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STADIUMS & ARENAS

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We provide a full-stack solution. The value isn’t just about the screen and the technology – but what you put on it”

According to Mercer, the AV at play when handling a stadium show is only at the start of its evolution. “Screens are only getting bigger,” he muses, “and the PA is moving behind the LED. It’s the trickle-down effect from shows at Sphere in Vegas.” TACKLING OLDER VENUES For many cities around the world, football stadiums act as important landmarks – towering personifications of local community spirit. London, as an example, boasts 21 football stadiums in total, including the largest in the UK: Wembley. Many of these are earlier (and significantly less technically advanced!) iterations of stadiums, which means they often require a bit of an AV upgrade to match the demands of modern football. One of these is the home of Premier League football club Crystal Palace: Selhurst Park. The ground was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924 – having since hosted international football as well as games for the 1948 Summer Olympics. Fast-forward 100 years and Palace decided it was due a technical lick of paint. Looking to modernise, commercialise and future-proof the fan experience, the football club partnered with ADI to achieve this goal. “We started doing LED screens nearly 30 years ago,” introduces Oliver Brindley, head of marketing at ADI.tv, “starting with Aston Villa in 1997, which were actually the first stadium screens in the

WATCH ME Selhurst Park gets transformed into a fully modernised stadium

our previous generation of products – and half the depth. It has enabled us to start putting these LEDs in more places.” Part of the consultation involved working closely with the board to help them model and then unlock potential advertising revenues. Stadium- spanning platforms – such as those now implemented at Selhurst Park – provide ample opportunity for venue-owners to both uplift the value to existing advertisers while also bringing in a host of new commercial partners. ADI designed and engineered a complete content solution for the club, allowing each screen and sign to be controlled individually and also in coordination with others. With nearly 1000 sq m of high-resolution screens, there are tens of millions of pixels of content to manage and move around,

UK. We’ve been a manufacturer for decades, but we provide a full-stack solution. The value isn’t just about the screen and the technology – but what you put on it.” The project saw ADI deliver a huge digital canvas spanning across three sides of the stadium, providing a vastly expanded platform on which to engage with fans and activate commercial partnerships. In total, the screens and signage cover nearly 1000 sq m of space across three stands and around the pitch within Selhurst Park. “Traditionally, you find that a lot of old stadiums aren’t really built to take weightier LED. Until recently, most of the options would be extremely heavy with a lot of steel in there,” Brindley says. Brindley emphasises how the ADI modules are “literally half the weight of

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