Charhon Athl€tic uses NewTek's TriCaster

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SportlngchallengpHow our children will laugh when we tellthem that goingto a match once meant nothing more than

watchingtwo groups of blokes chasing a ball around a field. Paul Bray reports on AV in sports venues.

You could be lbrgiven fbrthinking that the action on

the pitch rvas a mere side-

shorv. Today's fans erPect

to enjoy an experience rather than just

watch a game. says Duncan PaYne,

sales manager at broadcast systems

integrator, WTS.

"AV is playing a big role in enhanc-

ing f-ans'experience and engagement at

sporting venues, belore. during and

afier events," he says. "From the

moment fans arrive at the l'enue - out-

side the ground, on the concourses and

inside the stadium -AV is a key driver

in building atmosphere and anricipa-

tion. ModemAV solutions allow instant

replay of key moments, pre-rehearsed

effects operated by a single button. and

the ability to involve multiple sponsors

within a single game."

Adds Phil Gaut, head ol displaY at

Samsung UK: "AV creates a holisticexperience for fans that extends beyond

the game. Sporting venues can showreplays, post-match interviews and

information about the team line-up that

provides more atmosphere. encourages

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Flexibility of use is important for Orlando, Florida's Amway Center which hosts

200-plus events a year, from hockey and basketball to concerts and meetings

accordir.i-c t.. P"ul Childerhiruse. group

director oi ini:grattrr. Pioleer Digital.Jumbo LED' L,r.th insice and outside

tlre grour'J Ji .L1r: :r .: i\nelicllceand pror rce r-:.i.-!le adr e:tisine plat-

fbnns. rihll: n-:;:'-.i:; ard mld-tierribbons tha. ,i i-, :e pic*ed u: br broad-

cast T\- came:r: a::- la : ciucial reve-

nlre sffearr Ia:.-,-:r."For prer:'::: r:::ts :1. qualit-u- of

the displal r', r-- ::-:.i: --: ::e :k the Pur-

chasing de;-.:,::-. s:r . Ci':lderhouse."Brand pri:i:'. :,: -':. :s :rtrerielYimportant. :,1 :;:a ::=: : ' :e red and

not Pink. LED .'..: .,'. s ':: :deaL. as

the1,'re scalable for anl'size or shape,

trulr rearttlers. enrtlrinEr no imagerl is

broken by a bezel, and have excellent

colour leproduction."At English soccer club Derby Counq',

sa-vs Childerhouse "fans are greeted on

arrival by tu,o roadside displays. lnside

the stadium jumbo LED displays. mid-

tier ribbons, digital posters and interac-

tive krosk menus keep fans connected to

the action, along rvith a concourse TVsolution featuring social media streams

to instantly share thet views and encour-

age engagement with multi-u'ay com-

munication streams."

Fans increasingly expect to bring their

own devices to matches. "With the pro-

lit'eration of smart devices and social

media, lans are expecting the same 1ev-

els of engagemertt and interaction at

sporting events as they get on TV at

home," says John Halksworth, senior

product manager at controls vendor,

Adder Technology.

This creates fuither opporlunities tbrengagement and marketing. "Weworked with (Scottish soccer club)Celtic to install 350 u ireless internet

fans to stal'longer and increases their

chances of retltmiug."Steve Adamson, AV assistant at Eng-

lish soccer club Charlton Athletic,describes u.hat is becoming a fairly typi-

cal set-up, "\\re're using NewTek'sTnCa'ter and j Plar lir e prodLrction sys-

tems to create content lor a brand new,

in-stadium screen." he says. "We push

out all content to l-ans on the screen,

including a lir e teed of the match com-

plete wrth instant replal', pre-match and

half+ime entertainment. and messages,

sponsors' adverts and announcements."

Digital signage has several key roles.

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D SPORTINGVENUES

The Open at St Andrews, Scotlandclaims to be the world's oldestgolf championship. But in 2015spectators were able to keepabreast of the action thanks to a

newly installed course lP networkconnecting 460+ screens across the

venue.Fans could see close-uPs of the

action on big screens in realtime,enabling them to feel immersed in

the competition even when a mileor two from the action. Broadcastcoverage included feeds from theBBC, ESPN and TV Asahi so thatfans could watch golf news and live

commentary.Installed by C3i Events, the video

streaming system was based on

an Exterity lP video solution sittingon top of the course's existing fibrebased network. As well as course-side screens the system covered all

the hospitality and media suites at St

Andrews, including a 36m LED video

wall in the media centre to deliverlive feeds to on-site broadcasters.

Visitors could also stream contentvia their mobile devices, and The

Open is now combining multiPlenetworks, including LAN, Wi-Fi,

3G and 4G, extendingthe reach ofthe competition bY enabling fansto share their views online withaccompanying video and broadcastcoverage in realtime.

connections and access points aloundthe stadium so every fan can relnain con-

nected throughout the game," says Chil-

derhouse. "simultaneously the club

launched its own intemet portal app, giv-

ing sponsors the opportunity to talk to

each lan with personalised messaging

and collect better results about theirretum on investment."

The more in touch fans are, the more

they will spend and the happier commer-

cial pmfiers will be.

"We have installations in soccer and

county cricket clubs in the UK, majorleague hockey stadia in Germany and

state-of-the-art horse racing tracks in the

Middle East," says Mark Stanborough,

EMEA sales manager at video specialist,

Cabletime. "The purpose is notjust to

stream live sport but to do this in the bars

and restaurants throughout the stadia so

visitors can continue to buy refresh-ments without missing any action. At(English soccer club) Chesterfield, forexample, streaming the match live todisplays in the bar area pushed up sales

by 20 per cent in a matter of weeks."

Many sports venues are becoming

www.avi nteractive.com

multi-use facitties that provide conven-

don. meeting. and hospitaliry ser.'rices on

non-match days.

"Or1ando, Fiorida's AmwaY Center

organises 200-plus events a year, from

hockey and basketball to concerts and

meetings, so it has to reorganise assets

quickly," says Joe Walsh, national sales

manager for sports and entertainmentvenues at video streaming specialist,Vitec. "This includes easy management

of hospitality and meeting space content

for customer branding and laptop presen-

lalions, 2417 scheduli ng and automation

ofcontent and dispiay flnctions by zone,

group, or individual display, and easy TVviewing and eror-fiee integration withthird-party AV contro1 systems. "

Players and coaches can also benefit,

says Tim Matthews, business displayproduct manager at Toshiba Europe. "Atlast year's Rugby World Cup the organis-

ers installed a new, multi-angle video

replay systemenabling coaches to review

how injuries were caused," he says.

The falling price of large format dis-

plays and the proliferation of 4K cam-

eras has made content acquisition in D

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r\4ARCH/ApRrL 2016 | Av MAcAZINE | 45

D SPORTING VENUES

high resolution eminently affordable,says Payne.

"In January the NBA (US NationalBasketball Association) teamed up withBT Sport and Canadianmedia companyRogers to deliver the frst live broadcast

NBA game in 4I!" says Colin Farquhar,

ceo of IPTV vendor, Exterity. Thisyear'sRio Olympics and Euro2016 soc-

cer championship should be high-spend-

ing bonanzas forAV suppliers, he adds.

The market is growing right acrossthe UK and Europe, according to Stan-

bomugL including smaller venues forwhom IPTV and digitai signage solu-tims are now becoming affordable.

"Atthe sametime, some oldervenueswill rmdago modemisation and renova-

tio4" says Oliver Sahm, director ofmar-keting application design at audiovendor, Bosch Security Systems. "Eachproject has a timeline of several years so

individual projec* will overlap."

Not that vendors and integratorsshould expect an easy ride. A signiflcant

challengg according to Childerhouse, is

balancing short project lead times and

timescales - often in the few weeksbetween seasons - with the amount ofinfrastructure work required to imple-ment something like a jumbo LED dis-play which can be more like a buildingproject than a simple installation.

"Every deal is completely different,"says Walsh. "For example some venues

may have very few signage channels butmany displays, while others may have

hundreds ofsignage channels. And there

are a lot ofpeople involved. The venuemight hire three separate consultingflrms, and there can be multiple integra-

tors as well as manufacturers all wantingto get their equipment specified in."

And ofcourse all the usualAV issues

apply, often in spades. "Using the latest

digital technology and AV solutionsdoesn't mean you can ignore the basicphysics and acoustics required toachieve even acoustic coverage andhighinteiligibility," says Sahm.

Walsh observes that low latency is a

major concern for live video feeds, toensure that the picture on the big screen

does not lag a few seconds behind the

live action - one reason why stadia are

converting from RF networks to IP. Syn-

chronising video playback across multi-

ple displays is aiso important because a

fan in the arena may be able to see many

displays at once.

Ease of operation is important tosports venues which may be runningambitious AV systems with only a two-or tlree-person crew plus camera opera-

tors, says Payne.

Reliability is also key. "I've heard hor-

ror stories about unreliable productbehind the display causing it to go out and

thenpeople start screaming," says Walsh.

Finally,AVsuppliers needto remember

why the fans are rea1ly there. "The chal-

lenge is balancing these systems so they

don't overshadow the natural excitemenq

energy and atmosphere that come withwatching a live game," says Farquhm. I

D www.adder.comD www.bosch.comD www.cabletime.comD www.cafc.co.ukD www.exterity.comD www.pioneergroup.co.ukD www.samsung.comD www.toshiba.euD www.vitec.comD www.wtsbroadcast.comTheStaples Genter is a multi-purpose sportsvenue in Los Angeles. lt features LA

Interactive powered by Toshiba, a stateof-the,aft interactlve zone for fans

46 | AV MAGAZTNE l|\4ARCH/APRTL 2016 www.avinteractive.com