Section 1
Introduction
The Principality Stadium, located in the city of Cardiff, is the national stadium of Wales and home to the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
Having first opened its doors in 1999 for the Rugby World Cup Finals, the previously named Millennium Stadium seats 74,500 and was the first multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue in the United Kingdom to be built with a fully retractable roof.
Section 2
The Challenge
Since hosting the Rugby World Cup Finals in 1999, the Principality Stadium has gone on to stage several high-profile events, including major concerts, the UEFA Champions League Final, the FA Cup, the League Cup Final, and the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain.
The goal of the venue’s ownership has been to continue to attract major international sporting events, and in the fall of 2021, the Principality was set to host several high profile fixtures as part of the Autumn Nations Rugby Series.
With another major international sporting event on the calendar and with public health restrictions beginning to ease across the United Kingdom, the time was right to upgrade their in-venue production system and welcome back fans to the venue for the first time in 18 months with an unforgettable fan experience.
Section 3
The Solution
The Principality Stadium team tasked PMY Group to manage the in-venue technology upgrade project at the Principality Stadium and make the stadium UHD capable. With countless stadium projects completed in North America and a proven track record of success, PMY Group immediately reached out to the Ross Sports & Live Events group to come up with a plan.
When presented with the Ross Unified Control Solution, PMY Group and the Principality Stadium immediately recognized the creative, technical, and business benefits of integrating the production control room technology with the LED content management system.
Specifically, by tying these systems together through the power of the DashBoard venue control software, in venue operators would be able to trigger fully synchronized events and graphics across all in-venue displays with the press of a button.
The production control room was packed with Ross gear as well, including:
- Carbonite Ultra Production Switcher with TouchDrive panels
- Ultrix FR5 Routing Platform with MADI, FIBER + HD-SDI in a single box
- Ultritouch for routing control
- XPression for traditional character generation graphics
- XPression Tessera to drive large LED displays pixel-accurately
- PowerPlay to manage pre-scheduled content to screens
- openGear for signal processing
- Mira+ Replay System
- EVO storage for content management
- Inception for social media management
- DashBoard for total venue control
Section 4
The Impact
The first match at the Principality with the return of fans offered a thrilling tie between the Welsh Rugby Union and the legendary New Zealand All-Blacks. For such a highly anticipated fixture, the Principality team ratcheted up their game-day presentation with the support of Ross Video’s Creative Services team, Rocket Surgery.
With Rocket Surgery’s designs, the in-house production team wowed the audience with compelling full-screen visuals after every try and conversion. Fans were drawn deeper into the game throughout the 90 minutes thanks to Rocket Surgery’s full suite of dynamic visuals, including score-bugs, match timing, team line-ups, statistic reports, and team entrance hype sequences.
Another impact of the Ross Unified Control Solution is its ability to connect with third-party data providers to tell an even more compelling story to fans in the stadium. Integrations with Swiss Timing, Opta / Stats Perform, and the IPTV systems at the Principality meant that the production team could publish important match data in real-time across a variety of screens.
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To learn more about how Ross Video is creating unforgettable matchday experiences for sports fans, while streamlining operations for in-house production teams, explore our Sports Venue Solutions page.