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The WEKA Data Platform Will Power the First Live Sporting Event at Sphere, Honoring the Contributions of Mexican Fighters to Combat Sports in Celebration of Mexican Independence Day
CAMPBELL, Calif., Sept. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WekaIO Inc. (WEKA), the data platform company for AI, announced today that it is partnering with UFC®, the world's premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, to provide the underlying data management and infrastructure supporting its UFC 306 AT RIYADH SEASON NOCHE UFC live broadcast event at Sphere Las Vegas on September 14th.
NOCHE UFC is the first live sporting event to take place at Sphere. The one-day event will comprise over six hours of live MMA action and an immersive film with six chapters from award-winning filmmakers. NOCHE UFC is a tribute to the Mexican people and their culture, as well as a celebration of their fighting spirit and contributions to combat sports in honor of Mexican Independence Day on September 16th.
The UFC team has partnered with Silent House Productions to bring its vision for this groundbreaking event to life. In preparation for the event's pre-recorded aspects, the Silent House team needed to render hundreds of terabytes of native 12K video and then prepare it to be displayed on Sphere's 16K x 16K resolution screen during the live broadcast.
To support the massive data processing requirements of the production, the team wanted an experienced technology partner and a proven data management solution that could meet and deliver on its demanding performance and scale requirements. Following WEKA's successful partnerships with U2 and Dead & Company, supporting their recent residencies at Sphere, the WEKA® Data Platform was the obvious choice to provide the foundation for NOCHE UFC's live and recorded video and audio production elements.
"We're breaking new ground by mounting a live sporting broadcast production at Sphere—it has been a massive undertaking. The sheer scale and scope of the venue's state-of-the-art technology stack presents significant production challenges. With no room for mistakes, everything in your technology stack has to be rock solid," said Baz Halpin, Founder and CEO of Silent House and a producer of NOCHE UFC. "We had less than four months to find a technology partner that could help us realize UFC's creative vision and meet the Sphere's performance and scale requirements. WEKA's proven technology and expertise made them the obvious choice to help us conquer this new frontier of live sports broadcasting."