Edgbaston Stadium launches UK-First Automated Cup Return System Technology
Edgbaston Stadium has announced it will become the first business in the UK to deploy innovative smart-return technology from Aucxis, built on its proven STAR RFID solution, specifically designed to revolutionise and speed up the customer journey for cricket fans.
In a landmark collaboration between Edgbaston, its long-standing Strategic Partner Levy, Event Cup Solutions, and technology experts Aucxis, the stadium is set to eliminate traditional refund queues and modernise how visitors move through the ground.
Launching this spring, ahead of a busy cricket season with Internationals including the Women’s T20 World Cup and domestic fixtures including Vitality Blast Finals Day, the technology allows visitors to enjoy fussfree cup returns with an automatic “deposit refund ” when leaving the stadium. This ground-breaking STAR RFID solution has been successfully rolled out in Aucxis’s homeland, Belgium, and its arrival at the worldfamous Edgbaston Stadium marks a significant upgrade in spectator convenience.
The project builds upon a strong existing foundation with Event Cup Solutions, which has been the reusable cup provider of choice at the stadium since 2023 This latest innovation takes the supply to the next level by ensuring the return process is as high-quality as the service itself.
The primary benefit of this innovative deposit return system is the total removal of frustrating queues for visitors waiting to hand in empty cups at the end of a match. By simply dropping cups into "smart collection points," fans can head home faster without the usual bottlenecks. The technology also provides certainty that deposits will be refunded to the correct account, even if a friend or family member returns the cups on the purchaser’s behalf. Because the system recognises the original transaction, whoever has paid for the drinks gets their money back automatically, making it the perfect solution for groups and families.
Beyond the visitor experience, the system also delivers operational and sustainability benefits. RFIDenabled collection points handle large volumes simultaneously, reduce manual counting for staff and support a circular reuse model that lowers single-use waste, all without any extra effort from visitors.
Lucy Hayes, Operations Director for Edgbaston Stadium, commented: “We are immensely proud to be the first UK venue to adopt this technology. Our priority is always to provide the best possible experience for everyone who visits our ground. By introducing this automated cup return system, we are removing one of the main pain points for fans – the queue to return cups at the end of the day. This is about making a visit to Edgbaston Stadium as seamless and enjoyable as possible from the moment you arrive until the moment you leave.”
Adam Hucknall, Levy General Manager at Edgbaston Stadium, added: “This is another example of the innovative suppliers and collaborations we bring to our partner venues. Our focus is to ensure that visitors to Edgbaston Stadium can experience their day out with the least amount of hassle. We are always looking for solutions to help improve the customer journey, while keeping everyone safe, and this automated system from Aucxis is a significant step forward in putting the fan first.”
Jason Scrivens, Chief Innovation Officer at Aucxis, stated: “After seeing the success of our smart-return systems in Belgium, we are thrilled to partner with Event Cup Solutions in such an iconic sports venue as Edgbaston Stadium for our UK debut. Our technology is designed to handle high-capacity crowds with precision, to make life easier for the public, ensuring that returning a cup is as quick and simple as possible. We look forward to helping cricket fans enjoy a faster, smarter experience this summer.”
This new system ensures that Edgbaston Stadium remains at the forefront of global stadium innovation, prioritising fan comfort and stress-free visiting.
Andy Bellamy: Technical Director, AJA Video Systems
As the line between professional broadcast and in-venue entertainment continues to blur, the technical infrastructure of the modern stadium has never been more critical. Fans now expect a home broadcast-level of fidelity, complete with 4K resolution and HDR vibrancy, the moment they step into the stands.
To understand how venues are navigating this high-stakes shift from SDI to IP and beyond, MONDO | STADIA spoke with Andy Bellamy, Technical Director for EMEA at AJA Video Systems. With over three decades of heritage in film and television production, AJA is now positioned as a vital ‘translator’ for the sporting ecosystem, providing the hardware and virtual tools necessary to bridge the gap between traditional reliability and next-generation scalability.
Read the full interview from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/12
DELTACAST and LEDECA come together for projects at Ulker Arena and RAMS Park
Founded in the early 2000s, DELTACAST has been passionately enhancing fan experiences through tailor-made graphic solutions. From broadcasters to stadiums, our pioneering spirit drives us to continually push the boundaries of what is possible.
Headquartered in Liège, at the heart of Europe, DELTACAST designs and develops a complete range of in-house graphic products, crafted by a dedicated team of talented engineers and computer scientists.
“At DELTACAST, we believe that technology should serve people, not replace them. Innovation, for us, is only meaningful when it adapts to real-world needs, feels intuitive, and adds genuine value. This is why we take a human-centred approach, grounded in flexibility, collaboration, and close support. We do not just deliver tools — we create adaptive, future-ready solutions backed by high-level technical expertise and personalized service. Because behind every project, there are people, visions, and stories waiting to be brought to life”, emphasizes Lionel Dutilleux, Marketing Manager at DELTACAST.
LEDECA, a Turkish company founded 19 years ago and composed of 120 team members, offers solutions and display systems for a wide range of vertical markets, including sports arenas, DOOH, retail, stage, building facades, and custom designs. With production facilities in Turkey and in China, coupled with a German center, LEDECA operates in more than 40 countries.
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/74
TRISON upgrade digital infrastructure at Barclays Arena Hamburg
Barclays Arena, Northern Germany’s largest multifunctional events venue, is a cornerstone of Hamburg’s cultural and sports calendar. Operated by the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the arena, which boasts a capacity of up to 16,000 spectators, is home to a diverse range of events, from international concert headliners to resident teams like the Veolia Towers Hamburg (basketball) and HSVH (handball).
Located in the Altona Volkspark district, the venue has consistently sought technological excellence since its opening in 2002. Its strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics as its Official Technical Partner is the latest commitment to modernisation, focusing on dramatically upgrading the digital infrastructure to set new benchmarks in event presentation. The execution of this ambitious digital vision was expertly handled by the system integration specialists, TRISON. Their role was critical, extending far beyond simple hardware installation to encompass the complex logistical and technical integration required to bring the Samsung displays to life.
Martin Orr, Business Development Manager at TRISON, explained further: “We were first involved with AEG last year, completing the initial major project at Uber Arena in Berlin in August. Following that success, we were invited to tender for the Barclays Arena project in Hamburg. Given the specific demands and our successful track record, we decided to again propose the use of the Samsung top-service product, and after a competitive process, AEG selected us to deliver the installation.”
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/66
How Star Live Bridges Sport, Entertainment & Brand Experiences
With audiences demanding higher production values, rights-holders expecting commercial growth, and operators seeking year-round utilisation, the pressure to deliver seamless cross-sector transformation has never been greater. Across the live events landscape, stadiums and arenas are no longer single-purpose buildings with fixed seasonal schedules – as venues they are expected to host elite sport, headline concerts, broadcast operations, brand activations, premium hospitality and community events, often within the same week.
These converged live environments require far more than flexible programming; they demand an engineering-led infrastructure capable of working across the technical, operational and commercial expectations of sport, entertainment and brands – without compromising safety, quality, aesthetics or speed.
Sector Convergence: The New Operational Reality
Today’s stadiums and arenas operate at a pace and complexity once reserved for major touring productions. A football stadium may need to serve as a concert venue within 48 hours; a world-class tennis site may require premium hospitality suites, broadcast compounds and sponsor environments that appear for a fortnight before being removed without a trace. This presents operators with three critical challenges: technical consistency across sectors, operational efficiency under compressed timelines, and absolute safety for the workers and users of all the temporary facilities.
Roger Barrett, Technical Director at Star Live, points to the near-impossible scenarios this coming together creates, where efficiency is paramount. “Using the Oasis tour as an example, we were providing a service as a contractor - where we were going into stadiums. One actually had a football match just a few days after the first wave of Oasis shows. Our load-out period had to be so compressed that as we were taking things out of one end, they were laying new grass at the other end.” The solution required a feat of engineering logistics, coined the ‘rolling takeover’: The only way we could make that work was this rolling takeover over a 24-hour period. We were pushing things out at one end, and they were coming in with a new pitch at the other.”
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/30
KV2 Audio upgrade Eisarena Salzburg sound system
Known as Mozart’s birthplace and as the backdrop of The Sound of Music, the Austrian city is home to EC Red Bull Salzburg – the eleven-time championship-winning ice hockey team. The professional league club play their home games at Eisarena Salzburg (Kunsteisbahn), an indoor arena with a capacity of 3,400 spectators. After more than a decade relying on a patchwork, inconsistent sound system, the venue’s Operational Team turned to a new solution powered by point source experts, KV2 Audio, to finally deliver clear, intelligible game announcements.
Over the years, the venue’s sound system had been assembled from mismatched components and no longer met the high-performance, festival-level expectations of professional sports venues. Existing loudspeakers were mounted in three-box clusters aimed in different directions, resulting in more than a dozen conflicting coverage angles in each section – making speech intelligibility practically impossible. To add to the problem, the glass, concrete, metal, and perfectly smooth ice surface caused intense reflections that further reduced clarity. EC Red Bull’s Operations Team turned to KEY-WI MUSIC, Salzburg’s leading music shop. “As a Salzburg-based supplier and installation partner, KEY-WI MUSIC is always looking to support local projects,” says Gerhard Bernegger, Founder and CEO of KEY-WI MUSIC. “As always, we evaluated solutions from major manufacturers, but we were confident that only KV2 could deliver an audio experience that met every technical requirement of the venue.”
To gauge a reliable first impression of a KV2 system, an on-site test was conducted at Eisarena Salzburg by audio-visual engineering specialists AV MATTR, who led the project’s technical management and system integration.
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/50
NEXO install new sound system at Palais des Sports de Dijon
Named after the former French international handball player, the Jean-Michel Geoffroy Sports Hall in the French city of Dijon was inaugurated on January 21, 1977. Home to the JDA Dijon Basket basketball and the Dijon Métropole Handball teams and known as the Palais des Sports, fans at the stadium have a reputation for being particularly knowledgeable, and also vociferous in their support, resulting in an often-noisy atmosphere in the 4000-seat arena.
So, a primary focus of the brief for a new sound system centred around a requirement for significant improvements in the intelligibility of match commentary.
Nicolas Gaillard, Audiovisual Project Manager for Burgundy-Franche-Comté at information and communications technologies specialists BVS worked in collaboration with NEXO Engineering Support to propose a system which could meet exacting performance criteria in what is a highly reverberant space.
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/64
Avicii Arena renovation incorporates Meyer Sound Constellation® acoustic system
Avicii Arena is one of Europe’s most iconic venues—an architectural marvel and the largest spherical building on the continent. Towering 85 meters high and spanning 110 meters in diameter, the steel, concrete, and glass globe encloses more than 600,000 cubic meters of space, with seating for up to 14,000 for sports. As part of a comprehensive renovation, the arena now features a landmark Meyer Sound Constellation® acoustic system—redefining what’s possible for sports events.
The project showcases a Constellation installation of unprecedented scale. By moving beyond traditional concert halls, it sets a new standard for how active acoustics, in concert with physical building acoustics, can transform the experience in massive, multipurpose venues. The system was designed by Meyer Sound’s John Pellowe, project director for Constellation, and Ana Lorente, senior acoustic engineer, in collaboration with Anders Jørgensen and the installation team at Danish AV integrator and consultancy firm Stouenborg, based on the original concept from acoustician Adam Foxwell and Sebastian Holm from Efterklang.
“This is not a typical Constellation system,” Jørgensen says. “We call it an audience enhancement system. It’s designed to create the feeling of being embraced by the crowd—so spectators can actually hear each other, even across such a vast space.” For sporting events, Constellation’s real-time processing ensures that crowd noise, chants, and music are evenly redistributed throughout the arena to elevate the emotional connection. “One of the key motivations for this install was ice hockey,” he continues. “In Sweden, fans sing to each other from opposite ends of the arena. Before the upgrade, fans couldn’t hear one another—now they can.”
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/23
Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai installs d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system
From concerts to sports to corporate events - with artist-loving musicality, maximum efficiency, and finesse, the newly installed d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena is not your average upgrade. It’s a global testament to the uncompromising power of d&b’s total broadband directivity control and cardioid technologies - in a venue, and region, where experience matters most.
Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena, one of the Middle East’s most high-profile multi-purpose entertainment venues, has just completed a major sound system upgrade using the latest loudspeaker system technologies from global leader, d&b audiotechnik. Including the extraordinary full-bandwidth directivity of the GSL, KSL, XSL and SL-SUB products from the SL-Series, plus the very latest Compact Cardioid Line Array (CCL), the finished system delivers clean and consistent sound across the entire 17,000-capacity venue.
“At Coca-Cola Arena, we aim for five-star quality in every detail of the audience and artist experience. Choosing d&b audiotechnik was about more than technology – it was about partnering with a brand that our team and our technical experts truly trust. This installation represents the pinnacle of audio performance, ensuring that every seat in the house receives the same exceptional standard,” said Mark Jan Kar, General Manager of the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai and SVP of Entertainment, Content, and Programming for Legends Global (MENA).
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/56
Moment Factory create Realmadrid Games at the Bernabeu
Moment Factory, the global entertainment studio, collaborated with Real Madrid C.F. to create Realmadrid Games, a multi-level interactive journey through the corridors of the newly transformed Bernabéu stadium. This world-first permanent multimedia activation sets a new benchmark for stadiums and arenas worldwide. The experience extends the fan journey beyond match days, fostering deep engagement through immersive interactivity while transforming underutilized spaces into a dynamic, year-round attraction.
Since 2020, Moment Factory has worked closely with Real Madrid C.F. to create innovative experiences that engage fans while staying true to the club’s core values, culminating in the launch of Realmadrid Games. Through a unique gamified approach, the experience transports visitors to the heart of the Club, bringing its eight fundamental principles to life with interactive play, while strengthening the connection between fans, the team, the stadium, and the city of Madrid.
Realmadrid Games – The Experience
Designed for all ages and skill levels, Realmadrid Games engages both loyal fans and newcomers through friendly competition. Two levels of the stadium’s corridors are transformed into a multisensory environment using the studio’s Augmented Games platform, as well as its expertise in interactive technologies, video projections, dynamic lighting, ambient music, and responsive sound effects. Behind the scenes, Moment Factory’s operating system X-Agora, orchestrates the interactive ecosystem.
Throughout this connected journey, participants advance from rookies to elite team members by tackling dynamic practice drills, collaborative challenges, and adrenaline-fueled gameplay. Using a connected device, a custom avatar, and a web app that tracks progress in real time, visitors are fully immersed in the action—joining their heroes on the field.
Read the full article from ISSUE 45 below:
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mdst45_digitallr/40