Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

InfoComm 2019: Big Sound for Sports Is Big Business

18/06/2019

InfoComm 2019: Big Sound for Sports Is Big Business Sports venues are frequent case studies at the live-sound expo By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Tuesday, June 18, 2019 - 10:13 am

Print This Story

Story Highlights

By the time InfoComm 2019 ended last Friday, a record 44,129 registered attendees had passed through the portals of the massive Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Besides the nearly 1,000 exhibits on the show floor, they had visited two dozen demo rooms, most housing some of the largest live-sound systems on the market and reflecting the show's recently established status as the premier North American expo for live sound. And sports venues were used to illustrate each system's strengths as often as, if not more than, the more traditional music-touring case studies.

Bose Professional, d&b audiotechnik, L-Acoustics, Electro-Voice, Danley Sound Labs, Meyer Sound, QSC, Renkus-Heinz, Community Sound and Yamaha/Nexo were some of the brands doing scheduled demos of their systems, often in adjacent rooms that necessitated alternating show times to avoid wall-shaking cacophony.

The sheer number of brands showing systems underscored the value of the live-event market in the U.S. Last year, live events generated $136.9 million of direct spending worldwide, with North America representing 44% of that, according to the Oxford Economics and Events Industry Council; music touring added another $10.4 billion. With many of those ticket dollars spent on shows playing in sports stadiums and arenas, it was not surprising that both sports and music-touring applications headlined the use cases illustrating the capability of these manufacturers, who came from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, and Canada, as well as the U.S.

Live sound in the sports-venue sector is really robust, observed Dan Palmer, business development manager, sports facilities, U.S. and Canada, L-Acoustics, from the show floor. And we're pushing the limits on the performance level of what these systems can do in a sports arena or stadium. Concert-level sound systems in sports venues are a reality now. The sports experience has become elevated, and the sound has now met those expectations.

Palmer also moderated a panel at InfoComm 2019. Players and Perspectives in Sports Venue Sound System Integration, co-hosted by L-Acoustics Application Manager, Sports Facilities, Gino Pellicano, brought together AV systems integrators Jamie Gillespie (Pro Sound & Video) and Justo Gutierrez (Diversified); systems designer Craig Janssen (Idibri); and Scott Kalarchik, director, engineered systems, QSC, for a wide-ranging discussion on the challenges of sound-system integration in sports arenas and stadiums. Areas covered included the overall complexity of sound-system integration in major sports venues as part of a larger AV picture; stakeholder roles involved; and key considerations in implementing sound solutions in stadiums and arenas.

The discussion touched on esports as well. It's here to stay. Any sense that it's a fad is gone, said Palmer, noting the large esports arena, fitted with an L-Acoustics system, at nearby Full Sail Academy, which was also an offsite visit on the InfoComm conference agenda. Esports is now on college curriculums, and it's going to need full-scale venues in which to play matches, with major-league-level audio and video.

Lots To See and Hear

Although this wasn't a broadcast show, manufacturers in that sector were well-represented, including Evertz, Panasonic, Sony, Audio-Technica (and sister wireless company Alteros), Shure, Sennheiser, Telos Alliance, Pliant Technologies, and Clear-Com. Although complex live events routinely use broadcast-type systems - including cameras, switching and intercoms - AV over IP, in the form of streaming media, is quickly creating a more unified media proposition, one that scales from major-league events to just north of the sandlot. Companies like Marshall and Vaddio showed new USB 1080p cameras, and MXL, Beyerdynamic, and others exhibited new USB microphones (a category further propelled by the recent popularity and proliferation of podcasts).

InfoComm 2019 had plenty more to see and hear:

Sanken CMS-50 compact-shotgun mic

Sanken Microphones (distributed by Brainstorm) introduced the CMS-50 compact-shotgun stereo condenser microphone. Ideal for boom-pole or camera-mounted operation, the mic is especially suited to ambient sports recording and shoots where tight patterns and premium sound are sought. M-S (mid-side) configuration makes it convenient to adjust the stereo width at the mixer or in postproduction. The mic includes two outputs: cardioid and figure-8. (Available this month. MSRP: $1,795.)

The Telos Alliance introduced Telos Infinity Link, the latest addition to the Telos Infinity IP intercom platform. The Opus-codec-based product is available as a series of software licenses that can be added to any host Infinity panel or beltpack hardware, unlocking two, four, or eight embedded codecs that convert WAN-side VoIP to LAN-side Livewire+ AES67. A dedicated 1RU Gateway device is also available, supplied with dual AC power and dual Gigabit Ethernet connections, supporting either eight or 16 embedded codecs.

Bose ArenaMatch loudspeakers

Bose Professional showed the new ArenaMatch DeltaQ loudspeakers and ArenaMatch Utility loudspeakers. DeltaQ technology allows directivity, or Q, to vary in each module to more precisely match coverage to audience area. This flexibility allows asymmetrical coverage patterns, improved sightlines due to reduced module counts, reduced array weight, and lower overall system costs compared with many conventional arrays. Each Bose ArenaMatch array module houses a 14-in. neodymium woofer and six Bose EMB2S titanium-diaphragm neodymium compression drivers.

Pliant Technologies introduced MicroCo
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/06/18/infocomm-2019-big-sound-for-spo...
See more stories from svg

North America Stories

22/09/2026

New TVU Pocket Offers Broadcast Features In Phone-Sized Unit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform for Advertising and Broadcast Management

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Element Launches New TiVo-Powered Smart TVs in the U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

NOAA Taps Tomorrow.io for Improved U.S. Weather Forecasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Gray Media Promotes Tim Maloney to GM and Director of Sales at WBKO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Reports: Paramount Reaches Settlement with State AGs in Antitrust Suit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

New Research Lays Out Streaming Services Best Defense Against Churn

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Sinclair Expands The National News Desk

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Paramount Settles Antitrust Lawsuit over WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

U.S. Broadband Industry Investment Hits $92.6 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/09/2026

Manifold Taps Ryhaan Williams for North America COO Post

Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...

21/09/2026

SNS Wins IAMT Best Journal Article Award

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...

21/09/2026

MLW Announces Streaming Deal with Tubi for Weekly FUSION Series

Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...

21/09/2026

Adam Smith Named Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer at Disney Entertainment

Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...

21/09/2026

United Airlines and DISH to Offer Live Football on Starlink-Enabled Seatback Screens

United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...

21/09/2026

SES to Provide Satellite Distribution for JioStar Channels Across India

SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...

21/09/2026

Detroit Red Wings Announce Detroit SportsNet Broadcast Details for 2026-27 Season

The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...

21/09/2026

Manifold Technologies Appoints Ryhaan Williams as CCO for North America

Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...

21/09/2026

DAZN Pick Up L.A. Kings DTC Streaming Rights; ABTV Will Continue as Local TV Home

Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...

21/09/2026

Inside ESPNs US Open Effort: Embracing the Cloud and a New 20,000 Sq. Ft. Broadcast Center

The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships marked a year of change with respect to TV...

21/09/2026

Behind The Mic: Andrs Cantor Joins Netflixs FIFA Womens World Cup Commentary Team; Doc Rivers Joins NBC Sports NBA Coverage

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

21/09/2026

From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Assisted Production Pipeline

From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Ass...

21/09/2026

Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design

Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton September 20, 2026 0 Comments Video complements audio production with music v...

21/09/2026

Why Deploying Physical AI at Scale Demands Safety at Every Layer

Physical AI is moving rapidly from research to large-scale deployment. By 2035, ABI Research projects an installed base of 49 million level 3-5 autonomous vehic...

21/09/2026

From Enablement to Execution, Egypt's AI Ecosystem Reaches Production Scale

Today, Egypt's AI builders gathered in the Grand Egyptian Museum for a reception that highlighted the nation's rapidly growing AI ecosystem - spanning A...

21/09/2026

NVIDIA Launches DSX Ready to Qualify Power and Cooling Products for AI Factories

Every AI factory needs power and cooling that fit its computing architecture. As AI infrastructure expands, power, cooling, water, site and grid constraints are...

21/09/2026

AI Security Is an Engineering Problem - How to Solve It at Every Layer of the Agent Stack

AI security is an engineering problem. That means defined security requirements,...

21/09/2026

5 Companies Using NVIDIA AI for Clean Energy

Clean energy isn't hard to come by, but the pace of large-scale adoption has historically been slow due to bottlenecks - including out-of-date infrastructur...

20/09/2026

COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months

COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months Brie Clayton September 20, 2026 0 Comments Video Editor + Motion Designer (Remote | PT ...

19/09/2026

Two High Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew cre...

Two High-Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew creative.space Contracts with DigitalGlue NFL team and Major League Soccer Club cite ease of use, secure ...

19/09/2026

Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation and cleanup on macOS

Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation ...

18/09/2026

IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack

IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack If you spent any time in the halls of the RAI this year, you noticed a clear shift in conversation. The c...

18/09/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 31: Seattle Mariners Tim Walsh - Creative Content in the Emerald City

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

18/09/2026

Qvest Appoints Jens Miedek as SVP Sales, Media and Entertainment

Qvest has appointed Jens Miedek as Senior Vice President Sales, Media and Entertainment. Before joining Qvest, Miedek spent 16 years at Riedel Communications an...

18/09/2026

Fonn Group Acquires everviz, Relaunches as Teikna Graphics Platform

Fonn Group has acquired full ownership of everviz, a cloud-native platform for interactive charts, maps, and data-driven graphics, and will rebrand it as Teikna...

18/09/2026

OWC Acquires OpenDrives to Expand Enterprise Storage Portfolio

Other World Computing (OWC) has announced the acquisition of OpenDrives, a provider of software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions. The a...

18/09/2026

Kaltura and Verimatrix Partner on Content Security for OTT and Cloud TV

Kaltura and Verimatrix have announced a partnership integrating Verimatrix's Digital Rights Management and security capabilities into Kaltura's Cloud TV...

18/09/2026

Movicom's Robycam Aerial Cable System Deployed at World Nomad Games

The sixth edition of the World Nomad Games combined traditional sports, large-scale cultural performances, and some decidedly modern broadcast technology. Held ...

18/09/2026

DAZN and Super League Basketball Extend Partnership for 2026-27 Season

DAZN and Super League Basketball (SLB) have extended their partnership for the 2026-27 season. Every Championship, Cup, and Play-Off fixture will be available l...

18/09/2026

Nielsen Shifts Streaming Content Ratings to Daily Delivery Cadence

Nielsen has announced that its Streaming Content Ratings (SCR) product will move from weekly to daily data delivery, with clients now receiving viewership data ...

18/09/2026

ABC to Air LALIGAs ElClsico for First Time on October 25

ESPN will present LALIGA's ElCl sico on ABC for the first time, with FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid airing Sunday, October 25 at 4 p.m. ET. A one-hour pre-mat...

18/09/2026

University of Pennsylvania and JMI Sports Extend Multimedia Rights Partnership Through 2035-36

The University of Pennsylvania's Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate ...

18/09/2026

Charlotte Hornets Name DAZN Exclusive Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Partner

The Charlotte Hornets have announced DAZN as their exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming partner for the 2026-27 NBA season. The service launches immediately, ...

18/09/2026

With New AM Radio Act, Live Sports Remain on the Air - and on the Road

Broadcast sports' original medium will let drivers keep on hearing the plays thanks to a new bill set to pass the Senate....

18/09/2026

Apple TV Expands iPhone Camera Deployment for Friday Night Baseball' Finale at Dodger Stadium

Fourteen iPhone 18 Pro devices - eight connected over a T-Mobile Private 5G Netw...

18/09/2026

Minnesota Lynx to Air Final Regular Season Local Broadcast on FOX 9+

The Minnesota Lynx have announced that their final local broadcast of the 2026 regular season will air free on FOX 9 following the shutdown of Victory . The Ly...

18/09/2026

Monumental+ Now Available on Prime Video

Monumental Sports Network (MNMT) has announced that its Monumental+ streaming service is now available as a subscription through Prime Video, giving Capitals an...

18/09/2026

WTGL Announces Inaugural Season Schedule on ESPN, ABC, and ION

WTGL, the women's team golf league created by TMRW Sports in partnership with the LPGA, has announced its inaugural season schedule. The season premieres Su...

18/09/2026

Ratings Roundup: NFL Week 1 Down 13% From Record 2025; ESPN Earns Its Best US Open Mens Final on Record

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...

18/09/2026

SNS Wins IAMT Award For Addressing What Video Editors Need In The AI Era

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them, ...