TEAM GB CONCERT

Team effort

TBI Media produced a concert at Wembley’s SSE Arena that celebrated Team GB’s achievements at Tokyo 2020

All Images: © Getty Images

When Team GB entered Wembley’s SSE Arena on September 12, an 8,000-strong crowd screamed and cheered. It was an emotional reception for Team GB’s triumphant athletes, who had competed at Tokyo 2020 without the support of friends, family, and sports fans. The Wembley event – a special Team GB Homecoming concert – gave the athletes an opportunity to celebrate, show off their medals and feel the heartfelt applause of the audience; a mix of key workers and 8,000 National Lottery players, the people who had “powered” Team GB and Paralympics GB to success since 1997.

The Homecoming event, organised by The National Lottery, was produced and delivered by TBI Media and hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Clara Amfo and Greg James.

CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENTS

Andrew Wyke, director of events at TBI Media, was the event’s executive producer, and TBI Media’s Sarah Greene was project director.

TBI Media originally pitched for the project three years ago. Wyke explained: “I knew Scott Field at the British Olympic Association (BOA) [director of comms and marketing]. He had previously worked at the FA when we had produced an event there. He had joined the BOA and he wanted to do something for the athletes, to celebrate their achievements.”

TBI Media put together a proposal in early 2019, thinking that the Homecoming event would take place in 2020. COVID-19 hit. Tokyo 2020 was cancelled, and the Olympics and subsequent celebratory event were pushed back a year.

Greene said: “I worked on the project for one day and then the Olympics was cancelled, and we were all sent home.”

That decision – to delay Tokyo 2020 – made the Homecoming event even more important. “It became bigger because of the circumstances,” Greene added.

The project was put to one side for some months and was picked up again in November 2020. “When things looked bleak at Christmas, we did look at whether we could have the event outside,” Wyke commented further. “But we wanted to have thousands of people in an arena.”

Wembley’s SSE Arena was the venue of choice.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET

Team GB Homecoming was broadcast on BBC One and featured performances from Nile Rodgers, Laura Mvula and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man. But it was not designed as a TV event. Wyke continued: “Homecoming was not designed as a broadcast event. It was designed for an audience and that was a big point of difference. The TV audience wasn’t more important than the live audience and vice versa.”

The event involved a lot of risk and financial commitment. Thankfully, The National Lottery wanted to support the event and use it as a mechanism to thank players of The National Lottery, who support Team GB and Paralympics GB every time they play the lottery.

“Once we’d got the support of The National Lottery, things ramped up from that point,” Wyke said. “We had a significant budget to work with, an appropriate budget to deliver on the creative ambition of the project.”

ENERGY AND JOY

More than 800 people worked on the project, Greene explained. Many of whom did not meet until load in. “It was a big challenge to lead on the project remotely,” she continued. “The project was big. We needed new team members and had to build a rapport with people you had never seen in an actual room. There were days where you thought ‘this is so hard’. But the budget allowed us to engage senior and experienced people and it’s testament to them that the show ran flawlessly with the challenges we had.”

Wyke concurred: “It’s been challenging, but we pulled off the event. Having a room full of energy and joy is irreplaceable.”

SUPPLIERS LIST

Event production – Global Touring Office Audio – Skan and Spirit Hand Lighting – Neg Earth Stage/set design – Rockart Radios – 2CL