Time To Take Flight: The Famous Group, Seattle Seahawks Begin Sunday's Second Half With Mixed-Reality Fly-In at Lumen Field

Time To Take Flight: The Famous Group, Seattle Seahawks Begin Sunday's Second Half With Mixed-Reality Fly-In at Lumen FieldMascot Taima soars virtually above the crowd during the 44-13 win over the New Orleans SaintsBy Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Wednesday, September 24, 2025 - 7:00 am

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Seattle Seahawks fans, commonly known as the 12s, always bring the boom. Cultivating one of the most intimidating atmospheres in the NFL, Lumen Field has become a tough place for opposing teams to visit. This past weekend against the New Orleans Saints, The Famous Group's (TFG) mixed-reality (MR) technology created a virtual version of one of the team's mascots, Taima, flying over the crowd of 68,599 in attendance.

The Famous Group's 8K Virtual Cameras were permanently installed at Lumen Field.

We're always looking for opportunities to enhance our home-field advantage at Lumen Field, says Tyler Cofer, director, event presentation and entertainment, Seattle Seahawks, and Lumen Technologies is always looking for ways to integrate new technology inside the stadium. This was a perfect opportunity for us to come together and create something that would energize the 12s.

Igniting the 12s: Franchise Taps The Famous Group for Second-Half HypeThe Seahawks understand not only the fanbase's importance to the organization as a whole but its direct impact on the team's performance on the gridiron. For instance, during the COVID-19-plagued 2020 season, the franchise did its best to connect its dedicated supporters with the roster during a year when fans weren't allowed in the stands. Five years later, the club is using available technologies and workflows to reinvigorate the crowd's love for the team.

TFG helped re-create Taima with as much photorealism as possible.

Identifying the need for a dramatic re-entrance into the second half of one of their home games this season, Cofer and his crew began ruminating on potential ideas. One element that was a given for this activation was the slogan 12 as 1, a saying that second-year head coach Mike Macdonald buys into enthusiastically. Tying the fans into the MR activation is the essence of the project, but the team also wanted to develop something that would encourage fans to return to their seats before play resumed.

We wanted to create a Pavlovian response where fans can see on our concourse TVs or on the videoboard and know where we are in halftime, says Cofer. It would signal to everyone to finish buying food and drinks, get back to your seats, and be ready to support the team before they come back out of the locker room.

The team's fanbase reaches well beyond the domestic U.S. - the club has a pull in international markets like Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Canada - and the video leading into the mixed-reality presentation would need to reflect that.

That part of the story is told by Taima flying through those markets and different landscapes, says Cofer. It symbolizes the passion that exists outside the stadium on game days and how Taima is carrying that across the world and bringing it inside the venue.

Taima flies over recognizable buildings in the Seahawks' international markets, such as the Reichstag Building in Berlin.

Having finalized the kernel of an idea, the Seahawks turned to The Famous Group, a company known for real-time MR shows inside sports venues, as production partner. TFG Creative Director Hemu Karadkar was immediately on board with the idea and was able to link the broader fanbase outside the stadium to the 12s on the inside.

We needed to figure out the best way of seeing Taima travel from these international markets and connecting to the fans at Lumen Field, he says. That's why the idea of Taima's shadow flying over each city to build anticipation before landing in the stadium was a big aspect for us.

From Concept to (Mixed) Reality: Lumen Connectivity, Collaboration Prove PivotalThe actual experience of the video -titled Taima: Power Up - is easily understandable: a mixed-reality version of Taima flies into Lumen Field, makes a handful of passes along the crowd, lands in a mixed-reality version of the Hawk's Nest behind the end zone, lets out a loud roar that shatters the opponent's logo, and sends a shockwave across the stadium.

On the flag deck at the other end of the building, the team's other mascot, Blitz, leads the fans in the 12 as 1 chant in real life. The seed for this moment was planted two months ago when Cofer met with Karadkar and TFG VP, Advanced Technology, Erik Beaumont over Zoom calls and begin putting the project into motion.

A ton of creative and technological work was done during the calls, and - after further conversations about design choices, placement of TFG's Virtual 8K Camera system, and execution on game day - TFG arrived onsite six days before the Sept. 15 debut. The following day was dedicated to setting up cameras in opposite corners of the stadium, but, because the NWSL matchup between Seattle Reign FC and Racing Louisville on Sunday, Sept. 14 was delayed until Tuesday, Sept. 16, project timelines and schedules were thrown off. Most of the prep work was done on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and connectivity was established on Thursday. The show was rehearsed on Friday afternoon, and details were finalized on Saturday. By kickoff on Sunday, Sept. 21, the crew was confident and ready to go.

Before the mixed-reality experience, Taima casts her shadow over Lumen Field.

On the tech side, Lumen's backbone of three 10-Gbps circuits capable of handling 12 TB of data traffic every single game made the MR project run smoothly. And the support of key sponsor Lumen Technologies enabled the Seahawks to execute ambitious ideas like the one seen on Sun

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/09/24/time-to-take-flight-the-famous-...
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