Situation
In order to deliver high quality TV advertising to sponsors and worldwide fans around the football field, UEFA demands a high specification of the LED perimeter board. Until now, UEFA would always bring their own, temporary perimeter board, but will from now on, charge the clubs a hefty sum for each game they have to bring it. The world famous Chelsea F.C., from London, plays the Champions League most years (ongoing since 2003), and was facing a big problem with these new regulations regarding the perimeter board, as imposed by UEFA.

Their stadium at Stamford Bridge, has limitations to the height of the perimeter board due to the seats being close to the pitch and the pitch being raised up compared to the first rows of seats. An 800 mm high board is the maximum they can have without losing unrestricted view (being able to see the white line on the edge of the pitch while seated) for first rows of seats (and loose income on those seats by having to sell them as restricted view seats). However, UEFA requires a minimum height of 900 mm.

Solution
Together with our UK partner Visual Technology Ltd (VTL), Delta has developed a modular perimeter board in order to meet UEFA’s regulations as well as the requirements for Premier League games. The solution is equipped with a high level of redundancy, including automatic failover between redundant data sources, which makes this a leading edge solution in perimeter boards. The Delta perimeter board was certified by UEFA.

Conclusion
The installation of Delta’s pitch-side LED display solution at Stamford Bridge was successfully completed. After excellent performance during several Premier League games, the perimeter board was used during the UEFA Champions League game between Chelsea F.C. and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. The perimeter board performed to the satisfaction of UEFA and Chelsea F.C.