Bandit Lites Helps Light Largest NFL Draft in History

A record breaking 600,000 people attended the 84th annual meeting of the National Football League's Draft. Bandit Lites once again worked with C3 Presents to provide the lighting for more than twenty-five scenes across the city of Nashville including the NFL Hall of Fame Museum, NFL Experience Portal, a locker room experience with model displays from players on each team, music stage and the interiors of the Fan Zone that showcase the Lombardi Trophy and Super Bowl rings.

For those in attendance looking to get a more hands on aspect of football, Bandit supplied lighting for the NFL Combine with a 40-yard dash, end zone catching, throwing accuracy and even a scale field goal challenge.

"It was such a great privilege to work with Brandon Sossamon, director of production, PJ Herrington, NFL Experience production manager of C3 Presents, and Chris Lisle of CLLD," says Bandit client representative Shawn Lear. "This was a huge undertaking, and no one could meet the challenge better than Chris Lisle and Erik Parker. Their years of experience working with the city of Nashville and the hometown pride contributed to Bandit's success in fulfilling their vision."

Chris Lisle Lighting Design (CLLD) designed the site lighting for the broadcast and helicopter television shots as well as for the immersive fan experience, illuminating the Nashville Pedestrian Bridge, Schermerhorn Symphony Center (Selection Square for the NFL Draft), parts of the Broadway crowd, the underbelly of Nissan Stadium seating, as well as many site elements in the fan zone.

Bandit Lites provided CLLD with more than four hundred fixtures, with the pedestrian bridge alone carrying 205 Elation Professional SixPar 100 IP 65 fixtures and 60 Elation Professional Paladins.

"We used well over 150 Elation Paladins as well to light various parts of the site," says Parker. "It was awesome to have that security from the rain and still have a great looking fixture. Those two provided most of our color wash throughout; we also had some VL 6000s for beams and Robe BMFLs to light some scenic pieces."

It wouldn't be an event in Nashville without a music element, and the NFL Draft was no different with a stage downtown featuring performances from Charles Esten, Rayland Baxter, and Ryan Hurd. Bandit provided GLP X4S, ETC Source Four Pars and Bandit's exclusive GRNLite LED Pars.

One returning element of the NFL Draft that C3 Presents brought to Nashville was coordinating lighting with the teams' draft turn with Nissan Stadium showcasing the team colors in real time, calling for precision and focus on the part of the techs. And with a sprawling area to illuminate in some of the busiest spaces of the city including loading in on public streets with elements spanning almost a mile, Bandit Lites sent more than thirty crew members onsite to ensure everything ran efficiently.

"Account representative Shawn Lear and project manager Jimmy Hatten took our vision and translated it into reality," says Parker. "Jimmy was also onsite every day to make sure it all was groovy and running smoothly. Ty Veneziano and Andy French were our onsite leads as well and they killed it; the whole team did. They worked their butts off, pulled it off and was still able to smile at the end. We're very thankful for the people."

"Our hats off to the incredible group of Bandit Lites technicians that worked tirelessly to accomplish the four days of load-in, show and load-out," says Lear. "None of this would have been possible without the leadership and guidance of Jimmy Hatten along with our logistics manger and company MacGyver Erich Hudgens who spent months of planning and preparation putting everything together."

Bandit's crew was comprised of Jimmy Hatten, Cody Cheatham, Patrick Cowden, Nikki Dotson, Terese Fensler, Andy French, Jon Houle, John Lucksinger, Scot Sepe, Steve Strickland, Aaron Swetland, Ty Veneziano, Ryan Waldron, Elizabeth Weller, Scott Wesson, Justin Wilk, Dave Butzler, Jalon Duncan, Andrew, Ellis, Savannah Harden, Jessie Hochinyavong, Carter Hopkins, Elliot Martin, Bryan Place, Brenna Rae, Ivy Reid, Michelle Saintey, Taylor Sherman, Vanessa Tuttoilmondo, Alex Gagnon and Carter Fulghum.

Chris Lisle and Erik Parker -- site lighting designers
Brandon Sossamon -- NFL Draft overall production manager