Creative Technology Delivers President's Cup in the UAE

The President’s Cup 2026 Final in Abu Dhabi provided the stage for one of the region’s most ambitious integrations of lighting, projection, video, and show control technologies, with Creative Technology Middle East (CTME) delivering the complete lighting infrastructure alongside a sophisticated visual presentation system that transformed the stadium environment. Working closely with internationally renowned Lighting Designer Roland Greil of 360 Degree Collective, CTME delivered a large-scale lighting installation designed to complement both the sporting spectacle and the opening and closing ceremony elements, creating a seamless visual experience for both live audiences and broadcast viewers.

“It is always a pleasure collaborating with Greil and his team,” commented Sam Connolly, Head of Lighting & Power at CTME. Through close collaboration between CTME, Roland Greil, Associate Lighting Designer and Programmer Klaus Kubesch, Broadcast Supervisor and Design Assistant Tom Levin Schwenzle, Crew Chief Travis Gillespie, and the wider production team, the project successfully delivered a visually immersive stadium experience that served both the live audience and global broadcast viewers. The strength of these projects comes from working as one team to translate creative vision into reality.

A Stadium-Sized Lighting System

The lighting package deployed for the event featured an extensive inventory of high-performance fixtures designed to deliver impact across the entire stadium footprint.

The rig comprised fixtures from Robe, Elation, and Ayrton, including the IFORTE, IFORTE LTX, IESPRITE LTL, and also the Proteus Excalibur.

Control was handled through a network of three grandMA3 full-size consoles and two grandMA2 light consoles operating on a fully redundant MA network infrastructure running across a Luminex backbone.

Additional flexibility was provided through four RoboSpot remote followspot systems equipped with FS camera tracking on Robe iFORTE LTX fixtures, allowing operators to deliver accurate key lighting while maintaining clear sightlines throughout the venue.

Astera Integration Pushes Creative Boundaries

One of the most technically innovative elements of the production was the integration of Astera Titan Tubes directly into the visual content ecosystem.

Rather than functioning solely as conventional lighting fixtures, the Titan Tubes became an extension of the projection design. The fixtures were mapped within the Disguise environment and treated as video outputs, allowing content creators to incorporate them directly into the overall visual narrative.

DMX data generated from Disguise was output and routed to Luminode processors before being distributed wirelessly via CRMX using LumenRadio Aurora transmitters. Each universe was individually managed, providing precise control and synchronization between projection, video content, and lighting effects.

The result was a highly immersive visual layer that blurred the boundaries between lighting and media, ensuring the Titan Tubes moved in perfect harmony with the wider content environment.

To maximise programming efficiency and creative development, CTME also replicated the entire system within an off-site rehearsal facility. This allowed the production and creative teams to experience the full setup physically before arriving at the stadium, significantly streamlining rehearsals and reducing on-site commissioning time.

President’s Cup Creative Technology Middle East Stadium Lighting Video LX

President’s Cup Creative Technology Middle East Stadium Lighting Video

President’s Cup Creative Technology Middle East Stadium

Unified LED and Projection Canvas

Beyond the lighting installation, the President’s Cup Final featured a substantial visual presentation system that combined high-density LED technology with large-scale stadium projection.

A 200 sq m ROE Vanish 8T LED screen served as the primary hard-camera-facing display surface. Delivering a resolution of 1,120 x 2,240 pixels and generating more than 2.5 million pixels, the screen provided high brightness, exceptional clarity, and consistent visibility throughout the stadium bowl.

Complementing the LED display was a pitch-wide projection system built around 24 Panasonic PT-RZ31K laser projectors. The projection layer enabled large-scale field mapping, animated graphics, sponsor integration, and synchronized motion content across the playing surface, creating a visual canvas that extended well beyond the traditional boundaries of stadium presentation.

“Together, the LED and projection systems formed a unified visual environment capable of delivering impactful content across multiple surfaces while maintaining complete synchronization throughout the show,” said Carlos Aguilar, Head of Video at CTME.

President’s Cup Creative Technology Middle East Stadium Lighting Video Projection Mapping

President’s Cup Creative Technology Middle East Stadium Lighting Video 1

President’s Cup Creative Technology Middle East Stadium Lighting Video LED

Robust Show Control Infrastructure

Supporting the visual ecosystem was a redundant media and show control architecture engineered for live sports presentations and ceremony operation.

At the heart of the system were dual Disguise VX4 media servers. The servers handled content playback, real-time compositing, and synchronized output across both LED and projection surfaces.

Signal distribution was managed through a high-capacity routing infrastructure utilizing video matrices and fiber transport systems, ensuring low-latency delivery throughout the venue while maintaining redundancy across all critical show paths.

The show control environment also incorporated wireless DMX control of 40 Astera fixtures, allowing real-time programming adjustments and dynamic cue execution during both ceremonial and sporting segments.

Additional video distribution systems supplied dedicated feeds to VVIP hospitality areas and the Royal Box, ensuring premium viewing locations received isolated, broadcast-quality content while remaining fully synchronized with the main stadium show presentation.

Delivering a Multi-Disciplinary World Class Spectacle

The audio department supplied a discreet audio solution for the President’s Cup. The 3 main grandstands featured d&b XSL ground stacks with V-Point Source fills to ensure the general audience had clear and precise coverage.

For the VIP grandstand, d&b’s AL series was deployed in 4 hangs, giving overall even coverage. This was supported by an array of front fill utilizing T10s and Y-point sources. A subarray of SL subs was also deployed to take care of the low-end punch.

At control was the DiGiCo Quantum 225 Pulse, backed by a fully redundant playback system utilizing the DirectOut Prodigy MP. For the wireless systems, Shure Axient gave us full coverage across the stadium.

For Presidents Cup 2026 in Abu Dhabi, Creative Technology delivers the invisible infrastructure that holds a world-class event together: a fully redundant IP network and a coordinated communications estate engineered so that nothing on the field of play is ever at the mercy of a single point of failure. A diverse-path fiber backbone and dual resilient cores keep all systems running on isolated, secure lanes.

Behind the scenes, a fully spectrum-managed comms fleet trunked radio, Riedel intercom, and broadcast-grade wireless keep event control, security, and production talking as one, with broadcast feeds leaving the venue over redundant paths so the story reaches every screen flawlessly. From first cable pull to final de-rig, CTME delivers the one thing a live event of this scale can’t be without: certainty.

The President’s Cup 2026 demonstrated the increasing convergence of audio, lighting, integrated networking, and video technologies within modern sports presentation environments.

As sports presentation continues to evolve beyond traditional event production boundaries, projects such as the President’s Cup 2026 showcase how integrated technology ecosystems are redefining what is possible within large-scale live events.