# I'm headed to The Super Bowl



## Freakingstang (Jan 14, 2013)

Just got word for the head entertainment guy, wants me to work the super bowl again this year. I leave Jan 23rd for two weeks. Normally when I work the super bowl, I Leave Jan 2nd. And am gone for 6 weeks. I told them last year would be my last, as I bought a house and can't be traveling like I used to. 

The company I work for supplies all the tempory power for the broadcast, the halftime show, and the whole operation compound. I normally man the broadcast compound. There will be between 35-40 broadcast trucks and satellite trucks to uplink the game to the satellites so it can be viewed in over 200 countries.  We run huge 1kw to 2kw generators paralleled. There is normally 7-8 semi sized generators running the broadcast compound and it's redundant power, so if there is a mechanical failure, we don't loose the power. So I'd y'all are watching the big game, and the tv goes blank... One of us had a bad day..


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## Danno77 (Jan 14, 2013)

My team went down in flames (Green Bay). as of right now I don't plan on watching the superbowl because I'm so pissed. I'm sure that will change as the time approaches.

Have fun with tha 'lectricity.


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## granpajohn (Jan 14, 2013)

Freakingstang said:


> We run huge 1kw to 2kw generators ..


 
Gotta be bigger than that. (did you mean 1000kw?)


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## Freakingstang (Jan 14, 2013)

granpajohn said:


> Gotta be bigger than that. (did you mean 1000kw?)


 
yup, I meant 1MW-2MW (1000kw-2000kw)


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## granpajohn (Jan 14, 2013)

Freakingstang said:


> yup, I meant 1MW-2MW (1000kw-2000kw)


Super! (There, I said it.)


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## BrotherBart (Jan 14, 2013)

Ya with Cummins or Crosspoint?


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## Hearth Mistress (Jan 14, 2013)

Sounds awesome! Take this time to get away a litte after all you've been through recently - have fun. I have the best hubby in the world, not into sports, any of them, at all so we usually go to a restaurant that's impossible to get reservtions for, they don't have a TV so it's a ghost town on Superbowl Sunday! Depending on who ends up playing, I may or may not watch it. I can see the commercials on the news the next day anyway  Good Luck!


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## Freakingstang (Jan 14, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> Ya with Cummins or Crosspoint?



Aggreko. We've had the super bowl contract for the last 15 year, minus one year they put it out to bid and went with cat. They dumped the compound an hour before the game. 

We do tons of global events. I normally traveled 8-9 months out of the year for the last 7 years. I spent 5 months in Vancouver for the winter Olympics. I chose not to do London this year.  It's too much trying to play catch up now that I have a house.

Who is crosspoint?  They aren't a competitor. Cat entertainment and live power our only competitors. NBC got sick of paying us and started their own sub company (live power). Their truck drivers are their "technicians"


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## nate379 (Jan 15, 2013)

Shows how much I pay attention to TV (or news) I thought the Super Bowl was already all done. So who is playing?

Grid power and the gen sets are for backup?


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## Flatbedford (Jan 15, 2013)

nate379 said:


> Grid power and the gen sets are for backup?


 
I'm not a genny guy, but I do work in show biz. Very few venues have enough grid power to support a show like the superbowl. Even at the Met Opera House when we did the MTV awards back in 2001 we had three of those Tractor trailer size machines out on the street. Stage lighting uses huge amounts of power, plus sound, broadcast, heat and AC for tents, etc, The consumption is huge.


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## Gary_602z (Jan 15, 2013)

So how many 5K Honda generators would that be? 3-4?

Be careful and have a good trip!

Gary


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## Boog (Jan 15, 2013)

Freakingstang said:


> Just got word for the head entertainment guy, wants me to work the super bowl again this year. I leave Jan 23rd for two weeks.......................................................So I'd y'all are watching the big game, and the tv goes blank... One of us had a bad day..


 
Lucky dog.  You deserve it though, hope you get some R&R in on the side and take in the festivities of it all!


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## Jack Straw (Jan 15, 2013)

You can't use that phrase without the express written permission of the NFL, you can say "I am going to the big game"


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## Freakingstang (Jan 16, 2013)

nate379 said:


> Shows how much I pay attention to TV (or news) I thought the Super Bowl was already all done. So who is playing?
> 
> Grid power and the gen sets are for backup?


 
No, the Gensets are for three things.

The live broadcast.   The pay big money to ensure there is no drop in power for the live feed or the uplink.  They can't rely on the grid, when an event of this magnitude comes to town. 

The 2nd "job" is supplying generator power to the half time show, mainly for the lights as the load most acts put on is more than your average stadium can handle.

Third job is the venue/operations.  Noel Lesely is contracted by the Nfl for the entire "game" it is months and thousands of man hours for this four hour game.  There are a bunch of vendors that work of the stadium to get the show done, and we supply the whole vender/operations compound

As stated, the load on the grid during an event of this magnitude is too much for most cities to handle, that's where we come in.


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## Paulywalnut (Jan 18, 2013)

Hope you have a chance to enjoy the game.


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## osagebow (Jan 18, 2013)

So....who ya got? I wanna see falcons over pats.

Enjoy the trip


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## Freakingstang (Jan 19, 2013)

Paulywalnut said:


> Hope you have a chance to enjoy the game.


 
Negative... it will be all work.  Of the last 6 super bowls I've worked, Ive got to see less than 2 minutes total....

I hate the pats.....


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## Paulywalnut (Jan 19, 2013)

Freakingstang said:


> Negative... it will be all work. Of the last 6 super bowls I've worked, Ive got to see less than 2 minutes total....
> 
> I hate the pats.....


Ha Ha. maybe they won't be in it.. but I kind of think they will.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 22, 2013)

Freakingstang said:


> Negative... it will be all work. Of the last 6 super bowls I've worked, Ive got to see less than 2 minutes total....
> 
> I hate the pats.....


 
I think there are a lot of Patriot Haters . . . and sadly (for a Pats fan at least) I think BB's refusal to give a post-game compliment following the Raven's win just helps reinforce folks' beliefs about the Pats and their attitude.


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## Freakingstang (Feb 1, 2013)

I got into New Orleans last week to help with the Super Bowl. I'm working at a venue that is the NFL Friday night party. It is a party for the NFL team owners, NFL commissioner and important VIP executives. 

There is a huge building at the port of New Orleans that is the main dinner area, main stage and caring. We are supplying generator power for the entire event, the AC for the entrainment tent, power for the concert and all the stage lighting.  I normally work the actual Super Bowl at the stadium, but could not this year as I had to deal with a family death.  So I came down to help out for two weeks instead of 7weeks.  This might be the first Super Bowl in the last seven years (that I've worked) that I will actually get to watch.  Fuk the ravens! Lol

The venue starts with a double decker glass walled tent








two of the three 300 KW generators to power the venue.  These are paralleled together for redundancy in case there is a mechanical problem, there is no loss in power. (For size reference there are 18 of these paralleled together running the broadcast compound)






third one. All have external fuel tanks for extended run time






One of The four 30 entertainment style air conditioners. These are designed and built by us just for entertainment purposes for size constraints. A normal roof top 30 top AC would be 18-20' long. These are 9' long and can be installed directly into the tent wall. We used ductwork on this job for athstetics











finished inside view of the AC (or heat) vents.


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## Flatbedford (Feb 1, 2013)

There's a bunch of your company's stuff outside my place of work for fashion week. I think they are running heat, not AC though.


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## Freakingstang (Feb 1, 2013)

Some inside tent pics. This is all temporary built stuff. And yes that is a carousel
















This is the inside of the building this was a bare warehouse a week ago. Starts with the rigging for the light truss that will be suspended from the roof for the event lighting and stage lights as well as sound






stage built..  






Chandeliers hung off of lighting truss...






hanging the Roman numerals.... That staircase was built out of scaffold weds night


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## Delta-T (Feb 1, 2013)

who powers the corndog vendors??? that's where the real $$ is at...corndogs and italian sausage, big money.


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## Freakingstang (Feb 1, 2013)

Stage done and light up... Dining area done, 140k dollars worth of flowers set in place






120" LCD monitors hung from the ceiling...

















16' LCD screens for my tv....












Etched glass...


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## Freakingstang (Feb 1, 2013)

More pics. Real brick lined bars....






This room is phenomenal. I can't get good pictures because it is so dark. It is a room inside this warehouse that looks like the bayou at night. Freakin' awesome


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## Freakingstang (Feb 1, 2013)

Yea





Flatbedford said:


> There's a bunch of your company's stuff outside my place of work for fashion week. I think they are running heat, not AC though.




Yeah we do the fashion twice a year in NYC.. I've only done that job once, as they always pull me for the Super Bowl instead. That job is a nightmare. We have 40-50 semi trucks to load/unload in the streets between the hours of 2am and 4:30am. Makes for a small fiasco....


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## Flatbedford (Feb 1, 2013)

Yup, and you guys screw up traffic in the neighborhood too!


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## Freakingstang (Feb 1, 2013)

More pics
































All the memorabilia from the past ten super bowls here in new Orleans came from the pro football hall of fame... Ya know that little place in canton Ohio? Y'all don't know how lucky we are


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## seige101 (Feb 1, 2013)

That is totally bad ass to see come together. I love seeing behind the scenes stuff like that and appreciate all the infrastructure that comes together to make it happen!
Thanks for sharing with us!


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## Danno77 (Feb 3, 2013)

Uh oh! Bet we hear a good story when this is all over with! Sending positive vibes your way hoping this stuff gets taken care of and nobody gets into big trouble.


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## firefighterjake (Feb 3, 2013)

WE need Freakingstang


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## Badfish740 (Feb 3, 2013)

When one goes out, they all go out...


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## nate379 (Feb 3, 2013)

Story about the photos?



Danno77 said:


> Uh oh! Bet we hear a good story when this is all over with! Sending positive vibes your way hoping this stuff gets taken care of and nobody gets into big trouble.


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## Danno77 (Feb 3, 2013)

Nope, they are having/had power issues. Half hour of play delay because of the issues.


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## firefighterjake (Feb 3, 2013)

nate379 said:


> Story about the photos?


 
Not watching the Superbowl?


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## WellSeasoned (Feb 3, 2013)

Police scanner all lit up for orleans area. Having power issues outside superdome as well.


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## nate379 (Feb 3, 2013)

No, forgot that it was today even.



firefighterjake said:


> Not watching the Superbowl?


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## firefighterjake (Feb 3, 2013)

nate379 said:


> No, forgot that it was today even.


 
The stadium lost partial power for a half hour or so delaying the game . . . just resumed. Scotty, like myself, thought of Freaking right away.


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## Danno77 (Feb 3, 2013)

nate379 said:


> No, forgot that it was today even.


You aren't missing anything. The 49ers musta been unable to make it, they sent the local HS team in their place.


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## Woody Stover (Feb 3, 2013)

WellSeasoned said:


> Police scanner all lit up for orleans area. Having power issues outside superdome as well.


Damn terrorists!


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## nate379 (Feb 3, 2013)

Haha. I haven't even remotely followed football in close to 15 years, I have no real interest in it.  I'd probably find "Knitting tips with Martha" more interesting. 

Prolly would throw it on the TV for some noise, but renter is watching other stuff that is more interesting anyhow. Only have one tuner for the satellite.



Danno77 said:


> You aren't missing anything. The 49ers musta been unable to make it, they sent the local HS team in their place.


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## Jack Straw (Feb 3, 2013)

Quick, does anyone know the hiemlich manuever?


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## WellSeasoned (Feb 3, 2013)

Woody Stover said:


> Damn terrorists!



All this rest from the power outage, the 9ers are coming back say it aint so


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## DexterDay (Feb 3, 2013)

Rut Roh Shaggy..... Someone had a Bad Day


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## aussiedog3 (Feb 3, 2013)

Rut Ro Stang


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## MasterMech (Feb 4, 2013)

firefighterjake said:


> The stadium lost partial power for a half hour or so delaying the game . . . just resumed. Scotty, like myself, thought of Freaking right away.


 So did I!


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## granpajohn (Feb 4, 2013)

Based on post No. 14, it sounds like the grid power went out, not AggrekoStang. (Might've had some relation,,,IDK) viz:

No, the Gensets are for three things.​​The live broadcast. They pay big money to ensure there is no drop in power for the live feed or the uplink. They can't rely on the grid, when an event of this magnitude comes to town. ​​The 2nd "job" is supplying generator power to the half time show, mainly for the lights as the load most acts put on is more than your average stadium can handle.​​Third job is the venue/operations. Noel Lesely is contracted by the Nfl for the entire "game" it is months and thousands of man hours for this four hour game. There are a bunch of vendors that work of the stadium to get the show done, and we supply the whole vender/operations compound​​As stated, the load on the grid during an event of this magnitude is too much for most cities to handle, that's where we come in.​


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## Jags (Feb 4, 2013)

'Stang - I see you found the light switch.


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## Shane N (Feb 4, 2013)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketforceslive/2013/feb/04/aggreko-super-bowl-power-failure



> Aggreko, the global leader in the provision of temporary power and temperature control services, kept its power running throughout America's national football championships in New Orleans despite the power disruption elsewhere in the stadium.
> 
> Aggreko, which provided power for event for the 23rd time, was responsible for the CBS Compound as well as the international broadcast and a large part of the halftime show, all of which operated flawlessly and with no reported outages throughout the event.


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## Danno77 (Feb 4, 2013)

That's what I was starting to think. seemed like the power issues were from the city's end of things.


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## Boog (Feb 4, 2013)

The City/Stadium Grid probably saw Aggreko's clean continous power and new something was wrong.................... threw a breaker in response!


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## firefighterjake (Feb 5, 2013)

Maybe Aggreko should have been hired to provide power for the whole shebang!


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## Freakingstang (Feb 16, 2013)

Hey guys, just an update.  I'm back in town after a long week of tear down and loading 72 semi sized truckloads of equipment.  The first week back was kinda rough..

Anyways, the power outage for the game was not us.  We had  two megs backup in place for the stadium after some things blew friday night during rehearsal.  Basically what happened is there was two utility feeds to the stadium an there is a tie breaker that connects them together.  Something with the breaker popped and only half of the grid(utility) was functional to the stadium.  We had the generator running and in place with cables already ran, but because of that tie  breaker, it was never switched over to the generator.  The guy that had the key to the transformer vault room was never foun, so we coulnd't switch it over to the generator even if we wanted to!.


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## Flatbedford (Feb 16, 2013)

Gotta love having all the people, equipment, and know how in place and not being able to use it.


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## Freakingstang (Feb 16, 2013)

firefighterjake said:


> Maybe Aggreko should have been hired to provide power for the whole shebang!


 

The NFL doesn't (won't) foot that bill..We've tried in the past....


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