Columbus' Crew Stadium Upgrades Control Room with Grass Valley Solutions for Live Soccer Coverage

The Ohio-based Columbus Crew soccer club announces it has chosen two LDX Flex advanced imaging cameras, a K2 Dyno S-based replay system, the GV Director nonlinear live production system, EDIUS multiformat nonlinear editing software, and a Concerto routing switcher from Grass Valley to outfit the control room and manage content for its new, state-of-the-art video boards being installed at its home venue, Crew Stadium. Built in 1999, the 20,000-seat stadium is the first soccer-specific venue built for a professional soccer team in the United States.

The stadium's new video boards will deliver an exciting, high-quality viewing experience for fans during Major League Soccer games. Situated throughout the stadium, the boards will be most prominent on the facility's south side main scoreboard. The installation is being managed by iVideo Technologies and is expected to be complete by March 22, when the Columbus Crew kicks off its 16th season of Major League Soccer.

"As a team of firsts that prides itself on having the original topflight soccer-specific stadium in the United States, we believe in delivering a premier fan experience, and utilizing innovative technologies is a part of that process," said Ryan Smith, Crew Stadium general manager. "In choosing technology partners for this project, we were looking for proven leaders in their field that offered the best and most advanced solutions in live sports production. Grass Valley's knowledge of the live sports market and their forward-thinking approach made this decision easy."

The combination of Grass Valley's K2 Dyno, GV Director, LDX Flex cameras, and Concerto enable Crew Stadium's team to work in parallel, boosting productivity and increasing distribution. K2 Dyno lets staff capture live action on-the-fly and instantly create engaging highlights and replays. With, GV Director, Crew staff integrates video switching and graphics for use in many types of production with the added capability of producing an event using one operator. EDIUS allows for easy sharing of production content as well as providing editing capabilities inside K2 Dyno for additional production power. The Concerto routing switcher enables easy configuration and expansion for a fast and efficient performance. The cost-effective LDX Flex camera system is upgradable through the entire LDX range, providing versatility without sacrificing image quality. LDX 3G transmission enables enhanced performance over the existing Triax cabling, thereby eliminating the need for costly fiber installation.

"Crew Stadium is an important venue in the world of live sports. We've created a unique combination of live production technologies so that its staff can harness a powerful and efficient workflow -- delivering high-quality content across the new video boards," said Andy Jackson, senior vice president of North America, Grass Valley. "Crew's choice in selecting our live production solutions is further testament to our commitment in the live sports market, where we continue to thrive as a leader."