England Supporters Club

The Wembley arch lit up by special EE connection

Posted by Team England at 09:45 on Wednesday 24 September 2014

The iconic Arch at Wembley Stadium connected by EE was transformed into a spectacular light show on Tuesday night to mark the start of the venue's high-tech makeover.

EE and Wembley installed the world's fastest interactive LED lighting system on to the 145-metre-high arch as part of plans to turn the stadium into the most connected one in the world. All of the 228 LED lights were fitted around 38 rings within the arch and if they were laid back-to-back they would stretch the length of five Olympic swimming pools.

Next year, fans will be able to interact with the arch via social media, while the LED lights will also be able to react to significant moments going on at the venue such as goals and crowd noise. The arch can be viewed around the clock via the official Wembley app thanks to a new ‘live arch-cam’ function, which forms part of a series of updates going live on 9 October in time for England’s Euro 2016 qualifier against San Marino.

Further enhancements include ‘event day’ mode, offering stadium visitors a dynamic news feed with aggregated social media content and a free event-day playlist which will feature 150 tracks to help fans get in the mood for the spectacle they are attending.

Any fans using the app at the stadium will be offered the chance to win a free seat upgrade and they will also be able to message the big screen direct from their smartphones.

Roger Maslin, Managing Director at Wembley Stadium, is certainly excited about the technological advancements.

He said: “Technology is changing the way that people enjoy the events at Wembley Stadium – how they get here, how they get in, how they buy drinks and snacks, and how they share their experiences with friends and family.

“Wembley and EE have a shared ambition to use technology to make this stadium the best fan experience anywhere in the world – that’s about being the most connected stadium and integrating mobile into everything people do here.

“The Wembley experience has advanced so much in the last seven months and it’s just going to keep getting better and better.”