W-DMX on 99th Grey Cup Halftime Show

W-DMX, by Wireless Solution was one of the players at the 99th Grey Cup, the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl, held this year between the East Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the West Division champion BC Lions. The game was held on Sunday, November 27, at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, in front of a live audience of 54,313.

The Pepsi Max Halftime Show was performed by the Vancouver-based rock band Nickleback. The halftime show was produced by Patrick Roberge, of Patrick Roberge Productions, alongside production designer Robert Sondergaard and TV lighting director Jason McKinnon, of Electric Aura. The system engineer was Jason Bolger; serving as production electricians were Charles Arrata, Corey Proulx, and Ken Reckahn.

The stage for Nickleback was erected at center field using Jarag lighting units stacked like blocks, flanked by video screens on both sides. A catwalk extended from the stage out into the audience. Lighting consisted of over 150 Martin Professional MAC moving lights. Four W-DMX tranceivers sent a wireless signal from four MA Lighting grandMA Light consoles, two grandMA NSPs, and two Vixen media servers, programmed by Shaun Forbes.

"The W-DMX was used to send a DMX signal from two separate universes into the upper levels of BC Place Stadium where there was no convenient path to run cable," says Jason Bolger. There was no question that the system would work flawlessly, given the stability we have come to expect from the W-DMX transceivers. Using the Uglybox to measure signal strength throughout the setup, we never saw a level below 98%. This was an excellent way to easily integrate fixtures in the upper levels of a very large stadium into the show."

The game was watched on television by approximately 4.6 million people. In the Vancouver market, over half the population tuned in and, overall, more than 11 million Canadians saw some or all of the broadcast on TSN and RDS. In the end, the Lions defeated the Blue Bombers, 34-23, and became the first team in CFL history to win the Grey Cup after starting the season with five straight losses.