Madison High School to Install Idaho’s First Fully Digital High School Football Display
Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho, will be the first in the state to install a fully digital football display from Daktronics.
Alongside the display, the school is also the first in the state to incorporate a Daktronics sound system. The 12-by-25-foot video display and Sportsound 1500 audio system are scheduled for installation this summer. Vibrant, clear LED pixels make graphics, live video and pre-produced content easy to see from all sides of Bobcat Stadium, amplifying the game atmosphere. The Daktronics Sportsound system has clear, rich audio that carries across the stadium.
“We wanted something that accentuated our new stadium,” said Jordan Busby, assistant administrator at Madison High School. “We like the ability to use the digital display as a way to promote our school as well as to generate dynamic sponsorship opportunities that can be changed as needs arise.”
When Jordan and other Madison High School administrators experienced the Daktronics sound system in Evanston, Wyoming, Busby said they were very impressed.
“All of our current scoreboards are Daktronics and we like the ability to use similar equipment throughout the district,” said Jordan. “This helps in times where we may have equipment failure, and it makes it easier for personnel, as they only have to learn one program.”
Jordan said the video display is also a platform that will be used to feature student activities and for community events, including movie nights and concerts.
Madison High School wants the students to get involved in game-day production after the display is installed. Plans for a sports marketing business class are in the works, Busby said.
Brent McFarland, principal architect at JRW & Associates, said Daktronics exceeded his expectations with knowledge of balancing costs and options that kept costs and preferred features in mind.
“They presented the client with several revenue-generating options associated with the client’s new scoreboard, allowing the client to secure a scoreboard with more features,” said Brent. “Daktronics has comprehensive and diverse scoreboard and sound system product lines, offering a solution for every budget and project size.”
Jordan said the new scoreboard wouldn’t have been possible without sponsorship from Idaho Central Credit Union: “From the start of the project, they have been excited to help us bring the newest and latest digital scoreboard opportunities to the new Bobcat Stadium.”
This dynamic display brings the Madison School District opportunities to bring in additional revenue to the school from advertising with more spots to feature sponsors.
“We are very excited to get our new scoreboard,” said Madison High School Principal Mike Bennett. “It will take our event experiences to a new level. The opportunities for our students to be involved in selling ads, developing content and running the scoreboard will help prepare them for possible careers in this area in the future.”
CT Scores Big at AFC Asian Cup 2019
On the 5th January 2019, The AFC Asian Cup returned to the UAE for the second time since 1996 and for the first time in history, the month-long tournament saw 24 teams take part. It is the largest sporting tournament the UAE have ever hosted and took place over eight football stadiums across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain and Sharjah.
Over 5,000 volunteers were on hand to ensure the event ran smooth, taking on various roles from operations and logistics to media management and hospitality.
Creative Technology (CT) was honoured to have been a part of this fantastic event. Supplying perimeter LED for five of the eight stadiums that were dotted around the UAE on behalf of our client, Sports Logistics.
Each stadium had 252m of S10 perimeter LED around the ground which was used to display advertising and sponsorship content throughout the games.
CT’s Project Manager, Darko Rosenberg explained: “The team have been travelling up and down the country monitoring the LED perimeter across all sites to ensure a smooth delivery for every game. The crew have been brilliant and delivered fantastic results as always.”
The event came to a close on the 1st February when Qatar won the Asian tournament and will now go on to qualify for the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Rosenberg expressed: “The tournament has been fantastic from start to end, and it has been a pleasure working alongside Sports Logistics once again.”
Super Bowl Uses Shure Axient Digital Wireless System
The Super Bowl is arguably the most wireless-intensive live event every year, with thousands of devices vying for clear spectrum. Leading up to the big game, the 2019 host city of Atlanta saw a wide range of football activities, concert events, broadcasting, and fan experiences. To ensure flawless operation and outstanding sound quality across these events, Shure wireless systems were selected for game day, including the flagship Shure Axient Digital wireless system and Shure PSM 1000 in-ear monitors.
All RF usage was planned and managed by NFL Lead Frequency Coordinator Karl Voss. Primary audio supplier ATK Audiotek again brought in experts from Orlando-based Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) to meet the challenge of delivering pristine audio for the on-field entertainment. PWS handled Gladys Knight’s rendition of the U.S. National Anthem among other pregame festivities, plus the Maroon 5 halftime show and the referee’s critical microphone.
Professional Wireless Systems RF Engineer, Gary Trenda, chose Shure wireless again, explained: “It’s our second straight year using Axient Digital as our preferred system, which has several advantages in covering a football field. The Quadversity antenna system increases reliability and range.No matter where your transmitter is, you’re always closer to antennas than you would be with a regular diversity setup. That’s a huge advantage to us because the stage design and location are typically not yet finalized at the time when we are designing the RF distribution and specifying the wireless equipment.”
In the 30 minutes before kickoff, Axient Digital got the game broadcast off to a flawless start. Activities like the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, presented to Chris Long of Philadelphia, by previous winner J.J. Watt of Houston, used an AD2 handheld transmitter with KSM8 mic element. Presentation of the colours used AD1 bodypack transmitters on the Sergeant and drummers in the colour guard. Chloe x Halle then sang America The Beautiful using AD2/KSM9 handhelds, followed by the National Anthem, sung by Gladys Knight on the ADX2FD/KSM8 microphone, using Shure’s unique frequency diversity feature.
For the coin toss, referee John Parry was double-miked with twin Shure Axient analogue AXT100 bodypack transmitters, also in frequency diversity mode. Parry used the system for penalty calls throughout the game, so the referee’s mic was always under the microscope. Since changing to Shure Axient analogue several years ago, referee audio has been consistently tight. “Shure frequency diversity feature offers big benefits,” noted Trenda. “With two active frequencies operating simultaneously, we can avoid interference by switching seamlessly to the second channel.
For the referee system, we extend that redundancy by using two microphones and even two receivers, one on house AC and the other plugged into a UPS battery backup system. That gives us two fully redundant audio paths, so it would take a pretty catastrophic failure to lose the referee audio. ”The halftime show was a Shure-driven event, with Adam Levine’s vocals delivered via an ADX2FD/SM58 microphone. In addition, Levine and Maroon 5 lead guitarist James Valentine used the new ADX1 bodypack systems for their guitars. The ADX series of Axient Digital incorporates Shure’s ShowLink system, which provides full remote control of all transmitter functions by the system operator. This backchannel command and control system was powered by three AD610 ShowLink Access Points, strategically placed around Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“Throughout the day, PWS’ Cameron Stuckey was monitoring all the Shure wireless systems with the Wireless Workbench software,” said Trenda. “With Workbench and the AD610 Access Points, we can control all aspects of the ADX series transmitters. We can actually change frequencies, and adjust other functions remotely. This provides an extra measure of reliability and confidence that you need at an event like the Super Bowl.” In fact, Shure products were spotted at a wide range of Super Bowl Week events.
During the game, surround sound listeners enjoyed audio ambience from a range of Shure microphones, including VP88 stereo mics in mid-side mode with KSM313 ribbons, paired Beta 181 condenser mics, and roof-mounted KSM44A condensers in X-Y configuration, all strategically placed around the stadium by sound engineer Dave Grundtvig, to capture the crowd’s excitement.During the week, 48 Axient Digital channels were deployed at Super Bowl press conferences by the NFL, the Rams, and the Patriots, plus Opening Night at State Farm Arena and at Super Bowl live fan events.
Shure MX418 gooseneck microphones were spotted on podiums for speeches and interviews in the Georgia World Congress Center. At the annual NFL Honors awards show on Saturday, ATK Audiotek provided 20 channels of Axient Digital, six channels of UHF-R wireless mics, and used PSM 1000 for all in-ear systems. Another highlight of the week was the first Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest, where daily concert events included Bruno Mars on Axient Digital, Aerosmith on Axient analogue, and Cardi B with her signature gold UHF-R handheld wireless transmitter.
Shure wireless systems were seen at official events around Atlanta leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, with hundreds of Axient Digital microphones and PSM 1000 in-ear systems in the most demanding situations. It all culminated on Sunday night, with another series of flawless performances during the game itself. Trenda reported that Axient Digital again provided exactly what the NFL has come to expect of Super Bowl audio: flawless RF performance and outstanding sound quality for the most demanding live broadcast event on the planet.
“The Super Bowl requires a lot of preparation and specialized equipment, and Shure is a big part of that,” Trenda said. “Once again this year, we had no equipment issues at all during pregame or the halftime show, so it’s fair to say that Axient Digital with Quadversity is our preferred wireless. It’s a proven product that gives us the reliability required for a live broadcast event like the Super Bowl.”
MONDO STADIA Brings Sporting Venue Conference to ISE 2019 with AGORA
MONDO | STADIA presents AGORA - a new event for 2019 focussing on sporting venue technology, the latest developments in the industry and future projects.
Through panel discussions, case studies and expert keynote speakers, AGORA will explore the benefits of the latest technology, trends and techniques - analysing the impact it has and will have at modern stadiums and sporting venues around the globe.
From enhancing the fan experience and modernising stadium infrastructure, through to the planning of ceremonies and events, AGORA will provide valuable insight that will help to increase knowledge and performance for stadium and sporting venue projects in the future.
Taking place at ISE 2019, Amsterdam, AGORA will offer sporting venue managers and event organisers the chance to network with technology innovators and industry experts.
L-Acoustics K1 Scores at the Canadian Football League Grey Cup Game
The Canadian Football League’s 2018 season concluded on Sunday, November 25 when the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 27-16 in the 106th Grey Cup, held in Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta.
While fans in the stands of the largest open-air stadium in Canada (seating capacity of 55,819) saw a great game, they also heard from some fantastic entertainment. Brother-sister country duo The Reklaws got the audience fired up during the pre-kick-off show, and then Canadian songbird and Grammy Award-winner Alessia Cara rocked the half-time show. FM Systems ensured that all sounded fantastic thanks to a uniquely deployed L-Acoustics K1 sound system, loaded on custom-fabricated carts that were brought onto the field for the performances, and then wheeled out during gameplay.
“The deployment was incredibly smooth,” said Josh Burnett, General Manager at FM Systems, the Calgary, Alberta-based rental company and L-Acoustics Certified Provider distributor (CPd) that designed and handled the field and stage sound systems. “We had the aluminium carts custom made to be both strong and light, so we were not limited in terms of the amount of sound we could get on the field. We literally covered the stadium with K1.”
Each of the eight carts was loaded with five K1 enclosures, with a KS28 subwoofer placed vertically next to the K1 stack. These carts were towed into place for the opening and halftime entertainment events, four per side, along the venue’s sidelines. Each cart was connected to one L-Acoustics LA12X-loaded LA-RAK II amplifier rack via a multipin connector.
Control and signal distribution were handled at front-of-house by the L-Acoustics P1 processor, controlled through L-Acoustics Network Manager software. Signal to the amplifier racks was distributed to each side of the field via AVB over fiber. Two Luminex GigaCore10 switches at front-of-house accepted AVB from the P1 processor and sent the audio to two additional GigaCore10 switches on each sideline to drive all of the LA-RAK II. Both the P1 and LA12X accept AVB natively, so there were no extra conversions needed.
One key reason the L-Acoustics system was chosen, along with its sonic qualities, was for reliability in the anticipated intense weather conditions during Canada’s version of the Super Bowl. The temperature at game time was reported to be a “balmy” 30° F or -1° C. The LA12X amplified controllers were kept running continuously during the entire event, assuring that they were ready to roar for the music performances, and neither the performers nor the amplifiers skipped a beat.
“The K1 system was the perfect solution for a critical game and entertainment event because it met so many of the requirements, including AVB compatibility, real-time monitoring, performance in cold weather, and SPL capability to cover the seating areas consistently,” said Josh, who was also the system tech onsite for FM Systems. “It performed perfectly.”
Two more American Hockey League Arenas Make Switch to Eaton
Power management company Eaton has announced that two more American Hockey League (AHL) arenas, the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Col., and the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., have installed its Ephesus sports lighting solution for the 2018-19 season. Additionally, the War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, NY, the first professional sports venue to install an LED lighting solution in 2012, upgraded its current lighting with Eaton's new Ephesus Lumadapt sports lighting system.
Ten of the AHL's 31 arenas now use one of Eaton's Ephesus LED lighting solutions. In addition to Syracuse, Colorado and Hartford, this includes: Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn; the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, Mass.; The Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, NY; the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, NY; Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto; Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.; and the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford, Ill.
"Eaton has been a long-time supporter of the American Hockey League so it's rewarding that so many of our teams have selected its Ephesus LED lighting solutions when they look to enhance the game experience for their players and fans," said Chris Nikolis, AHL executive vice president, marketing & business development.
The Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Col., a 7,200-seat multi-purpose venue which opened in 2003, serves as the home ice for the expansion Colorado Eagles. It joins the War Memorial Arena in Syracuse as the first two AHL arenas with the new Ephesus Lumadapt LED Sports Lighting System. Lumadapt, the industry's first adaptive fully customizable LED sports lighting and controls system, allows facility operators to buy what they need today and then remotely update, adapt and expand the system as their needs change and new technologies and features become available.
Lumadapt's smart-cloud data approach connects the entire system, thus allowing users to remotely monitor system heath and instantly upload new features, functionality and system upgrades. The fully integrated system can be built out with a wide range of a-la-carte options such as; RGBA color, beam tuning, color temperature tuning, remote health/status monitoring, and a dynamic scene builder with the capability to make personalized shows. As additional functionality is developed or updated, Lumadapt customers can pick and choose the functionality they need to upgrade the system.
The XL Center, one of the northeast's most popular concert venues and home ice for the Hartford Wolf Pack, chose Eaton's popular Ephesus Arena Pro luminaires with color temperature tuning capabilities and a wired DMX control system with 100 percent dimming capabilities and Prism RGBA color flooding fixtures. In addition to offering colorful lights shows and the highest quality light possible to enhance the game presentation, the system typically reduces energy usage by 75 percent.
"We are excited to welcome the fans, broadcasters, players and facility operations staff for the Eagles and Wolf Pack to a new era of LED sports lighting," said Mike Quijano, director of business development and Ephesus product marketing for Eaton. "Since the teams play under our LED lights at so many AHL arenas during the season, when it's time to upgrade their facility, we believe we've made it an easy choice."
Eaton's Ephesus light-emitting diode sports lighting product line provides optimallighting that illuminates more uniformly on the playing surface and offers an improved stage for players and fans. The system is easy to install, requires little to no maintenance for years and offers the lowest total operating costs compared to other traditional sports lighting systems.
Eaton manufactures its Ephesus line of high-output solid-state sports lighting solutions for a broad range of applications, from municipal ballfields to indoor and outdoor professional venues. These innovative advanced lighting solutions create brighter, more vibrant and sustainable environments.
XT-VIA Servers Incorporated in NHK 4K OB1 Truck
EVS provider of live production solutions, has announced that its XT-VIA live production servers have been purchased by NHK Media Technology (MT) and NHK Global Media Services (GMS), subsidiaries of NHK, one of the world leaders in higher-resolution content creation. Three of the latest servers from EVS have been integrated into a new 4K-OB1 mobile production truck as it’s rolled out for live UHD productions.
“As we prepare to launch our new higher-resolution content, we need a mobile production facility that features the latest, state of the art technology. This truck enables us to create the highest-quality content as efficiently as we can,” said Koji Mochizuki, Manager at MT.
The servers have been integrated alongside three new XFile3 archive and transfer engines as the truck is deployed to produce multiple sports and entertainment programming in UHD-4K resolution. The servers have been purchased through, and will be delivered by, EVS’ local sales partner and one of the region’s leading media technology providers, Photron.
Speaking about the deal Goh Miyazawa, General Manager from Photron said: “EVS’ latest live production technology is built with multiple resolutions and operating environments in mind. When MT approached us about integrating this new truck, we knew EVS’ XT-VIA servers would be the perfect solution to sit at the heart of its production workflow.”
The XT-VIA was announced earlier this year by EVS and represents the most significant update to the XT range of servers yet. It provides six easily-configurable channels of UHD I/O and 12-plus of Full HD, 1080p. And with support for live HDR operations and the ability to operate in 12G SDI or IP environments, the XT-VIA is the perfect server for users that want to adopt new ways of operating for higher resolutions.
Photron delivered MT’s new servers in September, so they could be integrated ready for the truck’s initial deployment in October.
TDC Shines at the Invictus Games Sydney 2018
The Invictus Games were founded by HRH The Duke of Sussex and provide an opportunity for wounded, injured and ill defence personnel to compete in a range of sporting events. First held in 2014, this year’s event – the fourth - in Australia again captured the public’s imagination and was hailed an outstanding success.
Given the company’s extensive track record of success at similar high profile events, TDC – Technical Direction Company were engaged to undertake the visual spectacular that would provide the backdrop to the opening and closing of the Invictus Games in Sydney. The company worked with the creative teams at George P Johnson Australia, ceremony producers of the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 presented by Jaguar Land Rover.
There were three elements in TDC’s involvement: the opening ceremony, which took place on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, projection mapping onto the sails of Sydney Opera House and the closing ceremony at Qudos Bank Arena, located at Sydney Olympic Park.
The opening ceremony brought together LED Screens at the Sydney Opera House forecourt with projection mapping via Barco UDX 4K high brightness laser projectors onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House. The ceremony and live broadcast was postponed for an hour due to a major electrical storm.
Laser-projected images were delivered onto the 9,000 square metre sails. The projectors feature 4K/UltraHD resolution; that’s four times the number of pixels of HD, and means that they deliver 138,240,000 pixels to the sails – equivalent to four IMAX screens – with startling clarity and colour fidelity regardless of the weather. Additionally the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 content was managed using 3D modelling and UV mapping features of the disguise 4x4pro media servers, a key element of this part of the project.
“It was the 13th time we’ve lined up the Sydney Opera House, and the third time this year,” recalled Steve Cain, head engineer and media server specialist at TDC. “For the first time, I tried something new - changing which projectors hit which part of the Opera House, redefining which parts hit which sails. Basically, we used the same gear as we’ve used before for similar high profile events – but this time, we used it smarter, giving us a brighter, crisper image. What we got was a much better result – one that we were very happy with.”
“Not everyone has the opportunity to use the Sydney Opera House as a canvas,” he laughed. “We’re very lucky to work with this building so often, and make what we do better each time.”
The tight schedule for the event gave TDC just one night to complete the set-up, with the following night being used to provide a viewing for the content creators and key officials. The opening event involved around six hours of sails projection.
Where the more formal opening ceremony took place outdoors, the celebratory closing ceremony was an indoor event. It provided TDC with the opportunity to leverage its expertise with the disguise gx 2 media server, GrandMA2 lighting desk and Notch VFX.
“The grand finale, with the performers and officials, was the highlight,” said Steve. “It was certainly nice to be indoors, with a roof over our heads and out of the weather. We used Notch with Aloe Blacc [a Grammy-nominated R&B musician] and also created smoke trails, particle generators and stylization effects for the cameras: when someone moved fast, there were trails on them – all in real time and with no delay. There were 12 VFX feeds for the bands. It all helped create a brilliant party atmosphere.”
The work of TDC ensured that the 500 competitors, their accompanying family and friends and all those in attendance at the opening and closing ceremonies enjoyed a world’s best visual spectacle.
Bright AV Package Flies NEXO Above the Ice
Sweden’s most northerly professional ice hockey team, Luleå has Bright Group Sweden AB, install a high SPL NEXO GEO line array system.
The 6,300-capacity sports and event arena is home to the Luleå Hockey Association, which was keen to improve the live experience for its supporters and visitors, especially in the light of a new TV deal to broadcast all the games in Sweden’s premier ice hockey league.
Following its recent success at the Hartwall Arena in Finland, the Bright Group was ideally placed to design a dramatic new AV installation, including a powerful NEXO line array sound system, new arena lighting, projectors for ice projection, BlackTrax for position projection, LED-screens around the stand and a new LED-oval high above the ice. The high-end systems deliver a dazzling pre-show multimedia performance before every game in the arena. The show is constantly updated with new content, created by Bright Finland, putting the technology at the heart of the sporting entertainment.
“It has been a huge success,” said Bright Group Sweden’s Director of Installation John Wettersten. “The sound was one of the most appreciated parts of the project."
“When specifying our design, we had to consider the line of sight from the upper seats, as well as the weight of the loudspeaker cabinets necessary for the task, and, needless to say, the budget. We needed a system with a lot of punch, which led us to the GEO S12 model, and, because the opening show uses a lot of low end, to add NEXO RS18 subs.”
Over a five-month period, Bright’s audio installation specialist Drew Black worked closely with NEXO’s Carole Marsaud to perfect the system design, from initial modelling on NEXO’s proprietary NS-1 software suite, to final installation.
“The main system uses 12 hangs, each with 4x GEO S12 cabinets,” said Drew. “These have been placed in the roof at varying heights around the rink, so we didn’t compromise sight lines, and throw to about 22 metres at the furthest point. Also in the Loop are four clusters of 4 RS18 18” subwoofers, which run in cardioid mode. These are hung in the centre to achieve the most even coverage.”
Bright created custom-made flying frames and rigging which enabled the engineers to pan and tilt the arrays easily and accurately, so that they could be firmly fixed into the correct position. For every two arrays, a NXAMP4x2Mk2 was used, all of which were located on an old camera platform high under the ceiling. One rack of NXAMPs runs all the main arrays, and the two extra hangs of GEO S12 for ice fill: the second rack houses four NXAMP4x4 amps running the subs, and a new NXAMP4x1Mk2 to drive a PS10 in the VIP bar, as well as a group of five compact NEXO ID24s in the restaurant.
“Delay times varied from 38ms – 62ms for the main arrays, and up to 97ms for the restaurant,” explained Drew. “The amps were all on a wireless network, so we could use an iPad and NEXO’s NeMo software to trim the system.” Diagnostics for the system were handled by a Crestron panel in the control room, programmed to mute and unmute the amplifiers, and to run a pink noise generator through each amp output to make sure that all the arrays had signal coming through.
“The biggest challenge for us was to get audio clarity over and above the noise made by 6,300 excited hockey fans!” said Drew. “The NEXO GEO S12 box performs superbly.”
RCF Group Acquires DPA Microphones
RCF Group announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of DPA Microphones from The Riverside Company.
DPA, based in Allerod, Denmark, is a brand in the high-end professional audio microphone market for the live, broadcast, theatre and studio end-user segments. RCF Group, with Headquarters in Italy and branches in the USA and Europe, operates under the companies RCF, AEB Industriale (dB Technologies) and EAW.
RCF Group generates over 80% of its revenues outside of Italy in 120 countries.
In 2017 two prominent European private equity players, Palladio Holding and Amundi Private Equity Funds, invested in RCF Group with a minority stake in order to support and enhance the group in its ambitious growth plans.
Following the September 2018 acquisition of EAW, with its iconic history in install and touring sound, the acquisition of DPA represents a second important milestone on RCF Group’s impressive growth path.
Arturo Vicari, CEO of RCF Group stated: “Since my early days I have been fascinated by the world of microphones. Our portfolio already represents excellence in pro audio and we are very proud to add to our roster DPA – a company that
also represents excellence in the microphone industry. We can now offer the complete audio chain, from microphones to speakers for the satisfaction of professionals around the world."
Kalle Hvidt Nielsen, CEO of DPA commented: "We have come a long way during the past few years. Share of sales coming from new products is up from less than 5% to more than 40%, and all major areas in the business have been professionalized and streamlined. Now we look forward to a bright future under new ownership in a Group with an uncompromising quality oriented approach to the Pro Audio business – just like ours.”