DALLAS—Being selected to host nine 2026 FIFA World Cup matches, including a semifinal, was a great honor for AT&T Stadium and a tribute to the work of our entire team. From an audio perspective, the project brought our in-stadium production together with an international broadcast operation requiring several new signal combinations and delivery paths.
Our main audio control room is built around a 48-fader Solid State Logic System T S500m surface. It is the central point for audio distributed throughout the venue and for the feeds we exchange with broadcasters.
Game-Day Planning
We began meeting more than a year before the tournament and as plans developed, we learned that a central hub would connect the stadium’s audio, video and communications systems to the International Broadcast Center in downtown Dallas and the international broadcast truck at the stadium.
The show content was not radically different from a Cowboys game, where we regularly manage dozens of inputs routed to around 30 auxiliaries and patchable outputs, together with several stage submixes.
For the World Cup, the principal difference was how that content needed to be packaged and distributed. We had to send our show audio to both the IBC and the international broadcast truck, while continuing to supply feeds to the stadium PA and back-of-house areas. Our production partners at Media West provided audio support for the entertainment stage and sent their mixes back to me.
Broadcast requirements called for several distinct mixes and delivery paths. Music, video playback and entertainment content were supplied in stereo, while commentator and host microphones required a separate mono mix-minus. Later in the planning process, we received an additional request for crowd microphones and introduced a separate submix position in an adjacent control room, where the operator managed a combination of sources that changed during each match.
The main change to our System T game-day showfile was adapting the existing routing for the new broadcast workflows. We expanded the routing and monitoring setup to support the additional feed requirements, while keeping our control-room operation intact.
System T allowed us to make these additions without affecting our established stadium workflow. Its routing and I/O options gave me the flexibility to add sources, build new submixes and position the additional playback channels where I needed them, all on top of our typical configuration.
Touch and Done
During each match, the S500m remained at the center of the production, with a remote System T TCA and fader tile allowing an operator in the bowl to adjust EQ and levels as crowd conditions changed. Our bowl mix was embedded into the video feed returning to the IBC. The music mix and the mix-minus for commentator and host microphones were sent separately, while our crowd microphones were routed through another video stream with embedded audio.
I received the international broadcast audio feed and routed it to our back-of-house submixer. My mix and a return submix from the IBC, which needed adjustments during the match, were then sent to another control room. From there, a further submix was created and returned to both the IBC and the international broadcast truck.
The stadium’s Dante infrastructure continued to carry signals between our Shure wireless microphone receivers and System T, while connections to the World Cup broadcast operation were made through the IBC hub in our broadcast rack room.
Redundant System T engines provided confidence for both our team and FIFA’s technical team. At source level, I used the console’s A/B inputs for the primary and backup music playback, making either source immediately available while preserving my normal layout.
Delivering nine matches required preparation, coordination and an ability to adapt our established operation as broadcast requirements evolved. System T gave us that flexibility. When a technical manager requested another source in a submix during one match, it was simply a case of “touch, touch, touch…done.”
More information is available on Solid State Logic’s website.
