On the Pitch: Real Salt Lake Shares Rio Tinto Stadium With Vancouver Whitecaps FC In-venue production team handles shows for both clubs By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 10:50 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The past 10 months have been a whirlwind for Major League Soccer. After last summer's MLS Is Back Tournament in the Orlando bubble and the eventual return to empty home stadiums, the attendance of some clubs in the league are returning to pre-pandemic levels. Much like At the Ballpark, On the Gridiron, On the Hardwood, and At the Rink, SVG's On the Pitch takes you into the control room with in-venue crews to understand what their job is like before, during, and after the official's whistle is blown.
A brand-new season generates a fresh set of opportunities for growth and success. In Utah, Real Salt Lake has an opportunity to improve its in-venue team's skills in both production and hospitality by assisting a fellow club's staff that is unable to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. Temporarily sharing Rio Tinto Stadium with Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the Real Salt Lake in-venue team has its own production plan but is pulling off shows for its guest, providing dedicated video content and a match-day environment that is as authentic as possible 989 miles from home.
We had a few Zoom calls before their first game because they actually played about two weeks before Real had their first game, says Stacey Taggart, director, game presentation, Real Salt Lake. Vancouver has been really great, and it hasn't felt that different since we've all become used to working from home.
Stateside Shows: Adapting to the Pandemic Real Salt Lake's DJ Erockalypze (left) and Stacey Taggart entertain fans at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Since the harshest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada-based professional teams either have played home games in U.S. stadiums - like the NBA's Toronto Raptors in Tampa and MLB's Toronto Blue Jays in Buffalo and Dunedin, FL - or have played all games in a bubble in Canada. Major League Soccer's Canadian teams, including Vancouver Whitecaps FC, are playing their matches far from home.
On the logistical side in Salt Lake City, both clubs will operate in a separate bubble. While Real Salt Lake uses its usual spaces Vancouver will practice at America First Field, dress in the locker room reserved for the former Utah Royals FC of the NWSL, and enter through a different entrance at Rio Tinto Stadium. As for the production end, Taggart and her Whitecaps counterpart, Specialist of Game Presentation, Events, and Experience Jeremy Benjamin, are working together via Zoom to develop a run of show while his team generates videoboard content in British Columbia.
Jeremy is preparing everything for us, Taggart explains, so I'm able to show up and call the game. [Vancouver Whitecaps FC has no] fans in the stands, so we're pumping in crowd noise for them. We have their generic crowd noise that we play the entire time. And they have specific chants that I play throughout the game, like every five minutes or so just to add more atmosphere. That has actually been fun because it's such a contrast from what we're doing with Real.
A look into the control room with Mike Chidsey during a match vs. Nashville SC on May 15.
Taggart and Benjamin have operated on a relatively smooth schedule throughout the first few weeks of the season. The key is maintaining an open line of communication and staying ahead of deadlines to make sure the Real Salt Lake in-venue crew can get acclimated with the necessary elements.
We've been able to work out all of the kinks, she adds. We've asked them to send in their stuff about two or three days before [match day] to make sure that we have time to get their content loaded.
A Welcome Sight: 10,000 Fans Return to Rio Tinto Stadium After participating in the MLS Is Back Tournament in Orlando, the squad was able to return to Rio Tinto Stadium to close out the remaining few months of the season in front of 5,000 fans. As the pandemic takes a turn for the better, the franchise is now hosting upwards of 10,000 fans for the first time in over a year. The sound of real voices was an immediate shock that took getting used to, but, since the home opener vs. Sporting KC on May 1, the production team is matching their intensity with its customary in-game atmosphere. In a response to the large influx of returning fans, a capability added to the videoboard allows supporters to be a part of the show.
We've finally introduced Tagboard to our in-stadium experience, says Taggart explains. Fans are able to post their photos, and we'll feature them on the videoboard during the game. We're trying to get that rolling and let everyone know that they can do that now.
Real Salt Lake PA Announcer Mike Waldvogel (foreground), here with Paco Aguilar, is back to delivering announcements in English and Spanish.
Besides the videoboard content played throughout the game, the crew is tasked with a completely different set of challenges during Whitecaps matches. Since fans living in Canada are unable to travel to Utah, Vancouver's players are showcasing their skills inside an empty stadium. Although fake crowd noise can't compare with the sound of thousands of screaming fans, Taggart and company are pumping in automated sounds for Whitecaps players on the pitch.
We have generic crowd noise during the entire match and specific chants that we'll play every five minutes or so to add an atmosphere, she says. It has been really fun to do because it's such a contrast from what we're doing with Real Salt Lake.
The Ones Who Get It Done: Shoutout to the Production Team After only three games of a 17-game home schedule, the 2021 regular season
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...
On the Pitch: Real Salt Lake Shares Rio Tinto Stadium With Vancouver Whitecaps FC In-venue production team handles shows for both clubs By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
