Philips Lighting and
Cerezo Osaka, the J1 League soccer club, have signed an agreement in which Philips Lighting becomes the
club’s ‘official lighting partner.’ The company plans to provide design, consultancy services and advanced
LED lighting technology for the club’s stadium and practice pitches.
This year, Philips Lighting plans to install its first
Philips ArenaVision LED pitch lighting installation in Japan at Cerezo Osaka’s training facility. The
LED technology is more energy efficient than conventional pitch lighting and will reduce maintenance costs due to the longer lifetime of the LED lamps (up to 50,000 hours).
Kincho Stadium in Osaka, Japan. (Philips Lighting/ LEDinside)
Minoru Tamada, President of Cerezo Osaka, commented, "This partnership brings us the expertise and technology of the world’s premier lighting company. Switching to LED technology will help us to promote energy savings and will give our supporters an enhanced stadium experience on a par with top European clubs. We may also explore opportunities beyond pitch lighting, such as the lighting of retail and hospitality areas and façade lighting. Crucial to this agreement was to select a partner capable of offering a complete stadium experience.”
Kengo Hayashida, President of Philips Lighting in Japan said, “This partnership brings together two great sporting brands. More than 65 percent of the world’s top stadiums use our innovative lighting technology and our latest LED pitch lighting is delighting the fans of top tier clubs such as Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea FC, Vfl Wolfsburg and Juventus to name but a few. Our partnership with Cerezo will enable us to add considerable value to the club, its supporters and market this amazing opportunity across the region.”
Minoru Tamada (left), President of Cerezo Osaka and Kengo Hayashida, President of Philips Lighting in Japan. (Philips Lighting/ LEDinside)
The ultimate fan experience
In the future, it is planned that Cerezo’s stadium will be controlled by Philips ArenaVision software. This will permit the illumination of specific parts of the pitch before or after a football match, enable dimming and the creation of pre-match entertainment. The ability to create dazzling light shows adds
excitement and spectacle to the fan experience and supports the multi-purpose use of the stadium for hosting concerts and other events.
The stadium pitch lighting system will be designed to meet the latest standards of TV broadcasters and sports federations that require high quality lighting for Ultra High Definition television and to capture super slow motion action replays.