The O2 Belfast has completed a major digital infrastructure project in partnership with digital experience specialist Merson Digital, delivering more than 500sqm of new high-brightness LED technology across the up to 11,200-capacity venue.

At the heart of the installation is a 200-metre-long, 1.5-metre-high LED ribbon encircling the arena bowl, complemented by four large-format corner scoreboards each measuring 10 metres by 5.5 metres, using 3.9mm pixel pitch Yaham LED technology.

Merson Digital, whose work at the venue was detailed in The Stadium Business, has delivered more than 500 projects across over 30 countries and manages more than 32,000 connected devices globally. Its venue portfolio includes a digital signage and AV transformation at Manchester's AO Arena and work at Leeds's first direct arena, alongside sports and experiential projects for the NBA, Nike, Under Armour and Sports Direct.

The upgrade will be particularly significant for Belfast Giants home games, with Merson Digital delivering a multi-sport scoreboard solution integrated with the Navori content management system, allowing essential game information to combine with dynamic content, fan engagement and partner activations across the ribbon and scoreboards.

Craig Barrington, Associate Director of Estates and Facilities at The Odyssey Trust, said: "We now have considerably greater scope to use the technology and content to add to the atmosphere and connect audiences with what is happening around them."

Josh Bunce, Chief Executive Officer of Merson Digital, added: "Our challenge was to bring more than 500sqm of LED, the venue's CMS, and a multi-sport scoreboard together into one integrated system that was simple to manage and flexible enough for everything the venue hosts."

The structural driver is the venue's dual-purpose booking model, which required infrastructure flexible enough to switch between live entertainment production and multi-sport scoreboard requirements without separate systems for each use case.

For the sector, this reflects growing investment by mid-sized arenas in unified digital canvases that serve both event promoters and sports franchises, as venues compete on adaptable in-bowl technology rather than fixed installations built for a single event type.

Source: belfastgiants.com / thestadiumbusiness.com