Stadium technology has changed the way fans experience a day at the footy.
AFL venues are now using world-leading technology from companies such as Ross Video to connect sponsors to fans and fans to the game in ways never before seen. Gone are the days of corflute signage or rotating banners.
Advertisements around the ground can be linked in with player stats or historical data or show interactive content fans can control from their smart phone.
Live social media posts, augmented graphics, face filters and dynamic animations are all used to attract fans to brands.
It’s a big move forward from a bygone era when large venues such as the MCG attracted 120,000 fans on Grand Final day.
The only messaging fans would read were the scores (and often the race results!) on the scoreboard while large banners were draped over the upper tier or around the boundary fence, with messages such as ‘THE GREAT HIGH FLYING MAGPIES’.
THE CHANGING FACE OF SCOREBOARD/VIDEO TECHNOLOGY
1881: First scoreboard was erected at the western end of the MCG.
1982: First video board at Waverley Park. It was orange and black only.
2003: MCG installed rotating boundary line signage for advertisements.
2011-15: AFL venues begin installing LED boundary signage. The MCG and Marvel Stadium were the first to have full 360-degree LED boundary signage at ground level in 2015.
2017: Adelaide Oval upgrades lead the way for teams to begin creating spectacular audio-visual shows for their entry on to the field, goals and winning celebrations.
2021: Accor Stadium installed the world’s longest straight-run stadium video display.
ROSS VIDEO FACTS
In 2017, Adelaide Oval installed Ross Video’s Xpression Tessera system to drive its LED ribbons and screens. It was the first stadium in Australia to do so and only the second in the world behind Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Adelaide Oval became Australia’s first fully unified venue, with a single button press being able to control big screens, LED ribbon boards, corporate suite screens, audio and stadium lighting.
From 2018, the MCG, Marvel Stadium and the SCG began installing Xpression Tessera while Optus Stadium, the Gabba, Metricon Stadium, Giants Stadium, TIO Stadium and Accor Stadium all run other versions of Ross Video’s Xpression graphics platform.
Ross Video has video systems driving screens in 16 major stadiums across Australia.
Ross Video technology allows game score data or stats to control graphics and animations, enabling stadium production to be automated.
Ross Video powers hundreds of sports venues and productions across the world, including the NFL Super Bowl, the United Center (home of the Chicago Bulls) and the spectacular new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which boasts the biggest LED screen in professional sport at more than 80 million pixels.