In designing the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. LD Al Gurdon realized the sports lighting had been updated to LED fixtures he could potentially add to his toolbox. Enter Stadium FX, a UK company founded by Nick Collier and Sam MacLaren at the time when stadium floodlights were evolving from old-fashioned metal-halide lamps to the far more economical and controllable LEDs—in this case 700 Sportsbeams Chromabeams 900 fixtures. "Coming from an entertainment background, we not only understood the technical aspects of HOW to control the new fixtures, but also WHY they should be controlled, to make the most of any venue, visually," says Collier.
"Al and I go back a very long way, so he has been aware of SFX since we began. When he realized he had secured the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, he called to ask for our help. The addition of approximately 700 powerful RGB fixtures can make a massive difference to any lighting rig. As we have worked on more than 20 stadiums in the past four years, he knew that our knowledge and experience would ensure a smooth integration between the stadium controls and his team’s lighting rig."
Stadium FX have recently installed their Apollo Suite of controllers in several stadia internationally: UK - Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, Essex Cricket Ground & Leeds United Football Club, Denmark - Parken Stadium,Monaco - Stade Louis II Stadium, Saudi Arabia - King AbdulAziz Equestrian Club, and are also currently installing at the London Stadium, where the Olympics was held in 2012. Live Design chats with Collier about their participation at the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show.
Live Design: How did you help Al Gurdon 'hack' the stadium lights, did you provide software, technical services, crew?
Nick Collier: For Super Bowl LV, we designed a system to allow Al’s team to connect in to the house system. We contacted Sportsbeams to find out exactly how their installation was controlled. Sportsbeams were keen for our input, as it was a huge showcase event for them, too. We started by collecting all their technical data and focus coordinates for the field of play. We put this information into our lighting visualizer, ensuring everything was correctly addressed and patched, to guarantee an accurate reconstruction. After many discussions, we came up with a suitable control solution which we drew into a schematic diagram for the team at the venue (this was made a little more complicated as there were a few different teams that wanted to control the fixtures at various points throughout the event). We had to provide a ‘copper quarantine’ to enable everyone who needed it to have control when required, but with an inherent fail-safe design to ensure the NFL Showpiece final could not be adversely affected by any technical error. With our experience, we would usually be on site for such an event, but timing and traveling during the current climate made that difficult. Fortunately, our friends at PRG arranged for an excellent technician, Michael Dodge, to take care of our integration solution, with remote support from Stadium FX.
LD: What did Al use the stadium lights for that you were able to help him achieve?
NC: Al designed his show lighting rig around the specifics of The Weeknd’s music set, but the huge array of the permanently installed fixtures at Raymond James Stadium made for a large and effective backdrop to the human eye in the venue plus the TV shots that were beamed worldwide. The stadium fixtures are all aimed at the field, not the seating blocks, so their use was limited to on-field effects. However, the stadium lights were now available for use by the pre-game and in-game production teams.
LD: Is this something that the stadiums themselves allow generally?
NC: This level of control is a relatively new development in stadia. Only since around 2014 have stadium floodlights been using LED technology. Prior to this it was impossible to use them for a light show, as metal-halide lamps take minutes to get up to temperature, and once turned off, often take minutes to re-strike. Now, as the old fixtures are being replaced with efficient and controllable LEDs, stadiums are slowly realizing the added value that can be had by utilizing advanced control systems. The two biggest problems we see come from the fact that these types of venues are predominantly sports venues and people are not used to seeing anything other than white light, so they don’t think about the other possibilities. There is also the concern that the lights may not come back on when needed for the start of a game. At Stadium FX, we have come across these concerns a few times, and have designed our own suite of Apollo controllers with fail-safes at every point, so that, if the worst was to happen and any of the technical elements were to become faulty, the lights will do exactly what is required. Our devices can be programmed to behave in different ways in event of a technical failure, depending on their active mode at the time of the occurrence, i.e. to fail OFF (in the event of the stadium being used for a concert)…to fail ON (in the event of a sporting event)… or fail to last output (overnight, when a fail-on would just be an unnecessary waste of power!).
With more and more venues having LED lighting installed, stadium management and facilities teams are becoming more aware of what is possible and understanding it’s OK to trust lighting controllers, as we in the entertainment industry have for decades.. They realize the untapped potential and trust the control systems will not impact negatively on the main event. We are now being approached more and more to add ‘effects’ into our stadium programming. Venues are also adding more and more RGB fixtures to add another visual impact to the show.
In some sports, in particular when TV broadcast is involved, the rules have been in place for years that the lighting needs to come on and stay on at full ‘match’ level for some time before the start of the game, throughout half time and even afterwards for TV interviews. These rules are now being re-written to reflect the faith in the new technology, allowing for pre-game and half-time light shows to add enhance the spectators experience of an event both in the venue and increasing through broadcast too.
LD: Can you talk a little about some other recent projects—how has the pandemic hit you?
NC: Stadium FX have been very lucky throughout the current pandemic. As venue builds, and re-fits, are usually planned months or years in advance, our recent projects have been not been too adversely affected as they’ve been in progress since well before Covid.
At the time of the outbreak we were just finalizing our installation at Wembley Stadium in London for Musco Sports Lighting. This was a two-year project, and our most technically demanding to date, involving not only the stadium floodlights, but also 52 RGB fixtures in the seating bowl plus the famous Wembley Arch, which has over 200 individual fixtures. We also helped specify and were subsequently tasked with adding the power and data infrastructure for 48 moving light positions on the venue’s catwalks. As the stadium is renowned for concerts as well as sport, we also designed a full fibre network to allow incoming music tours to use in-built data connections, and save much time and effort in running miles of cables each time. Wembley was also the first to have the Stadium FX Guest Input Box, which allows incoming guests to safely connect into the floodlight array, to add to their show, if desired. In event of a safety issue at the venue, Wembley always maintain full control of the lighting system through their Apollo controller. This allows them to bring the lighting on at any time if required for safety or egress etc., temporarily overriding the guest system as they see fit.
Check out Live Design's ongoing Super Bowl LV Halftime Show 2021 coverage here.