It’s an NFL road trip unlike any other. On Oct. 28 the New York Giants played the Miami Dolphins in London’s Wembley Stadium, bringing a new type of football to one of England’s most hallowed sporting venues. And it also brings a new type of challenge to Fox Sports as it will be unlike any other NFL B game in history. The new Wembley is only 5 months old and the stadium is cutting its NFL teeth in high definition! And just like in the states, they too will have HD instant replay.

The NFL turned to Bexel Broadcast Services' Scott Nardelli for his industry renowned expertise in Fiber Optics technology to put together a remote optical solution that would provide all the features the officiating crew have become accustomed to during any state side game. Working with Fox, CTV, Harris and others Bexel BFS assembled a portable system identical to what was installed in 28 stadiums this past summer. Wembley was up for the task as the new stadium has a great deal of fiber installed throughout the facility making the setup and operation quick and relievable. A special booth had to be built on the Gantry to house the replay officials and equipment as well as the coaches booths. The NFL shipped a full complement of monitors so both the Giants and Dolphins could have access to program video as they do in their home stadiums.

"You always learn something when you go out of country on a remote", says Nardelli. “This year we anticipated the power differences between the the US and UK, upconverted the HD video signal from 720p/50hz to 1080i/60hz for the replay system, but no matter how much you bring you are always looking for one more power strip”. Kurt Shaffer from the Seattle Seahawks provided technical assistance to the NFL on the implementation of several systems utilized for the game including, the game clock, press voice and data, announce audio and other systems.