CASE STUDY
Case Study: Live Drone Coverage at the FIFA Fan Festival Atlanta
During the FIFA World Cup 2026, Air Views Media spent five days on aerial coverage and live broadcast at the FIFA Fan Festival in Atlanta, GA, the largest FIFA Fan Fest in the country. Our aerials connected into the Fox Sports broadcast, and we also live-broadcast fans to FOX using a TVU, a portable live video uplink pack. We flew it all inside a Temporary Flight Restriction.
At a glance
• Event: FIFA Fan Festival Atlanta, FIFA World Cup 2026
• Location: Atlanta, GA — the largest FIFA Fan Fest in the country
• Duration: five days on site
• Our role: aerial coverage and live broadcast
• Broadcast: aerials connected into the Fox Sports broadcast; fans also live-broadcast to FOX via TVU
• Airspace: inside the event's Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR), with permissions from more than seven organizations
The brief
The festival needed aerial coverage of the site and its crowds, delivered live, through five days of the event. The aerials had to work for a national broadcast audience, not just a highlight reel, which meant flying on schedule and on cue. We were on site for five days at the largest FIFA Fan Fest in the country.
Live drone coverage at a fan festival is, in general terms, a moving aerial camera that production can cut to the way it cuts to a tower or handheld. Organizers plan the flight areas against the crowd flow, stage schedule and broadcast windows, then keep the pilot on the same cues as the rest of the show. That approach is what makes aerials feel part of the broadcast rather than a separate package.
The airspace challenge
Atlanta's World Cup sites sat under Temporary Flight Restrictions, and they were enforced. The FBI said it seized 76 drones flown near Atlanta World Cup events, as CBS News Atlanta reported. A broadcast drone flying legally in the same airspace needed every permission in place before the first flight.
For us, that took permissions from more than seven organizations, with documentation from the FAA, FBI, GWCC, DHS and FIFA. Every flight was flown inside the terms we were given.
How the feed reached the broadcast
Our drone camera fed a live picture to our receiver, and from there the feed went into the production that connected to the Fox Sports broadcast. Because the aerials were going out live, the pilot flew on the production's cues.
We also live-broadcast fans to FOX using a TVU, a portable live video uplink pack (bonded cellular) that sends a field camera to the network without a fixed truck path. That gave production a second live path for fan moments alongside the aerial feed.
Any live aerial into a national broadcast follows the same basic path: camera to receiver, receiver to the production that owns the program, then out on air. What changes from job to job is the venue wiring and who sits between the aerial and the network. The constant is rehearsal of that path before the show so the director knows the aerial is a real camera, not a surprise feed.
Results
• Five days of aerial coverage and live broadcast at the largest FIFA Fan Fest in the country
• Live aerials of the festival and the city on Fox Sports
• Fans also live-broadcast to FOX using a TVU
• Flights inside an actively enforced TFR, with every required permission in place
What this means for your event
Secure airspace is where planning matters most. Beyond the fan festival, we have experience with Special Governmental Interest authorizations and VIP and presidential TFRs coordinated with the U.S. Secret Service. If your event sits under a flight restriction, we can fly it where authorization is possible, or help your own team through our FAA waiver consulting.
For Atlanta sports and events, see our Atlanta page. To see how we plug into a live production, see our FPV drone live broadcast page, or browse more of our live broadcast work. Also see our Sphere Las Vegas FPV case study and our EDC Las Vegas drone case study.
FIFA Fan Festival Atlanta FAQ
What did Air Views Media do at the FIFA Fan Festival Atlanta?
We spent five days on aerial coverage and live broadcast at the largest FIFA Fan Fest in the country in Atlanta, GA, during the FIFA World Cup 2026. Our aerials connected into the Fox Sports broadcast, and we also live-broadcast fans to FOX using a TVU.
How can a drone fly legally inside a TFR?
Only with the right authorizations in place before the flight. For this event, we cleared permissions with more than seven organizations, with documentation from the FAA, FBI, GWCC, DHS and FIFA.
Can you fly our secure event?
Where authorization is possible, yes. We also have experience with Special Governmental Interest authorizations and VIP and presidential TFRs, and we help other operators through our FAA waiver consulting.
What is a TVU in this context?
A TVU is a portable live video uplink pack. We used one to live-broadcast fans to FOX from the festival site.
Where is Air Views Media based?
We're a Georgia company based in Augusta, with a second location in Lynchburg, VA, and we travel nationwide for live broadcast work.
Air Views Media is not affiliated with or endorsed by FIFA. FIFA, FIFA World Cup and FIFA Fan Festival are trademarks of FIFA. This page describes Air Views Media's own work at the event.
