LONDON STADIUM

London, England

At major sports venues around the globe, athletes and fans alike are being ushered into a new era of stadium entertainment featuring state-of-theart special effects and light show technology. Among the most impressive recent examples of this is London Stadium, home ground of West Ham United FC, where the club has earned rave reviews for its spectacular pre-match light shows.

When stadium management moved ahead with the installation of a new LED field-of-play lighting system custom designed by Musco, they also wanted to enhance the overall stadium experience with cutting-edge special effects. Equally important for West Ham, however, was to also preserve the traditional, historical “feel” of matchday that its fans—among the most passionate in all of European football—love and expect.

Familiar with recent special effects installations completed by Musco in partnership with Stadium FX—which included

Aviva Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the San Siro, Wembley Stadium, and the Etihad—West Ham decided to include state-of-the-art special effects controls and infrastructure in its project.

“There’s a lot that goes into ensuring a successful project of this caliber,” said Sam MacLaren, Co-Founder and Technical Director at Stadium FX. “In addition to the technology itself it takes a proven ability to integrate top notch technical skills and programming capabilities with an exceptional eye for creative design, aesthetics, and customisation possibilities.”

The system includes custom-built mounts and infrastructure for moving spotlights and colored RGBW fixtures throughout the seating bowl, as well as capabilities for custom-designed light shows provided by Stadium FX on a match-by-match basis.

In November of 2022, the club had additional temporary coloured fixtures installed to accent London Stadium’s roof structure as part of plans to celebrate the English Premier

League’s Rainbow Laces campaign promoting equality and diversity. As part of the celebration, West Ham staged dazzling, colour-changing light shows that gained significant attention on social media.

“West Ham was dedicated to creating one-of-a-kind stadium experiences and providing fans with unforgettable memories,” said Chris Limpach, General Manager of Musco Europe. “We continue to be impressed by their work and are proud that we get to be a part of helping to enhance these games and events in a way that makes everyone happy.”

“We’ve really enjoyed working with Musco and Stadium FX to bring our matchday activations to life at London Stadium,” said Jayne Quinton, West Ham United Matchday Producer. “With 62,500 supporters packing out the stadium at home fixtures, our prematch shows are an integral part of the matchday experience for West Ham United supporters of all ages, with our recent activations around the Rainbow Laces campaign receiving widespread praise.”

BRANDS: Musco Lighting, Stadium FX