How drone light shows are used in sports

The 2018 Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea, employed thousands of drones for the first time to perform a pre-recorded light show, according to Intel, the organization in charge of the occasion.

Any Olympics’ opening ceremony offers spectacle on a grand scale, a celebration that, at its finest, can provide memories just as unforgettable as the competitions themselves.

A record-breaking 1,218 drones united in a mechanical buzz for the Pyeongchang Games, providing viewers at home with a spectacle that had never been seen before.

In a dazzling dance programmed to produce patterns in a spectrum of colors, including the Olympic rings and a snowboarder, the copters impressed the audience deeply.

After gaining the Champions of Europe title for the second time in history, Chelsea Football Club and its supporters shared a sense of pride and love through a drone show that was held above Stamford Bridge.

Copters illuminated such inscriptions as “Champions of Europe”, “The pride of London”, “The Shed”, and “For the fans”, and depicted the renowned Chelsea Lion (Rampant Regardant) during a mesmerizing 7-minute celebration of the team’s victory before raising the European Cup high into the night sky for everyone to look at.

The football team decided to do something special for those in London because not many fans were able to go to the seaside city of Porto to witness the club’s triumph in Portugal due to the continuing coronavirus outbreak.

On July 28, 2021, in the early hours of the morning, 300 drones illuminated Birmingham’s night sky to celebrate one year till the Commonwealth Games are held in this city.

Drones filled the sky above Calthorpe Park to present a mesmerizing show that captured important Commonwealth Games moments and honored Birmingham. They featured beautiful figures amid the stars, such as the Games’ emblem, a basketball hoop, and Birmingham’s famous bull mascot.

The show evoked enthusiasm and pride for an important period in the history of the region, starting a day of city-wide celebrations.

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a Formula 1 race was held in December. The Geoscan crew had the honor of enhancing the occasion with a stunning drone light show that counted down to the race’s start and displayed an 800-meter replica of the track in the sky.

The show is seen as the first one ever used to count down the last seconds before the event began.

A big number of drones were visible for a very short time just before the start of what turned out to be an exciting Formula 1 race as part of a light show that counted down the last 10 seconds before the action started.

The drones, which are equipped with LED lights, made a circle in the sky by flying in formation. As the final few seconds before the Formula 1 race approached, more copters formed the numerals inside the circle.

Tokyo 2020 was brought to life with a spectacle that underlined the unifying force of the Olympic Games, and one of the highlights of the Opening Ceremony was a stunning drone light show by Worldwide Olympic Partner Intel.

One of the most talked-about aspects of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony was a fleet of 1,824 Intel Premium drones that took to the sky above the venue after the Parade of Nations, which saw athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees and the Refugee Olympic Team march into Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. The drones formed a complex set of geometric shapes before changing into the blue-and-white checkered emblem of Tokyo 2020.

The next-generation drones then were put back together to form a massive 3D depiction of the world as artists sang John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s “Imagine”, symbolizing the worldwide solidarity, unity, and hope that the Games stand for.

The stunning tribute to the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, staged by HQ Worldwide Shows to close the 25th edition of the Dubai World Cup, featured 650 drones and the world’s biggest laser show (according to Guinness official).

In addition to the right soundtrack and special screen content timed to the drone show, the 10-minute display gave spectators a glimpse into this remarkable man’s life who was an influential racing figure and invested a lot in the DWC.

Spectators were excited by a beautiful 3-minute formation drone display that key images of the event, such as DWC initials, a Falcon, and an Arabian horse theme. The forms and sequences exceeded 100 meters in width and soared 400 feet above the ground.

At a ceremony in Doha, the 2022 Fifa World Cup one-year countdown clock was presented.

During the event, a drone show illuminated the sky of Qatar, the country which will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. A multi-meter soccer player made of copters appeared in the skies above Doha a year before the competition, already poised to score a goal.

The show also featured a three-dimensional representation of the globe that then turned into a representation of the ball, as well as the statement “365 days to go”

Especially for Formula E Diriyah E-prix 2022 the Lumasky company organized a drone show over Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

Copters formed different shapes in the night sky, soaring around, going from colorful and graceful swirls to some more realistic elements.

In the course of the event, in the sky appeared the shapes of a helmet, a circle with the Saudi Arabia map inside of it, which quickly and smoothly transformed into a racing car. Besides the mentioned figures, copters also spelled the following messages: “CHANGE. ACCELERATED”, “SEASON 8”, and “ELECTRIC”