Ventuz Powers Manchester City Stadium Graphics

 

Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City Football Club, is one of the most advanced sports venues in all of Britain. As media and stadium graphics are becoming an increasingly important topic, Etihad Stadium has brought its own media infrastructure to the next level. Mammoth Graphics, a renowned British broadcast graphics and technology provider, was commissioned to realize this ambitious project, and they picked up Ventuz as the graphics solution for all the stadium visuals.

 

At the center of the installation lies the stadium itself. It features two jumbo LED displays as well as an LED ribbon wrapping around the entire stadium mid-tier. These elements operate in perfect synchronization to provide a holistic football experience. During the pre-game warm up phase, the graphics include line-ups, fan engagement, and club messaging. An especially important detail for Etihad was Social Media.

 

“The previous solution wasn’t able to display tweets and comments in as engaging a way as the club wanted”, explained Phil Long, Managing Director of Mammoth Graphics. “With the help of the Ventuz software suite we integrated a full Social Media workflow that not only displays content nicely, but also offers features to select and moderate content before it goes on the screens.” Once the game has started, the graphics range from sponsorship messages to goal celebrations, clocks, scoreline, match stats, analysis and more. The installation is operated from the gallery using a Ventuz Director workstation with HD-SDI output. 

 

Additionally, the Etihad Stadium media infrastructure includes a large LED screen located on the stadium’s City Square. This helps to create a great atmosphere before the game with music, interviews and prizes as well as a place to show highlights of the game after the event . Lastly, the stadium concourse areas are equipped with a number of Ventuz powered screens reserved for food and beverage advertisements as well as information on the ongoing game, scores from other matches and club messages. The content on these screens can be individually branded for not only the club’s needs but also their partners.

 

“It was the first time we used Ventuz for this kind of installation”, admitted Phil Long. “However, the software easily met the requirements of this unique project and provides solid delivery of high-quality graphics throughout the stadium. We are more than satisfied and will make sure to pitch it to our clients for upcoming jobs.”