University of Georgia chooses Bolero by Riedel for its football team

MV SportsCom has supplied the University of Georgia with the Riedel Bolero intercom system, which is key to the day-to-day operations of its football team.

Riedel’s Bolero landed at the University of Georgia two years ago as a replacement for an intercom system that “lacked the reliability” the educational institution needed. MV SportsCom, in collaboration with Riedel itself, designed a system that resulted in the deployment of the Bolero and Artist digital matrix intercom system in 2020, before moving to the Bolero standalone wireless intercom system the following year.

Today, Riedel’s Bolero is used to ensure communication between the team’s cockpit and on-field coaches. John Meshad, director of equipment operations at the University of Georgia, elaborates: “As we travel from stadium to stadium, we need to know we’re bringing an on-field communication system that will set up easily and just work. The quality of the Riedel comms equipment speaks for itself, considering how well the Bulldogs performed in the recent National Championships. Switching or upgrading to MV SportsCom and the Riedel system was one of the greatest changes/advancements I made in my 17 years as the director of football equipment at the University of Georgia.”

Because the Riedel Bolero wireless system in standalone mode supports up to 10 beltpacks per antenna and up to 100 antennas in a single system, UGA operations teams do not need to manage multiple base stations. In this way, a small support team can take care of the installation in an agile manner.

Versatility at away games

Each venue that UGA travels to for football matches has a different infrastructure to manage communications between the pitch and the booth. The Riedel Bolero intercom system can accommodate different connection options with in-cabin controls and third-party equipment, allowing UGA’s operations team to connect “effortlessly” in any stadium. This is true even when other equipment or stadium production also uses Bolero. For example, in the final match of the National Championship, frequency coordinators reported the use of 75 Bolero beltpacks within the SoFi stadium. Despite this confluence, each team was able to respond to the high demands of the match.

Vincent Vaccher, President and CEO of MV SportsCom, remarks on how the German company’s solutions have marked a before and after for the University of Georgia and company: “We were fortunate to meet Riedel back in 2019, after we got UGA through the Sugar Bowl using their previous system combined with some gear we lent them. Riedel was more than willing to help us make the changes necessary to turn our concepts into reality. Thanks to Riedel, UGA and our other clients can easily make changes to the beltpack via computer, or we can dial in and assist them remotely to configure any of the six audio channels available on each beltpack.”