CLASH ON THE DUNES

FROM THE ASTONISHING CONSTRUCTION OF THE PURPOSE-BUILT ARENA, TO THE AMBITIOUS PRODUCTION VALUES ON FIGHT NIGHT, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT IS IMPRESSIVE.

Ever since Andy Ruiz knocked out Anthony Joshua to cause one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, speculation was rife as to when and, more importantly, where, the rematch would take place. As soon as it was announced that Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, had beaten both New York’s Madison Square Garden and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium to the rights to host the event, the race was on to ensure that everything would be in place for the first ever World Heavyweight Title fight to take place in the Middle East.

In order to do justice to the momentous event, it was decided that an entirely new purpose-built arena would be constructed especially for the occasion. With just a six-week lead time, international event solutions company, Arena, completed the mammoth task of designing and installing the 15,000-seat Diriyah Arena and hospitality structure – all in time for fight night on 7 December.

“We had just two weeks to develop the design concept before production started,” commented Elaine O’Dwyer, Design Director. “This meant that we had to really rely on our extensive knowledge of local material finishes and supplier capability in order to ensure that we were designing something that was realistically deliverable in procurement and production timeframes.”

O’Dwyer explained that, despite the tight deadline, Arena’s close relationship with the client made everything run smoothly. “Luckily, the client was aligned with our aesthetic and trusted our judgement, so we were on the same page regarding the finishes from the beginning,” she said. “There are a lot of detailed decisions to be made on a design and build project like this, so we worked very closely with suppliers to keep on top of that.”

While Arena’s original role was the construction of the stadium and the build of the hospitality structure, due to a third-party design supplier pulling out of the project, the company also completed a total redesign of the interiors of the hospitality structure. Maram Al Dagher, Account Manager at Arena, explained how the team rose to the challenge.

“Initially, the majority of the Arena team was based in Dubai, so we spent a significant amount of time travelling back and forth to Saudi,” she began. “After receiving confirmation of the project, the amount of time that we spent on site in Saudi increased significantly, and I more or less relocated for the duration.”

As well as supporting the appointed groundworks supplier in order to ensure that the works were completed “to a high enough standard to support our structures”, Arena also “undertook multiple meetings with each of the different suppliers to ensure that the client’s requirements were being accommodated”.

Al Dagher explained how the team dealt with last-minute requests for “two structures to house the athletes and the media”. She commented: “The 20m by 55m athletes’ structure included showers, bathrooms, changing rooms, offices and full fit-out including furniture. The 20m by 75m media structure comprised a press room and working space. We also supported the client with supplementary structures such as prayer tents, offices and staff catering tents.”

Also, in addition to the usual health and safety requirements, Arena had to ensure that the work was signed off by the Royal Guard, due to an expected visit from Saudi’s Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Logistically, the project represented a huge challenge, as not only did Arena have to transport 8,000 of its proprietary Clearview seats from Dubai, but it also had to bring over the remaining 7,000 seats and special kit from the UK.

Terry Smith, Managing Director, Seating, was delighted at how the teams worked together to meet the deadline. “I’m thrilled that our international teams worked so well together,” he told TPMEA. “This was a real team effort between Arena Middle East & Asia and Arena UK.” Paul Barger, CEO of Arena Middle East & Asia, was equally enthusiastic. “It’s incredible what we’ve managed to achieve in such a short space of time,” he commented. “We are really proud of our UK and Middle East divisions, who have spent the past six weeks working with a team of 175 people to deliver a project of such scale and specification.” He added: “We are one of the few companies that can offer a full turnkey solution for events of this size – from design and construction through to the luxurious high-quality interiors – the solution we have delivered has been described as utterly breathtaking.”

Smith was also delighted at the positive media coverage of the event, pointing out “the fact that there was so much emphasis placed on the whole venue being a temporary build in Saudi – something never done before”. He enthused: “We have received a huge amount of positive feedback.” O’ Dwyer concurred: “We have received the most tremendous response,” she commented. “This event has captured the attention of the media and sports fans worldwide and the client is very appreciative of what we achieved in a very challenging timeframe. We are very happy to have been part of the team putting KSA on the international sporting map.”

With the arena in place, Blink Experience, on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority, called upon Creative Technology (CT) to deliver the eye-catching video elements of the event. The extensive video requirements saw CT deliver more than 750 sq m of LED for the groundbreaking event. The impressive over-ring display consisted of four 63 sq m outdoor LED screens and was designed to ensure that all spectators never missed a second of the action, creating a 360° visual spectacular that was visible from anywhere within the arena.

To further enhance the spectator experience, 336 sq m of LED was used to wrap around the truss tower legs, with each tower leg making up 84 sq m of outdoor LED. The content interacted with the over-ring LED and displayed sponsorship logos, rounds and point scores. Front row and VIP attendees had the luxury of seeing four 36 sq m LED screens, which were situated inside the over-ring LED, showing live content throughout the event. CT also supplied 13 sq m of LED and four 84in Samsung TVs for the media centre, as well as 43, 43in TVs for the premium hospitality area. CT utilised two active and two back-up Green Hippo Boreal media servers for content management and playback.

Control was managed from a linked Barco E2 and S3 system. Dhyaan Parikh, CT’s Project Manager, explained the system: “Barco E2 and S3 were used due to the reliable screen management interface,” he commented. “The whole workflow was in 4K, which consisted of our Lightware UBEX 4K fibre, Lightware 2.0 matrix, Novastar 4K LED processors and 2.1km of quad core fibre.” Chad Smith, Head of Technical onsite commented: “CT did a fantastic job and should be exceptionally proud of their efforts. There was never an issue with the changing scope and lastminute additions, and CT were always on hand to assist and get stuck in – even if it wasn’t within their remit.”

The lighting, audio, trussing and rigging elements of the event were handled by MediaPro International. The main lighting rig comprised 60 Claypaky Mythos 2s and 36 Claypaky Sharpys, 60 Robe Spiiders, 70 SGM P10s and 30 SGM P5s. An MA Lighting grandMA2 full size was used for control, with two NPUs. On the audio front, MediaPro supplied 24 L-Acoustics Karas accompanied by 16 SB18s. MediaPro’s COO, Shaam Pudaruth, described the show as “a great success”. He commented: “The client, Blink Experience, and their end client, were extremely pleased with the overall delivery.

This event was televised to millions live on TV, and we were really proud to be part of such a high-profile and huge production.” Pudaruth was keen to pay tribute to the hardworking “team of professionals” who “delivered flawlessly yet again”. Project Manager, Sheldon Alphonso; Senior Audio System Engineer, Nithin Simone; Senior Lighting Operator/Crew Chief, Gregory Angelo; Senior Rigger, Brian Salvana; and MediaPro International Head of Department Rigging, Colin Silvers were all key to the delivery of the event.

Rainy conditions in the build-up to fight night presented something of a test, but Pudaruth commended his crew on overcoming the challenge. “Our team is used to handling such situations,” he assured. “Client expectations are always met 100%.” On the subject of client relations, Pudaruth noted that MediaPro’s relationship with Blink Experience has always been a positive one. “We have been working with Blink Experience for quite some time now, and it’s always a real pleasure interacting with their whole team.”

Photos: Arena Group & MediaPro International & CT

www.arenagroup.com

www.ct-group.com

www.mediapro-av.com