Every year at the annual climax of the NFL American football season, the Super Bowl makes global headlines – both about the game itself and the halftime entertainment. National and international broadcasters also cover many of the lead-up events throughout the preceding week. For Super Bowl LII, Alcons Audio provided sound reinforcement for events on both sides of the Atlantic.
Super Bowl LII took place at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Philadelphia Eagles beat the reigning champions New England Patriots. For the week before the game, the ballroom at the Minneapolis Hilton hotel hosted a range of events with the Alcons LR7 pro-ribbon micro line array.
Packed with reporters, one of the highest profile events was the announcement of Justin Timberlake as the Super Bowl halftime entertainment, along with the press conference and Q&A session.
Global production company Freeman AV delivers most of the sound and video requirements for Super Bowl. Despite the company’s huge inventory of audio systems, Martin Reeves – the technical audio lead who works closely with Freeman AV’s director of Client Solutions, Warren Cruickshank – always insists on Alcons.
“The Minneapolis Hilton was a challenging space that we had to cover with even, quality sound for a range of very high-profile events,” says Reeves. “Horizontally it was around 150-feet wide by 200-feet deep, but with the added difficulty of a low ceiling that we needed to prevent audio reflections from. In addition, with three tiers of broadcast camera risers, we had to maintain sightlines, so the system needed to be both compact and highly directional.”
The Alcons system comprised six flown LR7 and one ground-stacked BF181 compact subwoofer per side, plus SR9 compact in-fill monitors for frontfill, QR24 modular line-source array columns for outfill and VR8 compact versatile monitors providing foldback.
“It was a very small package for a very big room, yet the fidelity, clarity and throw were exceptional,” he continues. “It was a difficult and high-pressure production, both because of Super Bowl’s profile and with media crews from all over the world.
“Everything has to be fantastic, which is why I specify Alcons pro-ribbon systems. I know they will always deliver a superb result.”
Meanwhile in Europe, Austrian private broadcaster PULS 4 hosted what it called ‘Europe’s biggest Super Bowl Party’ for 4000 fans at the Albert Schultz ice rink in Vienna. Supported by ils medientechnik GmbH, Alcons distributor Pro Performance Wolfgang Sauter provided 54 LR18 compact mid-sized line array modules, with 12 BC543 very high output cardioid subwoofers. Including VR8 and VR12 versatile monitors with BQ211 compact high output subs, the Austrian system was powered by 24 Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers.
Back in the US, Alcons Audio North American sales manager David Rahn notes, “We have worked with Warren, Martin and the Super Bowl team several times and the result is always the same – incredibly satisfied clients and operators. The LR7 is becoming a really popular and flexible tool for the corporate AV market. It works seamlessly with complex video and lighting installations and delivers incredible coverage and intelligibility from a very compact enclosure.”
In closing, we at Alcons Audio would like to thank Warren, Martin and the entire team at Freeman AV for choosing Alcons for their most critical events. Despite the demanding requirements of such an important client and event, it is always a pleasure to work with the incredible team that Freeman brings together for the Super Bowl.”
