darkened Ravens stadium with fireworks and led lights
Purple Rising lights debuted Thursday night. Photo from Baltimore Ravens X account. Photo Credit: Joey Pulone

Your eyes were not deceiving you on Thursday night when you watched the Baltimore Ravens eke out a one-point victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. M&T Bank Stadium debuted new stadium lighting designed to elevate the fans’ experience during games.

The new and innovative lighting equipment was part of the “Purple Rising” stamp the Ravens sought to introduce at Thursday Night Football’s game. The Ravens became the first NFL team to use thousands of LED Pixmob NOVA lights to create an all-night light show for its fans.

The lights were strapped to the stadium’s handrails, which created memorable moments and deepening effect when stadium lights were turned off.

Additionally, 60 Musco color-changing LED sports lights were installed during the offseason, adding to the light show effects to help give the stadium changing looks depending on the effects called for by the moment. At times, the stadium appeared all purple. During the national anthem, the stadium was lit up red, white, and blue.

“There’s a magic at M&T Bank Stadium. The difference between wins and losses in the NFL is so razor-thin and our fans make a huge impact,” said Jay O’Brien, Vice President of Broadcasting & Gameday Productions. “Our job is to inject extra energy and excitement into gameday, and our investments over the years in video boards, high-end animations, 4k cameras, stadium lighting, light-up wristbands, and fireworks together create a ‘wow’ factor at our house. We hope they create that extra decibel that fires up our team and impact our opponents.”

The impact gave even more credence to the notion that the place to be during the games was at the stadium, rather than on the couch. The excitement was described as palpable and when the stadium lights were out, but the NOVA lights were on, they added elements to a night game impossible to replicate on a screen.

“We always try to continue to enhance the gameday experience, especially at night games that have become a really big part of our fan experience,” said Brad Downs, Senior Vice President of Marketing. “I thought it looked great. We used the new lights a lot during the game. I think they looked great when the stadium lights were out, and they even made an impact when we had the stadium lights on during breaks. The goal is to continue to add elements to our gameday that you can only get in stadium. We want to differentiate our experience and contribute to the homefield advantage. We want our fans to know they need to be there every game, especially at night games, when we can do things like this.”

In addition to new lighting, there were new helmets — only the third iteration of a Ravens helmet since the franchise began in 1996, and the first ever alternate helmet for the club. The Purple Rising alternate helmet has a metallic purple rising painted shell with gold talon lines running front to back and a front facing Ravens logo on the sides. The uniforms were new as well, purple with gold numbers and gold striping.