LAS VEGAS – In addition to the 61,629 fans packing Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the Feb. 11 NFL Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers went down as the most-watched televised event in U.S. history, with an average viewership of 123.4 million, up 7 percent from last year’s record-setting 115 million viewers.
With the Chiefs edging the 49ers 25-to-22 in a nail-biting overtime victory (capped with a big smooch between Taylor Swift and the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce), the game proved irresistible to a wide spectrum of viewers, and although there was much discussion about the apparent mic changes for Usher during his halftime show performance, the audio quality was seen by many to follow the artist’s dancing footwork in a trajectory from rough grass to glossy stage to roller skates.
Pre-game reports noted a twist with this year’s audio production from ATK Audiotek, the longtime Super Bowl sound production partner now owned by Clair Global. Instead of the usual practice of rolling carts of speakers onto the field, ATK flew a temporary-but-massive L-Acoustics K2 system, completely separate from the venue’s P.A. system, and it got used for both Usher’s performance and for announcements during the game – apparently a Super Bowl audio setup first.
Along with the flown system, which included L-Acoustics KS28 subs, an additional complement of Cohesion 218 ground subs were deployed for low-frequency reinforcement for the halftime lineup of performers, which included Alicia Keys, H.E.R, Ludacris, Jermaine Dupri, will.i.am and Lil Jon. Also taking the field were members of the legendary Sonic Boom of the South, the 300+ strong marching band of Jackson State University in Jackson, MS.
Super Bowl LIX is set to move to New Orleans with the big game scheduled for Feb. 9, 2025 at Caesars Superdome, the home of the New Orleans Saints. (New Orleans had been considered as the site for Super Bowl LVIII, but the Feb. 11 2024 game day conflicted with Mardi Gras on Feb. 13, just two days later. In 2025 there will be weeks between the Feb. 9 football championship and the March 4 Mardi Gras festivities.)
