates, when they go through security, the people they meet that are directing them and doing wayfinding are doing it in a great positive manner. And the images that they see and everything’s consistent and makes sense to everything that we’re going to do in stadiums.

Designing the Super Bowl Fan Journey

[41:20] Tim Tubito:

So for me, a big part of the planning process is really what does that run of show look like? What are those key elements for pregame and leading into pregame? And how do they all kind of roll into each other? You know, you have your core kind of tent poles within the event, whether that’s America the Beautiful, the National Anthem, the coin toss, kickoff. How do you take those moments, tie them together and create a storyline that’s powerful and keep the energy in the venue leading up to kickoff, which is our biggest moment. And it’s really taking a look at everything hours before from our Calgate concert to what’s happening when fans enter through the Game Day Fan Plaza and when they enter the bowl and how are they immersed in the experience from start to finish. And it becomes a truly consistent experience from start to end, a cohesive experience from start to end.

[42:14] Don Costante:

Love that.

[42:15] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, all those pieces being cohesive and leading up to the game through the game, through the trophy ceremony and until they get home, making sure it’s a really cohesive experience from start to end. So I really look at the event. And again, this isn’t only me. It takes an army to do this. And I look at those key moments and really take a look at what we’ve done in the past and how do we bring those to life in a new, fresh way? How do we use the elements that are leading into an anthem or a coin toss and really tell a story about it and use those moments to talk about what’s going on in the world? Because the Super Bowl itself, it’s bigger than just the game itself.

[42:55] Don Costante:

It’s a cultural event. No doubt.

[42:56] Tim Tubito:

Both here in the States and worldwide. And how do we really use football as a powerful message for our country and for all the people watching? And then, again, always remembering it is about football and not losing sight of that. So how do we make sure we are appropriately weaving football into this and not losing sight of that in all those moments? And, you know, the one thing we say we spend hours and hours planning out what amounts to about in real time 20 minutes and programming time, probably about 10 minutes. But it always has the potential to be the most powerful 20 minutes in sports leading into kickoff and really maximizing that time and making sure that show is truly representative of the scale of what the NFL Super Bowl is.

How Far in Advance Super Bowl Planning Begins

[43:41] Don Costante:

How far in advance do you start your planning?

[43:43] Tim Tubito:

So for me, it happens, I probably get started later than most in our groups, you know, our ops groups and even going further back to the bidding process and the planning process, you know, Aubrey on our team. That happens years in advance.

[43:56] Don Costante:

Years in advance, yeah.

[43:57] Tim Tubito:

Working with the city and starting to plan all that out. And then our ops team is on the ground really early planning the logistics and traffic patterns and transportation and what the stadium is going to look like and flow and security. So they’re doing that really well in advance. For me, it kind of starts probably about a year and a half to two years out looking ahead to the Super Bowl next year in L.A. I’ve already made several visits out to Rams and Chargers games to take a look at their control room, how they run their show in stadiums and taking the things that they do and how we can apply that to when we’re there at the Super Bowl. What are the things that we can do within that stadium to really maximize what we’re going to do with the Super Bowl? So for me, it starts probably about a year and a half to two years where it’ll be on my radar and I’ll start making visits out to the stadium. And then we’re already in the thick of it of planning the next Super Bowl. So it starts pretty far up.

[44:47] Don Costante:

That’s awesome. Now, it takes a significant crew to produce the biggest game in sports, which you’ve already talked about. You are at the helm of leading that show with the assistance of some powerful companies. Explain to listeners the dynamics of each vendor you utilize and how you work together to produce a successful show. So I’m talking about like the Van Wagners, the diversified production services, Fiora Productions, what they’re each involved with and how you work with them to be successful.

Coordinating Super Bowl Vendors

[45:13] Tim Tubito:

So I would say it’s a really big puzzle and it’s a lot of different groups. But because of the way all of these vendors and partners handle themselves, it’s actually a really easy, large puzzle to put together. We start bringing these groups together through planning meetings and, you know, now Zoom calls pretty early on. And everyone, I don’t want to say everyone knows their lane, but everyone knows their area of expertise and they know where they can lean on the other vendors to support them. So this year, I really made an effort for all these groups to really work inclusively with each other and share their expertise and lean on each other. And I think a lot of these groups have been working on the Super Bowl in different capacities for a long time. So the level of professionalism that they bring and everyone puts their ego aside to make sure that we put on the best possible event, whether it’s Van Wagner kind of what’s going on on the video boards, working with a Fior productions or a production club to make sure what’s going on on the ground with our talent movements or our live elements and making sure that all comes into place. It’s just everyone collectively, they make it really easy on me because everyone has the same goal.

[46:24] Tim Tubito:

Everyone wants to put on the best possible show for the Super Bowl. And so egos move aside. Everyone works a lot of long hours. And, you know, it’s just consistent planning. Communication is the biggest thing by far. And again, Katie Conklin is on my team. She does just a fantastic job of sharing information and making sure all our vendors know exactly what’s coming. So not one vendor is operating in a silo and I’m not operating in a silo. It’s important that that communication goes on between our different groups and everyone understands their roles. And it’s a lot of meeting, a lot of planning and people stepping up and saying, I’ll take charge of that. Tim, how do you feel about this? And then really digging into the details with those groups.

[47:07] Don Costante:

That’s fantastic. You know, having trusted partners is so important. Let’s talk about within the game. Now, within the game, you have four major productions, pregame, in-game, halftime and postgame, including the trophy presentation. Now, I have a three-part question. Do you have individual producers for each of these segments? Also, how does the content of each segment feed into the overall run of show? And finally, who is responsible for keeping the overall run of show?

Pregame, In-Game, Halftime, and Postgame Production

[47:33] Tim Tubito:

So there are different producers for each of these segments. And kind of how I operate it is, I will outline what these should be. It does start with me as far as what are all these different elements in pregame? And then kind of bringing these different producers together to execute them. And then working closely with the overall run of show with Van Wagner and what that looks like, big picture. We work very close hand in hand on that. But I think myself and others on our team, as well as the people I work for, we kind of take a look at that pregame run of show. And we figure out, and certainly broadcast, I can never forget broadcast, especially pregame and postgame. They play such a key role in making sure our flow in stadium really works closely and seamlessly with the flow of broadcast. So we assign different producers to different roles, even within pregame itself. We’ve had different producers running different things. I think, again, it’s bringing, we would have weekly calls with all these different producers and go through all of this step by step, minute by minute, where everything is happening. And then we kind of break it down into the individual elements. So just starting with pregame, pre six o’clock window, if you will, before we go on air.

[48:42] Tim Tubito:

We take a look at what that flow of that show is and all those elements leading up to it. And then when we hit that six o’clock window, it’s so important that six o’clock to kickoff window of each element being on time, being precise and making sense. So we break them down into individual parts. And then we take all those individual parts and we put them together and we take a look at it first. Does this make sense creatively? Does each element flow into each other nicely? And then as we go to the individual producers, from a logistical standpoint, does this make sense? So there’s a dance of all these in a normal year when there’s a lot going on on the field, does this dance of this stage comes out and this stage goes in? Does that all make sense? Also maintaining the integrity of the field with all these movements. Do they make sense? What tunnel is a stage coming out of? Is there something else going on there? So it’s really this big piece, this big puzzle and this big dance of how all these elements work creatively and then how they all work logistically. Because the last thing you want on a game day, the stage is supposed to be coming out for the anthem, but the carts for intros are going in and that stage can’t get out.

[49:50] Tim Tubito:

You can’t miss that cue to cue the anthem when broadcast is ready. It’s really kind of breaking that stuff down minute by minute and understanding where all that stuff is coming from. Working closely with our stadium ops people and understanding what’s the travel time from the storage area or where the stage is being built and coming out to the field. And that really holds true. It’s kind of the same formula for halftime and postgame as well, where again, it’s really this orchestrated dance of how things come out, what the timing is, when we can hit broadcast at the correct time. And making sure that trophy ceremony postgame is ready to go and the halftime show is ready to kick off and start at the right time and making sure we’re hitting all those seconds precisely right down to the little things like making sure the flyover hits at the exact moment of the end of the anthem. Because if any of those elements are off leading up into that moment, your flyover is off. Right. Bob Becker from Van Wagner has coined the phrase, once the train is rolling, it’s rolling. There’s no stopping it. So if you get off time, everything afterwards is going to be impacted and affected. So we really look at it as we look at the individual elements.

[51:00] Tim Tubito:

Are these high impact moments that make sense individually? And then we look at it holistically. Does this make sense as a complete package and do these elements flow into each other? Are we too heavy in one area? And we need to focus in another area to make sure we’re still emphasizing football and making sure we have that all balanced out.

[51:19] Don Costante:

So is it Van Wagner working with each of these individual producers in each of these segments to keep the overall run of show in line and calling the show?

[51:26] Tim Tubito:

Yes. They keep the timing. They keep everyone honest with the timing.

[51:29] Don Costante:

Right.

[51:30] Tim Tubito:

So yeah, that’s a key part of what they provide us.

[51:32] Don Costante:

Okay. Do game directors from the 32 clubs have an opportunity to work the Super Bowl? And if so, what roles?

NFL Club Game Directors at the Super Bowl

[51:39] Tim Tubito:

Yes, they do. So this year, in the past, there’ll be a small number of individuals from clubs who’ve assisted with the Super Bowl. This year, we made it a goal of ours to really bring in as many game directors as possible that serve the purpose to be a part of the Super Bowl. And what started out as, for me personally, just wanting to have them be a part of the Super Bowl. And you can imagine in the role that they play, they rarely get to just enjoy an event. They’re in it and they’re working it. So I wanted them to really be able to be rewarded with getting to work the Super Bowl for doing excellent work with their clubs throughout the season. I should have known better that this group was going to come out and dive in and look to grind it out with me. And that’s certainly what they did. We brought in a large group this year and they work in various roles. Some were stage managers, some were queuing intros, some were producing our segments out at tailgates, some were producing our in-stadium shows like our social show or our football insider show. Some were managing the honorary captains coming out to the field. So, again, we had a need and they filled that need. And what better people to fill that need with than the game directors around the league.

[52:50] Don Costante:

Oh, absolutely. They’re the best at what they do. They’re in it every day. And their work ethic is just phenomenal. I mean. What a comfort for you, though.

[52:57] Tim Tubito:

Oh, there were things that I thought were going to be on my plate. Just producing certain show elements, scripting things out, writing them out. That people from game directors from the clubs came to me and they’re like, Kim, you got enough. I got this. I’ll write these up for you. And it was just really, really comforting knowing that they understand the quality level that this stuff needs to be and their attention to detail. You know it’s there because they do it for their clubs week in and week out. And it’s something that I’m proud of. I’m honored. I think would be the better way to get to work with these people. And I appreciate how dedicated and how committed they were to just kind of jump in and own stuff and really be a part of this. It’s something I look forward to doing in the coming years. And it also, they get to see me in a role that they’re not used to seeing me on events. Being the guy who’s sending emails and things like that. There’s nothing better than being in the trenches with those people and knowing that you can count on them.

[53:49] Don Costante:

That’s so awesome. Now, there is so much thirst for content from fans on game day. And your programming can start as early as four hours prior to kickoff. How do you come up with the content to fill the time leading up to kickoff? And who’s responsible for determining the content?

Creating Content Before Kickoff

[54:03] Tim Tubito:

On site at the event, that’s me and the partners I work with kind of coming up with the content. Certainly, there are things with NFL experience and tailgate that just naturally create content during that time. So it’s more of kind of that tailgate atmosphere and giving fans some place to go and something to do. So we have the anchor element in the tailgate concert and the NFL experience. And then we just kind of build around that. Believe it or not, there’s no shortage of content coming in. So we can plan segments throughout the day leading up until that six o’clock window and working with our talent to identify different segments to really be our anchor throughout the day. So it’s actually quite easy because we do so much during the season, whether it’s social platforms or community platforms, that we can highlight that stuff. And then also highlighting things going on in the community around the Super Bowl and the lead up to the event. We can use those as our anchors for the event. And then we get so much inbound content for us to kind of sort through and build our shows around leading into it. So there’s no shortage of that. But again, it’s as we’re getting that content in, making sure it makes sense throughout the show.

[55:09] Tim Tubito:

So if we get something from a local group that has worked on the Super Bowl and they have a good piece of content, does that make sense in the context of each segment? So we’ll build our segments out anywhere from four to eight segments, depending on how early we start, as kind of our anchors. And then in those breaks, if you will, that’s kind of where we place the content that makes sense for each of those segments. And then we also, it’s very important for us to make sure we’re bringing social media and what’s happening live social reaction into the stadium itself and highlighting that. And so there’s no shortage of storylines and it’s making sure we pick the right storylines to fit our segments and continuously engage the fans. You know, in a normal year, we would have contests and different things like that out on the plaza using hosts to really kind of draw crowds in and engage them. And again, create that overall consistent experience that really drives the fan journey as they come into the game itself.

The A Show, B Show, and C Show

[56:06] Don Costante:

That’s fantastic. Now, for those listening, they might not realize you do an A show, a B show and a C show in stadium and you do a great job with those. Can you explain the difference between the three shows?

[56:19] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, so the A show itself is your core show. So that’s the football game. That’s what you’re seeing on the video boards, the highlights, the replays, your pumper packages that happen during timeouts, like all the traditional stuff that you would see during a game. That’s primarily your A show, the core football. Your B show, which kind of goes hand in hand with our insider show. We have a dedicated board to stats, fantasy, storylines, player information. And that really picks up during pregame warmups when players are coming out on the field, really highlighting that player, telling their storyline, giving facts about them, historical facts, stats, leaderboard stats, all that information. And that carries throughout the game. And that’s a pretty big group of people that go into that research side of things, digging into all the Next Gen Stats and data information and bringing that to life in our B show through graphics, through animation, and also staying on top of it as storylines develop throughout the game. So we dedicate one board to that, and that directly connects to our insider show, which really kind of does football analysis throughout the game. It’s kind of live football analysis, what’s happening during the game. Also, we’ll bring in special guests and have special moments. So that’s really the core of the B show.

[57:31] Tim Tubito:

That starts off in pregame, giving kind of the behind-the-scenes look of what the teams are thinking and going through as they prepare for the Super Bowl, what it’s going to be like to walk out of that locker room for the first time and onto the field. And then what are those historical stats, storylines that are developing throughout the game. And then the C show, which is really new for this year, which is what we kind of called our social show. This was a show that was more focused on what are the social trends going on leading into the game and going on throughout the game. What’s the social reaction in the stadium and throughout the world? So there’s a big touchdown that happens. How are people reacting around the country and how can we tell stories around that? And then also focusing on the people who are in the building. Like we had a large number of frontline healthcare workers at the game. How are they responding to the game and how are they reacting and how are we now sent through that? We probably rebranded more as an entertainment show than a social show. That’s really our entertainment focus show that occurs throughout the game.

Creating a Neutral Super Bowl Environment

[58:28] Don Costante:

Now this year was a historic year with the host city having their home team play in the game. Normally the games are played at a neutral site. How do you bring the hometown advantage to each team and balance out the neutral environment? What elements do participating teams provide to make it feel like a home game?

[58:46] Tim Tubito:

Equity in this game is really important to us and making sure that the game is balanced between both clubs. And it’s something we play very close attention to. Clubs get dedicated timeouts at the top of the game. Where they get to display some of their content and their entertainment teams both get a timeout to fairly show them off. We really try to do one for one. And obviously the flow of the game is something we can’t control. But we try to make sure we work very closely with both the participating clubs on what are those elements they could provide to us. Whether it’s their normal traditional intro videos or they have other pieces of content that their fans relate to. And we collect that and we collect that and we make sure it’s fair and balanced across the game. And then what we’re doing represents both clubs as evenly as possible.

Balancing Obligations and Entertainment

[59:33] Don Costante:

That’s awesome. For those that are producers, directors with teams out there, this question is really for them. What does a Super Bowl in-game run of show look like on average? By that I mean, is it oversold per break? Or do you have a good balance between corporate obligations, creating home field advantage, and the show being entertaining and engaging for the fans?

[59:53] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, the balance is a really critical part for us. I think we really do strike the right balance between our obligation and our content and really finding natural organic ways to integrate our obligations into the content that we’re doing. So yeah, it’s really well balanced and we work closely with our partnership and sponsorship team and our marketing teams and making sure that nothing is oversaturated, even from the entertainment side of things and what we’re doing in stadium, making sure that is really balanced. It’s all about threading the needle across all these elements and making sure that they all connect to each other. And I think, you know, I can’t overstate this enough. Everyone internally and externally that I’ve worked on with the Super Bowl, they get the big picture. They really do get the big picture and understand that it’s all about putting on the best show possible and really managing the balancing act from hitting your obligations and creating value and also entertaining the fans. And I really do think we

Music Strategy at a Neutral Site

[1:00:50] Don Costante:

do an excellent job of striking that balance. Now, each market usually has a branded sound or music genres that they lean towards in stadium that satisfies their season ticket members in their market. How do you balance the music on a neutral site for the Super Bowl, given the mix audience?

[1:01:07] Tim Tubito:

Yeah, it’s similar to how we approach video content. We’ve discussed with the clubs, what are the audio and music elements that you play in certain key spots in the game, whether that’s your third down or a touchdown song, an intro song. What are some of the key songs that your players listen to during player warmups? We collect all that, we balance it out. And yeah, we work with our music director and make sure that everything’s placed appropriately and played at the appropriate time. And then the gaps in between, we fill with music that is meant to entertain the fans and strikes across all audiences, whether that’s country or hip hop or pop. And, you know, I’d be lying if there isn’t some influence to the music based on the city you’re in. Obviously, if you’re in Miami, the tone’s going to be a little bit different than it would be in a different city. But you want to make sure you get the local flavor in there. But as far as the teams go, we work very closely with the clubs to make sure that what their fan base or what their players are used to hearing in their stadium is also heard at the Super Bowl. And again, it’s all about making sure we’re equitable across both clubs and we’re striking that balance and making sure we’re hitting both fan bases.

Tim’s Proudest Super Bowl Moment

[1:02:12] Don Costante:

Now, this year was certainly a challenging year and congratulations on another successful Super Bowl. What was your proudest moment this year at the Super Bowl?

[1:02:21] Tim Tubito:

My proudest moment this year? Yeah, that’s a tough one because there are a lot of very special, special moments. I think probably going back to your question earlier about bringing all these different vendors together and working together. You would think it would be after the game, but probably prior to the game, we have a meeting with everyone in this year. We did it virtually. Every one of our vendors, everyone involved with game and event presentation, the game directors from the clubs, the people I report to, my staff, everyone’s on that meeting and getting to address that crew and looking at the run of show and what we built and seeing how all of these people selflessly came together during a pandemic to put on the world’s greatest show and getting to address them and know that every single one of them were committed. That was probably my proudest moment to just, you know, I don’t want to say lead because they’re all professionals and they probably don’t need me to lead, but to be able to lead such an impressive, talented group of people and to see them all come together, going into that game and being able to have us all together one last time before everything was going to take place. Heartwarming and proud moment for me. I think anybody who’s been a director

[1:03:30] Don Costante:

or producer can certainly relate to what you just said. So what a powerful moment. Well, Tim, we’ve come to the final question. For those listening to today’s discussion, what are your final thoughts?

Final Thoughts From Tim Tubito

[1:03:40] Tim Tubito:

Uh, I would say I really have the great pleasure of loving what I do. And I would say for anyone who’s looking to get into live events and production. And I talked to a lot of aspiring people through LinkedIn and emails and stuff like that, who want to get into event presentation. A lot of times it’s thankless. A lot of times the work doesn’t seem like it’s going to pay off, but there’s nothing better in the world than putting on live events and working with fantastic people. It’s been a crazy year. Embrace whatever it is you want to go after. If you told me as a video assistant with the New York Jeff at Hofstra working crazy late nights that I would get to put on the Super Bowl, I would have told you you’re crazy. Even though part of me did believe one day I was going to get to do this, but it goes beyond just find that thing and enjoy it. The most important thing, even if it’s not putting on live events, working with really good people and keeping an open mind and yeah, let’s get back to live events and have some fun.

[1:04:36] Don Costante:

I love that. Well, Tim, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and best practices with everyone. I know I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve learned a lot about your role in the behind the scenes execution with the NFL events. It’s been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Don Costante’s Key Takeaways

[1:04:56] Don Costante:

Well, thanks to Tim today. We all got a better understanding of the NFL strategic approach to event presentation. Let’s face it. The number of details and logistical elements that go into facilitating large scale events can be challenging in a normal year. Listening to how Tim and the league office maneuvered successfully throughout the pandemic was inspiring. The creativity and innovative approach with technology to provide solutions that added value to all stakeholders was impressive. Now we covered a lot of information in our conversation today. Here are some points that stood out to me. First, when I asked him about his event presentation philosophy, he talked about engaging your audience and he defined the audience to include the fan in the stadium and the fan at home. And that enhancing the game and creating a show around the game or event that makes people feel a part of it is most important. Next, when we talked about technology, I asked him specifically, how does the NFL leverage technology to better engage fans? And I really appreciated his response. He said, with so much technology out there, people are just jumping into it for the sake of using it. Slow down, identify a problem and ask the question, how does technology solve that problem or create a solution to further enhance what you’re doing?

[1:06:14] Don Costante:

Another point that stood out to me was when I asked him about his role with the Super Bowl. He talked about the responsibility of developing the run of show. But what I really liked was when he said, it’s all about the fan journey. He talked about how the Super Bowl fan journey starts from the moment people enter the host city. And I really love the fact that he said, when people arrive at the stadium, it’s all about continuing that journey by connecting the core pregame moments, by creating a storyline that’s so powerful that it keeps the energy of the stadium. And the energy in the venue leading up to kickoff and continues with an immersive, cohesive experience from beginning to end. Now, when I asked him about utilizing multiple vendors and how he works together with them to produce a successful show, I loved what he said. Everyone puts their ego aside and works collectively to put on the best show possible. That means much collaboration and cooperation between vendors with consistent planning and communication being imperative. And finally, I really liked his message and his final thoughts. Love what you do and enjoy the craziness of putting on live events. Well said, Tim. I could go on, but those were just a few highlights from our discussion that resonated with me. As always, I hope you found the information covered beneficial.

[1:07:30] Don Costante:

I want to thank Tim. I want to thank Tim again for being on the podcast and for sharing his thoughts and best practices with all of us. Well, that wraps up this episode of the rundown. As always, I encourage you to reach out to me and share your thoughts and or questions and send them to [email protected]Email The Rundown. That’s [email protected]Email The Rundown. Also, I would really appreciate it. If you would subscribe and share this podcast and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. And until the next time I’m Don Costante.