Philadelphia Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field Beefs Up IPTV, Digital Signage With FanConnect Technology controls LEDs in suites, concessions, other areas for all events By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Thursday, November 21, 2024 - 9:29 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
NFL clubs are re-examining their technological infrastructure to see if it's creating an enjoyable experience for fans in the stands. As sports venues grow larger and host more events, the tech stacks are under additional stress. In the case of the Philadelphia Eagles and their home at Lincoln Financial Field, the 2018 Super Bowl Champions switched to IPTV and digital signage with the assistance of FanConnect.
This [upgrade] was necessitated by a bigger initiative to renovate our suites, says David Sullivan, senior broadcast and media engineer, Philadelphia Eagles. When we looked at adding more technology, it was a good opportunity to go IP.
Scanning the Market: Offline Testing Takes Place During the Offseason Messaging on LED screens welcomes fans to their dedicated suite at Lincoln Financial Field and can be changed via the venue's new IPTV platform.
The renovation efforts were a response to the venue's previous system, which was aged in comparison with those at other stadiums. Since opening on Aug. 3, 2003, the building relied on QAM RF distribution for all digital signage. Once an IP-based system was decided on, the tech team began checking out available options near the end of the 2023-24 season. With a short timeline for completing the project - mostly to align with the NFL season start in late August - Sullivan and his crew went on a crash course to determine what was compatible with current workflows.
We spent about eight months evaluating providers of IPTV digital signage, says Sullivan. We started calling around to friends around the league and asked a number of them if there was a company that they thought we should look into.
The cloud-based solution gives the Eagles control of signage to add or take away certain elements.
Much of the testing phase was done offline in a real-life yet replicated environment. They tested many products with a small-scale scenario as a baseline, and, after suite-holder feedback was incorporated, many solutions tested didn't meet expectations for many of the large-scale events that would take place in the building.
The organization once again looked outside for an answer. The conversations, along with a visit to NAB 2024 in Las Vegas, were fruitful, but the one that left the biggest impression was one suggested by MetLife Stadium VP, Stadium Technology, Ryan McKenzie. Sullivan's industry peer referred him to FanConnect: an IPTV, digital-signage, display, and content-technology provider that has partnered with other professional franchises and collegiate athletics programs.
Getting to Work: Install Begins in March, Launch Takes Place in May FanConnect was ultimately chosen, and the real work needed to begin. The only problem was that the company initially didn't have a portion of the workflow that Sullivan was looking for.
Concession stands on the main concourse of Lincoln Financial Field leverage FanConnect's services.
When we started working with David [Sullivan], we didn't at that point support LG Web OS system on Chip (SoC), which is what he had and what he wanted, explains Brett Crossley, VP, product, FanConnect. We spoke with LG's technical team, and, after looking at all the documentation, we knew we could do it but it would take a bit of work.
Crossley and his team came aboard the project in early March, but, with a major sports event scheduled for the venue in May, the timeline for completing the installation was extremely short. The event wasn't an ordinary event; it was the 2024 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship. The two semifinal matches on Saturday, May 25 and the National Championship on Monday, May 27 continued the legacy of the competition at the venue, which was hosting it for the seventh time in 21 years and the third time in the past five. With an eventual attendance of 31,479 fans for the title match, the system needed to be ready to handle a massive number of people.
We were able to onboard 32 suites [for that tournament] in just two months, says Crossley. We ended up deploying full-suite implementation before the Kenny Chesney concert on June 8, and, since David [Sullivan] liked what he saw, we ported our design for concessions prior to the start of preseason.
A touchscreen in the suite enables fans to access the various TV feeds.
Less than two months after Chesney's performance, the Eagles' first and only public training camp, on Aug. 1, was the team's first use of the new system. It was deployed for the first preseason game vs. the Minnesota Vikings on Aug. 24 and the first regular-season game vs. the Atlanta Falcons during Monday Night Football on Sept. 16.
Ease of Use: System Handles Venue's Varied Events The result of the project is a robust system that infuses cloud-based software with top-of-the-line equipment at numerous touchpoints in the venue. Displays throughout the stadium and at the team's training facility at the NovaCare Complex total more than 1,400 and include 577 in suites and 322 concession menu boards. The displays deploy LG WebOS 4 and WebOS 6 devices, and the televisions in the suites are managed through Q-Sys and FanConnect's device-control APIs. Ten FanConnect headend servers provide corporate-partnership assets in designated areas and integrate live 50/50 raffle information in real time to the dedicated LEDs. The IPTV system distributes channels from DIRECTV, over the air, and in IP-encoded internal video feeds and has the capability to control specific stakeholder branding via a custom smart-suite-signage app.
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
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...
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...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
Philadelphia Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field Beefs Up IPTV, Digital Signage With FanConnect Technology controls LEDs in suites, concessions, other areas for all events By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
