Creating the Ultimate Immersive NFL Fan Experience at SoFi Stadium

When Legends approached us about creating an interactive multimedia fan experience for tours of the new, five-billion dollar SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles we couldn’t have been more excited. The 70,000+ seat stadium is itself a marvel. Our goal was to create several interactives for non-game-day tours for fans to get a behind-the-scenes look at not only all aspects of the stadium itself but also an immersive experience of what it's like to run through the tunnel, hang out in the locker room, and even throw the football on the field.

The Challenge

Since SoFi is home to both the LA Chargers and the LA Rams NFL teams, all the custom kiosk photo booths had to feature both teams’ players so that fans could take augmented reality-enhanced photos with their favorite teams. Pulling off the exact positioning for groups of players remotely (due to the pandemic) and determining proper camera angles was one of our biggest challenges. Another challenge was designing all the kiosks, interactive tunnel screens, and other gear to be crowd-proof in a football stadium setting where guests are inspired to not just be running and throwing but also tackling – all in the spirit of the experience. All kiosks destined for the field also had to be fully battery-powered, as cables were both impractical and a safety hazard.

Strategy

To maximize fan engagement and make the stadium tours immersive and fun, we conceived multiple points of interactivity for guests, from a chance to get a photo with their favorite players to a photo opp tunnel run experience complete with responsive lighting and smoke to running drills on the field. To solve the puzzle of how to get the team photo positioned perfectly, we took practice shots of our team and then relayed the exact positioning to the teams so they could recreate the digital images we needed to bring it to life.

Design

Kiosks were designed to both accommodate rechargeable batteries and to withstand heavy use from visitors, but also to fit the brand guidelines of SoFi Stadium and the Rams and Chargers. User experience was at the heart of the entire design process, keeping each stop on the tour both congruous to the experience but also in alignment with the graphic guidelines of each team and the aesthetic environment of the stadium. Further, each unit was designed to collect metrics on each use in order to be able to troubleshoot issues in the future and keep the experience working seamlessly.

Production

Our team leveraged the game engine Unity as well as AI tools in the development of the photo kiosks which offer different photo modes: regular, AI, stadium background, or a photo with the players of your favorite team. We employed motion and microwave sensors for the tunnel run experience to coordinate the timing of the air blast, fog, lights, and the camera shutter. The tunnel run also features perfectly choreographed videos that are timed with the runner.

Despite some logistical challenges due to the pandemic and some unique obstacles due to the nature of a bustling stadium, this project provides an unforgettable experience, complete with unique memorabilia, to LA football fans.