A spectacular display of lights for Thursday Night Football, using new innovative equipment, took the electric atmosphere at M&T Bank Stadium to another level.
While both teams lit up the scoreboard during Baltimore's 35-34 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, fans were treated to an all-night light show as part of “Purple Rising.”
The Ravens became the first NFL team to grow the fan experience with thousands of LED Pixmob NOVA lights that were strapped to the stadium's handrails. With more than 4,000 additional NOVA lights in the stadium, memorable moments were enhanced in a bigger and brighter way when the stadium lights were turned off.
The images were stunning.
In addition to the NOVA lights, 60 Musco color-changing LED sports lights were installed during the offseason to give the stadium multiple looks. The changing of colors added to the memorable moments. At times, the stadium looked all purple.
"There's a magic at M&T Bank Stadium. The difference between wins and losses in the NFL is so razor-thin and our fans make a huge impact," Vice President of Broadcasting & Gameday Productions Jay O'Brien said.
"Our job is to inject extra energy and excitement into gameday, and our investments over the years in video boards, high-end animations, 4k cameras, stadium lighting, light-up wristbands, and fireworks together create a 'wow' factor at our house. We hope they create that extra decibel that fires up our team and impact our opponents."
With the LED sports lights and NOVA lights working in sync, the stadium also looked red, white, and blue during the national anthem, and various lights were used to give fans an interactive experience during the Chase Rice halftime show.
The unique lighting created an environment that couldn't be fully experienced from the living room couch, or by watching on television. The best place to be for "Purple Rising" was at The Bank.
"We always try to continue to enhance the gameday experience, especially at night games that have become a really big part of our fan experience," Senior Vice President of Marketing Brad Downs said.
"I thought it looked great. We used the new lights a lot during the game. I think they looked great when the stadium lights were out, and they even made an impact when we had the stadium lights on during breaks. The goal is to continue to add elements to our gameday that you can only get in stadium. We want to differentiate our experience and contribute to the homefield advantage. We want our fans to know they need to be there every game, especially at night games, when we can do things like this."
