New LED provides enhanced quality control, quicker show prep, detailed production executionAMB Sports and Entertainment (AMBSE), and specifically the individuals associated with Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta, are always ideating and conceiving of ways to accelerate their workflows and escalate their production quality for fans of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, MLS's Atlanta United, and more. Debuting during a back-to-back of a Falcons preseason game vs. the Denver Broncos on Aug. 14 and Atlanta United vs. New York Red Bulls on Aug. 15, a miniature version of the Halo Board centerhung installed inside of the control room is providing a massive assist for gameday shows at the venue.
The Mini Halo Board is not just a technology upgrade - it really is a strategical tool that increases our ability to prepare for all of our events, cross-collaborate amongst each other in between different departments, reduces risk, and maintains a high production standard for our fans, our customers, and clients, says Julia Chongarlides, senior director & executive producer, stadium productions, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Working closely with our engineering team, IT, and our vendors, we're able to make sure that everything's consistent, high-quality, and flexible.
A Control-Room Need: Recent Revamp, Tough Sightlines Encourage Installation
To complete a project like the Mini Halo Board, other elements needed to be put into place before this concept could be put into motion. Most importantly, the team had to implement a three-phased control room renovation in 2024 that included an upgrade to SMPTE 2110 and the inclusion of three independent tech stacks. After the revamp was complete and the entirety of the 2025 events calendar was under their belt, the organization felt the need to further refine their workflows for a more seamless game and event presentation. Through the leadership of AMBSE's COO Tameka Rish and the executive leadership team, additional funding was approved for the Mini Halo Board idea. We all met on a monthly basis and talked about the project, and at first, it just started out with asking what we want to get out of this, says Kevin Pope, VP and CIO, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We realized that we really wanted to build a lot more redundancy into the project and better utilize our three individual tech stacks.
Furthermore, the impressive size of the Halo Board makes it really hard to see every nook and cranny of the video display from inside the control room. Striving for a more accurate and detail-oriented show, quality control is a must before showing content to a crowd of more than 70,000 fans on any given event.
One of the major challenges for the crew is previewing content before it goes to the board and making sure that it's correct, says Jeff Volk, EVP, strategic accounts, sports & live events, Alpha, who served as the systems integrator for the project alongside Broadcast Design Team Lead Mike Marshall. The other is visualization during the content creation process. It's very trial and error if you're an XPression artist because you have to rely on POV cameras that are looking up at the Halo or have to walk to another location to see the field to take notes on how the content looks on the display.
An Authentic Replica: Daktronics' New Flexible LED Modules Duplicate Full-Sized Board
With the obstacles clearly outlined, AMBSE leveraged the support of Daktronics to create their desired vision. Despite being close to a decade old, the Halo Board is still near the top of the list of the largest LED video displays in sports. Shrinking that expansive size to a smaller version, as well as copying the double-sided nature of this circular structure, can be a tough task.
All these stadiums have immaculate control rooms, but this one's so unique that they went as far to try to at scale replicate their main display in their control room, says Luke Tingle, project executive, Daktronics. When you put something in there that's so intentional, they're going to learn ways they never knew that could help them be more efficient.
This style of project is relatively new in the sports-video-production industry, but luckily, Daktronics has experience with these types of screens from their work with the government and medical communities. This includes the use of the LED providers' flexible modules that offers durability, malleability, and the ability to display a tight 1.5 mm pixel pitch.
You can shake this flexible module like a thick piece of construction paper, and it still gives a smooth display appearance, adds Tingle. At that time of creating this product, we didn't know that this Mini Halo Board was coming out, so we're really excited to see it used.
From Mercedes-Benz Stadium's perspective, this outside-of-the-box thinking and willingness to implement this new product is what intrigued them the most.
They spent a lot of time [putting this together], says Cole Gallagher, chief broadcast & network A/V engineer, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Usually, they're wrapping around a curve instead of a creating a complete circle, so when you move one module, everything downstream has to shift with it. That was one of the hardships that Daktronics faced, but they approached this as labor of love.
Finding the Time: Crew Completes Project Between End of 2026 FIFA World Cup, Start of NFL Season
Widely known as one of the busiest sports stadiums in the United States, the team at Mercedes-Benz Stadium rarely has enough down time to regroup, re-assess, and recalibrate for the next incoming event. If it's not the professional franchises that call Atlanta home, there's marquee college football games like the SEC Championship or the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and amateur sports like the coveted sport of high school footba
