NBC Sports Utilizes ILM’s Groundbreaking StageCraft Virtual Production
Technology to Showcase Carrie Underwood Performing at a “Tailgate”
User-Generated Video from NFL Stars & Fan Tailgates Featured in Open
New Sunday Night Football Show Open Premieres on Sun., Sept. 12
Bears-Rams SNF Opener on NBC and Peacock
STAMFORD, Conn. – In less than three weeks, on Sunday, Sept. 12 on NBC and Peacock, seven-time Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist Carrie Underwood stars in the debut of the 2021 show open for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which has been primetime television’s No. 1 program for an unprecedented 10 consecutive years.
Shot at Industrial Light & Magic’s cutting edge LED sound stage utilizing the company’s StageCraft LED virtual production technology recently used in “The Mandalorian,” the 2021 Sunday Night Football show open for the first time will feature a virtual football tailgate as a backdrop for Underwood’s performance of “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.”
“Shooting the new show open for Sunday Night Football is one of the highlights of my year,” said Underwood, who headlines the SNF show open for the ninth consecutive season. “I just love the fact that we get to reinvent it every year. The team behind these shoots is incredible and it’s always a really fun day, especially this year getting to work with such amazing state-of-the-art technology.”
In addition, the show open will highlight user-generated cameos from some of the NFL’s biggest stars, as well as fans’ self-recorded video from NFL tailgates.
“We are excited about this year’s new collaboration with Carrie, which utilizes virtual production technology to generate real-time environments for Carrie’s performance, including a ‘tailgate’ to salute this game’s great fans, who have been ‘waiting all day for Sunday night’ and will be incorporated with their own user-generated tailgate videos,” said Tripp Dixon, creative director of the SNF show open.
NBC’S SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IS PRIMETIME TELEVISION’S NO. 1 SHOW FOR RECORD 10 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished the 2020-21 TV season as primetime’s #1 TV show in all key metrics for an unprecedented 10th consecutive year – adding to its record for the most consecutive years atop the charts (since 1950), based on official live plus same day data provided by Nielsen. Sunday Night Football also ranked as the No. 1 show in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic for the 11th consecutive TV season.
| 2021 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE | ||
| Thurs. Sept. 9 | NFL Kickoff | Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| Sun. Sept. 12 | Week 1 | Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams |
| Sun. Sept. 19 | Week 2 | Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens |
| Sun. Sept. 26 | Week 3 | Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers |
| Sun. Oct. 3 | Week 4 | Tampa Bay Bucs at New England Patriots |
| *Sun. Oct. 10 | Week 5 | Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs |
| *Sun. Oct. 17 | Week 6 | Seattle Seahawks at Pittsburgh Steelers |
| *Sun. Oct. 24 | Week 7 | Indianapolis Colts at San Francisco 49ers |
| *Sun. Oct. 31 | Week 8 | Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings |
| *Sun. Nov. 7 | Week 9 | Tennessee Titans at Los Angeles Rams |
| *Sun. Nov. 14 | Week 10 | Kansas City Chiefs at Las Vegas Raiders |
| *Sun. Nov. 21 | Week 11 | Pittsburgh Steelers at Los Angeles Chargers |
| **Thurs. Nov. 25 | Week 12 | Buffalo Bills at New Orleans Saints |
| *Sun. Nov. 28 | Week 12 | Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens |
| *Sun. Dec. 5 | Week 13 | San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks |
| *Sun. Dec. 12 | Week 14 | Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers |
| *Sun. Dec. 19 | Week 15 | New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| *Sun. Dec. 26 | Week 16 | Washington Football Team at Dallas Cowboys |
| *Sun. Jan. 2 | Week 17 | Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers |
| *Sun. Jan. 9 | Week 18 | TBD |
*Flex Week
** Thanksgiving Night Game