Jan 30, 2019; Atlanta, GA, USA; A general view of Super Bowl LIII signage at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena exterior. The Los Angeles Rams play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII on Feb 3, 2019. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time in his long career at CBS which began in 1985, Jim Rikhoff is currently in charge of putting together the most-watched television show in America.

In his debut as producer of the Super Bowl, Rikhoff is in charge much more than just the game itself. It’s also all the preparation in managing the setup for Sunday’s Patriots-Rams matchup in Atlanta and getting the on-air staff ready for the big game, as he described to Awful Announcing at CBS’ media availability in New York earlier this month.

As CBS mentioned, there will be 115 cameras set up to capture the Super Bowl, including 8K cameras, cameras for augmented reality, 28 pylon cameras and more than 50 total end zone cameras.

Sunday will mark Rikhoff’s 7th Super Bowl overall with CBS, but his first as the coordinating or lead producer with a tremendous amount of oversight and responsibility.

“You’re accountable for more, but honestly I’ll feel the same way just like we did the AFC Championship,” Rikhoff told AA. “Everything is bigger. You’re busier. I think the key is being able to manage all the little things you might be getting pulled [towards] and staying focused on the football game, on the telecast.”

Rikhoff began preparing the logistics for the Super Bowl with the NFL and others roughly three-and-a-half weeks before Feb. 3, with close to 500 people brought in to help set Mercedes-Benz Stadium up for the broadcast between production support, runners, utilities and more.

“It’s grown exponentially over the years,” Rikhoff said “It’s amazing the size of it. I always say our compound looks like Valley Forge. All I need to know is what truck I need to go to. I need to know where our main mobile unit is, tape unit and the cafeteria.”

How will Rikhoff and CBS make sure that all those 115 cameras set up for the Super Bowl actually capture every part of the field? Each year, the NFL hires two high school teams to come to the game venue and run through a set of plays to test out all the camera angles and the new technology already set up.

“On Friday, we do it for about two hours. We go through every play,” Rikhoff said. “And this is where we’re looking to do a catch in the back of the end zone, a kickoff return down the sideline. We’ll check to see that we’re covering every angle.”

Rikhoff has one rule about new technology for the Super Bowl broadcast: “If it enhances the show, then we’ll add it to our arsenal,” he said. “You don’t want to do something for the sake of doing something different.”

And of course in addition to coordinating the preparation of the stadium, Rikhoff also has to do his normal functions of producing the most popular sporting event in the U.S. That will include managing Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, and rules analyst Gene Steratore in the booth and reporters Tracy Wolfson, Evan Washburn, and Jay Feely.

“The way he’s able to handle everyone and manage the crew behind the scenes is something that I don’t think he would get credit for,” Wolfson, whose face lit up when asked about Rikhoff, told Awful Announcing. “And he’s so calm about it. It’s very rare that you find that.”

Rikhoff is in charge of managing when the on-air talent gets to the stadium, coordinating meetings and also how the storylines are introduced and interspersed throughout the Super Bowl telecast.

“It’s logistics and storylines, and game opens, and who’s going on when, and when can we get this story in,” Wolfson said. 

It’s a role Wolfson said Rikhoff is so good at even though it’s only his second season in the role.

“It usually takes producers so many years to really all flow and to get in the same groove,” Wolfson said, noting that the chemistry the Nantz-Romo-Wolfson crew has “is because of him.” 

Once the setup of the stadium and the preparation for the game are complete, it’s just another broadcast for Rikhoff, but one with a lot more moving parts, tens of millions more watching and a ton more scrutiny.

“I almost take it series by series, and that way you make sure you’re covering everything,” Rikhoff said. “I never look at it any bigger than that. Once in a while I’ll step back and think ‘what’s the story of the game here?’ But I do that whatever game I’m doing.”

Rikhoff spent the last four CBS Super Bowls as the replay producer, but he said he’s prepared for his first Super Bowl as lead producer, ready for the largest challenge there is in American sports, and perhaps American television.

The prep stuff is more, and making sure you’re organized and where everything is camera-wise and angle-wise,” Rikhoff said. “There’s more to kind of digest, but as far as my approach to the game itself, it’s the same as every week.”

About Shlomo Sprung

Shlomo Sprung is a writer and columnist for Awful Announcing. He's also a senior contributor at Forbes and writes at FanSided, SI Knicks, YES Network and other publications.. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, Business Insider, Sporting News and Major League Baseball. You should follow him on Twitter.