In that era, stadiums were designed for the fans, the press and the radio broadcasters, but not for television. When we pulled the 40-foot television truck up to the stadium’s loading dock, we ran video cables out to center field, audio lines up to the press box above home plate, and hauled the cameras everywhere. Basically, we set up an entire mobile TV event in the morning and packed it up after the game.
Farewell to Candlestick
Year later, some of those aging stadiums are still in use (such as the Oakland Coliseum), and a few have seen their last games (such as Candlestick Park). The 49ers, in their wisdom, bid farewell to Candlestick in early 2014 and moved the team south to Santa Clara, near San Jose — in the heart of Silicon Valley. There, the 49ers’ remarkable new Levi’s stadium opened in mid-July, just in time for pre-season.
As the team’s new home, the stadium is clearly a world-class venue for sports and entertainment. The design is at the forefront of green technology, with room for more than 68,000 fans and superb access for fans with special needs. The stadium is slated to host Super Bowl 50 in 2016, but the field is also designed to meet FIFA geometry (and one can easily imagine a future World Cup event within the stadium).
I wondered — what advances in stadium “video” design have occurred since Candlestick park was built in 1958? The answer might surprise you, and the term “cutting edge” doesn’t even come close.
Enter the DreamCatcher
I spoke at length to Steve Young, director, system solutions for Sony Electronics Professional Solutions of America — the group responsible for designing and installing the video system throughout Levi’s stadium. For the project, Sony Electronics worked closely with Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc. (WJHW) for consulting and design services, and with Diversified Systems (DSI) as the system integrator.
I asked, in the ensuing years since video was an afterthought, what has changed to bring our medium to the forefront in stadium design?
“It’s an entire change in the approach,” said Young. “In the stadium, we’re installing two large scale LED displays, an IP TV system, a specialized replay room and a complete television production system. The replay control room is actually built into the stadium operations, with a full-blown production system consisting of our Sony 4K cameras, an MVS-7000 series production switcher and an Evertz DreamCatcher system.”
The DreamCatcher is a hybrid video device that records the game in progress from multiple cameras, and combines this with a control surface and an editing system. This enables operators to produce replays in real time as the game progresses, and cut highlight packages simultaneously. The system also works natively in 4K, which allows incredible flexibility with replays.
“With four times the resolution of HD, you can zoom into a frame, and get clarity — all the way down to the shoelaces of a player,” noted Young. “This really is an incredible power that’s coming to bear in our industry.”
Narrow Casting
The 49ers have the rights to the stadium’s replay facilities, but only for use within the stadium. In effect, this is a narrow cast — not a broadcast. The production doesn’t reach outside the stadium. Fans can enjoy replays on two LED walls at each end of the stadium, as each 13,000 square foot screen approaches 4K resolution (with over eight million pixels each).
The stadium includes a pre-wired truck dock, and all camera locations are pre-wired with fiber (bless their hearts). There is also an extensive fiber backbone, which was implemented not only to support the broadcast trucks, but also the stadium’s in-house replay system. If a concert or other live event pulls into town, the touring company can use the full production capabilities of the replay room to deliver video and I-Mag to the LED boards.
Setting a New IPTV Bar
In terms of narrow casting, the system gets even more remarkable, and even more creative.
“The acquisition and distribution of content is unprecedented at Levi’s,” said Young. “We are acquiring content at a high frame rate in 4K with our F55 cameras, and that’s certainly unique for the live production. But we’re also capturing, encoding and distributing the replays to IPTV, which sets a new creative bar for the 49ers’ mobile applications, and how content is consumed in sports venues in general.”
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is a system in which video is delivered using wide or local area computer networks instead of through traditional wired, satellite or cable-based formats. In Levi’s stadium, fans will be able to consume the content that’s being shot, produced, and edited in the control room — anywhere in the stadium on their mobile devices. It’s a remarkable advance in the sports venue experience, and certainly an unprecedented advance in the NFL.
“This installation will be a clear advance in how live production and IP content distribution delivers value to the viewer,” commented Young. “You’ll be able to see content on the LED displays and on mobile devices simultaneously, and fans will be able to consume that content on demand. This kind of live production IP delivery system is the wave of the future.”
Fifty-six years down the line from Candlestick to Levi’s, from SD to 4K, from no Internet to a mobile device in everyone’s pocket, this is a change that needs to be experienced — on opening day.
