Novatech reveal the magic behind Big Bash League NYE posted: 15/02/2020
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? is not a question usually posed at the cricket, but when Spongebob Squarepants turned 20, Nickelodeon teamed up with sports agency TLA Worldwide to celebrate his birthday at the now-iconic Big Bash League New Year's Eve fixture at Adelaide Oval. Since 2014, the after-game celebration has become the party to be at, with the entertainment growing more spectacular each year.
Long-term production partner Novatech Creative Event Technology (NCET) outdid themselves on Dec 31, as the Adelaide Strikers took on Sydney Thunder. Video and content gurus Campfire Content put together a spectacular video programme that sent the beloved children's character in to bat and bowl, in a massive, immersive show that completely took over Adelaide Oval just seven minutes after the game concluded.
The Oval's 360 degree boundary LED screens, two levels of parapet LED screens, and three enormous LED vision screens were unified into a vast content canvas. Not satisfied with that, Novatech designed, sourced, built, and rolled out four 30 metre by 17 metre projection surfaces onto the field itself - no mean feat for material weighing 120 kg, in seven minutes, positioned to the millimetre. Four Barco UDX32K 4K projectors were rigged at the rear of the grandstands to project onto the surfaces, using every pixel of their 4K capability to create a perfect image. The backbone of the show was NCET's disguise 4x4pro media server, which handled playback, control, screen alignment, and timecode. Keeping everything in sync, the 4x4pro sent timing, triggers, and content to the Oval's Ross Video system, to NCET's grandMA3 full-size and grandMA3 light lighting desks, and to the pyrotechnics crew who set off fireworks on cue with the video.
Some new kit in the NCET toolbox, Lightware UBEX optical scaling extenders, were used to send the 4K UHD@60Hz 4:4:4 video content latency-free across the oval's fibre network, with eight units used to get the signal to and from where it needed to be, creating an ad-hoc and completely scalable video matrix system. Lightware have really nailed it with UBEX, enthuses NCET's managing director Leko Novakovic. We managed to purchase the first units of UBEX in Australia, and I'm totally thrilled with their performance. It's become clear to our team that they're a product that you have to own if you're serious about video, and we intend to purchase another eight units.
A huge lighting rig consisting of six prebuilt trusses fitted with turf-friendly tyres were rolled out during the changeover. Each truss was 12 metres long, and sported Claypaky Sharpys and Sharpy Pluses, along with Vari-Lite VL400s fitted with custom Spongebob full-colour gobos. These were used to project into the white domes of the Oval's five roof arches, in time with the video content, providing a cost-effective alternative to full video projection. Supplementing the trusses on the ground were pre-rigged Vari-Lite VL3500 spots and washes and GLP Impression X4 Bar 20s, hidden behind LED screens and the Oval's sight screens. Art-Net distributed over the venue's converged network kept everything running smoothly.
The final pieces of the puzzle were Riedel MN Compact Pro integrated video, audio and data routers used to get signal onto the ground, while the 32 crew communicated clearly using Riedel Bolero wireless comms. And that's how six truss pods, four projection surfaces, and 16 2.4 metre wide inflatable balls that were thrown into the crowd, all hit their marks within seven minutes! Spongebob Squarepants is not the first character that comes to mind when you think of cricket, admits Leko, but the BBL, TLA Worldwide, and Nickelodeon wanted something cool and different. With some clever design and fun new tech, I think we hit the brief for six!
About Novatech Creative Event Technology
Novatech Creative Event Technology is one of Australias leading and most respected audio-visual production companies. Driven by a passion and commitment to staging exceptional events, we have the expertise, technology and resources to produce and stage truly unique conferences, gala dinners, product launches, road shows and concerts that surpass our client's expectations. Our world-class team, cutting edge technology and in-depth experience across a wide range of venues provides you with the confidence and peace of mind when staging your next event.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Novatech reveal the magic behind Big Bash League NYE posted: 15/02/2020 
