Super Scenes

The Super Bowl has evolved from the mere crowning of an NFL champion into a cornerstone social event that brings more than 100 million Americans (to say nothing of foreign audiences) together to cheer on the game – or, simply watch the spectacle.
Understandably, outfitting the Big Game – and its companion, the Pro Bowl, which was played at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium on the prior Sunday – provided a monumental task for Berkeley, CA-based Flying Colors.

For the 21st year, the digital-print provider outfitted the Super Bowl. All told, the project required approximately 479,000 sq. ft. of fabric, flexible-face vinyl, mesh and pressure-sensitive media to decorate the stadium, media center, street banners, two airports and super-sized Roman numerals — a Super Bowl signature – on Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

David Kerchman, Flying Colors’ president, said the shop perfected the graphics using Caldera’s RIP software and output the graphics on its EFI-VUTEk 5330 5m-wide printer, HP XL 1500 dye-sublimation printer, VUTEK 3360 3m-wide printer, and Durst Rho 800 UV-ink printer.

“It was a challenge to create a unique look for both events, while allowing for creative overlap for some components,” he said.

After the Super Bowl teams were decided by the conference championship games two Sundays before, team-specific elements had to be output and shipped for installation two days later, Kerchman said. With the immediate turnaround from the Pro Bowl Sunday to the next day’s beginning of Super Bowl week, several venues required multiple crews to work overnight executing the changeover.