Virtualisation of fans breathes life into stadiums for the return of Serie A Netco Sports helps the unreal become more real behind closed doors in Italys stadiums By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Monday, July 13, 2020 - 15:48
Print This Story
After the COVID-19 emergency of the first months of 2020, the coveted resumption of sports activities has had to deal with a less spectacular television show due to the total lack of fans in the stadiums.
Empty stands and the missing enthusiasm of the fans have removed a lot of colour' from matches and forced the various football leagues to look at the possibility of putting imaginative graphic alternatives on the field to help bring fans' into the match.
During the game home spectators are mainly focused on the action and the player in possession of the ball; unfortunately, however, there are periods such as the pre-game, half-time and post-game in which the TV images are really empty, without appeal, precisely because the large frame captures the desolation of the empty stands in full.
Given this consideration, one of the four Italian subsidiaries of the international Euro Media Group, Netco Sports, in partnership with Interregional Sports Group (ISG), developed a virtual' dimension with team colours and sponsor branding.
After some simulations, the Lega Calcio Serie A chose a simplified' virtualisation to be applied, during the pre- and post-game and in the interval.
100 games in 30 days
Given the physical impossibility of going to the stadiums during the quarantine period to carry out tests, during the proposal and testing phase Netco Sports had to recover static images and broad perspectives from its archive to create renders that could simulate the final output - but in offline mode.
After the static tests it was necessary to explore the potential of the system because it was crucial to understand that even with a camera movement, such as a pan or a zoom, this technology would have always allow the virtual graphics to be viewed in the right perspective. The next step was, therefore, to test these graphic elements within a technology framework that also included tracking.
Netco Sports sales manager Claudio Cavalolotti told SVG Europe, after some very positive tests, and checking that there was sufficient elasticity in the movements of the camera, we took the field for the Italian Cup and performed a final test, in real time, during the game.
This led to approval by the Football League which decided to have all the remaining matches played with this technology until the end of the championship about 100 games spread over just 30 days.
Netco Sports then started with a complex preparation phase lasting three weeks to create a mirror digital graphic model for each stadium, since they are all different and each has its own perspective for the chosen shots.
Netco Sports operations manager Dario Marra said, each game requires the creation of different
Dario Marra, operations manager, Netco Sports
renderings from a different shooting angle with different logos and graphic content a very heavy effort. In each stadium we started from a beauty shot which is a static image in long shot created from the main camera 1 positioned high in the central grandstand, and from that the mathematical model was rendered.
Then the central graphics engine applied tracking capabilities that allowed us to make different optical movements and connected shots, while maintaining the right perspective with the lively graphic elements added in virtual mode.
During the match, graphics added in place of the stands could be a bit annoying, because the viewer only sees a few rows of seats. In the pre-game, however, the shots often follow small groups of players and the TV director has the opportunity to add interesting virtual graphic elements. The same is valid for the half time and the post-game.
These are also the same broader and steadier shots that, in pre-Covid' games, were usually used to insert classic linear' infographics with statistics, formations, athlete performances and so on.
Netco Sports' technology composes a complex image that collects various elements: the live image in the foreground with the players; the overlaid linear graphics; the image of the virtual stands in the background; and a virtual circle positioned in the centre circle where each club can insert their own colours, logos or sponsor image. This last virtual element allows the sponsor to have a new opportunity for visibility, creating a new element in the marketing mix.
Cavallotti continued: During the testing phase we had also proposed more substantial interventions for further enhancement of the images through virtual graphics, to be implemented in other phases of the game.
This would have required a different and even more demanding technical setting. However, the profile that was decided on for this phase and in full agreement with the customer is still very effective and avoids the use of complications such as additional hardware, image recognition, sensors and more.
Virtual stands coloured with satisfaction
On the day of production, the team gets to the playing field and imports the model of the stadium concerned into the production graphics engine. Some tests and calibrations are then carried out with respect to the models already created at the level of animated graphic rendering, to guarantee the best possible tracking.
Thus educated, the virtual placement graphics engine makes some virtual lines to coincide with the respective real lines of the field. When for editorial reasons the director requests camera movements, the software interprets the request and returns the correct positioning of the graphic and virtual elements to be applied to the field and geometrically arranges them correctly.
This set up an
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Virtualisation of fans breathes life into stadiums for the return of Serie A Netco Sports helps the unreal become more real behind closed doors in Italys stadiums By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent 
