How AFC Wimbledon celebrated its return to Plough Lane
By Contributor
Published: November 9, 2020
How AFC Wimbledon celebrated its return to Plough Lane
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> How AFC Wimbledon celebrated its return to Plough Lane
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/case-study-changing-the-paradigm-for-fan-engagement title=Share via Email class=share-email>
On 3rd November 2020 AFC Wimbledon returned to Plough Lane for the first time in 29 years.
The opening game in the new stadium should have been a huge event in the club's history, but of course Covid-19 stepped in. With no chance of fans in the ground, the club turned to digital routes to keep its fans engaged in the occasion.
Charlie Talbot is both an experienced events producer and AFC Wimbledon advisor and it fell to him to pull everything together. He is a long-standing Wimbledon fan who saw the club play at the old Plough Lane ground, and was one of a small team responsible for the Plough Lane Bond, which raised £5 million from fans to enable the construction work on the new ground to be completed.
We had to make this seem like an occasion, he says. We wanted to create the full-scale build-up show, but we had a stadium which was still in large parts a building site. We had no infrastructure, and what we put in had to be cleared out for the builders to start again the next morning. And, of course, we could have virtually no people on site.
Talbot worked with Malcolm Robinson of Broadcast Solutions. In turn, they brought in live production technology specialists nxtedition, and together they developed a plan to create a live stream, to run an hour and 45 minutes, leading up to the kick-off of the first match at Plough Lane.
The programme was a mixture of contributions from fans, ex-players and former managers, together with live interviews and behind the scenes footage from the ground. Robinson handled the technology on the ground, including Mobile Viewpoint live camera links over cellular.
Key to everything was the nxtedition software. Talbot first saw the technology six days before the live broadcast, when he was given an access key to the private Cloud software and a pdf instruction manual.
Adam Leah of nxtedition explains, Charlie got access to the system on Wednesday; I logged in on Sunday and he had created the complete show as a rundown, which was ready to go. What he had built was solid, but it also provided the opportunities to add content later and even live.
On the night Talbot and Robinson were the entire production crew in Plough Lane while Adam Leah directed the show, from his home office in Marieholm in Sweden, with the content in nxtedition's private Cloud in Malm , 30km from Marieholm and 1000km from Wimbledon.
So secure was the rundown that Talbot was able to add content right up to the time of transmission, as well as going live to locations around the ground via the Mobile Viewpoint cellular system. The club's social media specialists also monitored videos on tweets and uploaded the best into the rundown to be added to the transmission.
Even I did not appreciate the power of transcodeless playout, says Leah. The system just ticked down the playlist, jumping from one item to the next. It looked like it had been well assembled in a pre-cut edit, but it was live transcodeless playout. We played the file that was recorded and sent from the fan's phone.
The number of streaming viewers stayed pretty stable at around 2700 throughout the broadcast. Given that people were watching in families and small groups, we think that is the equivalent of a sell-out of our 9,000 seat stadium, Talbot says. The pre and post match shows and build up also added 800 subscribers to the YouTube channel. Fans were also encouraged to support the team during the match itself as the volume of crowd noise over the PA system increased when they pressed buttons on the MyApplause app (a technical solution pioneered in Germany to preserve virtual fan engagement in stadiums empty through Covid-19 regulations).
All involved saw it as more than just the celebration of a special occasion. It was clear that this changes the paradigm of fan engagement.
We crowdsourced content without losing any professional quality, Talbot explains. We could go into the dressing rooms. We got instantaneous reaction from the fans. We discovered that, with this technology, we could easily fold in more content, more ways of making the fans feel connected to the club and to each other, even at a time when that real-world stadium experience is impossible.
We landed a nearly two hour show that had a spontaneous, live feel because of the fresh content coming, and we got out on time because we had to be clear for the team to run out and thank the fans before the first kick-off.
And we did all that with a crew of three people, Talbot concludes. My mind is already racing on the possibilities of what we can do in the future.
SubscribeFor more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to our newsletter here.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
How AFC Wimbledon celebrated its return to Plough Lane
