Features

SoFi Stadium ‘outage’ leaves iconic videoboard blank

SoFi Stadium’s iconic oval videoboard remained blank for the majority of this weekend’s LA Chargers game after the $5bn venue’s internal broadcast system failed.

The board, which loops around the entire playing field at the vast NFL arena, and the stadium’s other LED screens stopped working before the start of the pre-season match between the Chargers and Dallas Cowboys.

According to attendees, none of the stadium’s LED screens were working until the third quarter, meaning fans could not view any video content or follow the score or clock for more than half the match.

The 70,000-square foot The Infinity Screen by Samsung has been called the eighth wonder of the world since it was installed at SoFi Stadium, which opened in September 2020.

SoFi Stadium’s official Twitter account explained during the game that there were technical difficulties relating to the internal broadcast system and not a failure of the videoboard itself.

“Shortly before kickoff, we experienced an outage with our internal broadcast system. We are resetting and expect all systems to be up and running shortly,” the tweet said.

While some fans were annoyed about the failure of the screens, SoFi’s social media account saw the funny side…

The Samsung-designed videoboard is 120 yards long or 1.2 times longer and 1.5 times wider than the field. Its oval display features approximately 80 million pixels, which are spaced 8mm from centre-to-centre and can be uniquely or congruently programmed with statistics, live and animated content.

The videoboard not only features the most LEDs ever used in a sports or entertainment venue, but also has the first and only 4K end-to-end video production in a stadium.

“The Samsung LED technology represented in the videoboard at SoFi Stadium is unlike anything fans have ever experienced,” said Jason Gannon, managing director of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. “The design as well as the board’s video and audio capabilities are the first of their kind in sports and will set a new precedent for the in-stadium experience.”

Images: SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park