The installation of new LED video boards and a 360-degree ribbon board inside the Carrier Dome was completed Thursday.

The new displays are positioned in both end zones and two corners of the stadium. Carrier Dome managing director Pete Sala said the new high definition displays will greatly enhance the fan and game experience.

“LED technology is state of the art,” Sala said. “It’s incredible. The brightness, the crispness, it’s like watching T.V. in your living room.”

The project, sponsored by Pepsi, began in May and was run by Daktronics, Inc., a company based in Brookings, S.D. Sala said the video displays must be functional for SU’s annual Home to the Dome event, part of freshman orientation, on August 23.

Both end zones will have video boards that are 21-feet high and 40-feet wide. Two smaller, 12 feet by 10 feet, displays are on each side of the larger boards. The new displays are also more energy efficient than the previous boards.

“The two big boards at each end of the building use less than half the power of the old boards, and they’re almost twice as big,” Sala said. “We had 90 feet, three 30-foot scoreboards, on that ring, that is replaced now by 1500 feet of LED that takes a third of the power.”

Sala also said the upgrades can display many different images.

Operators will have the ability to divide up the boards to include anything from advertisements to statistics during games. In an effort to increase fan interactivity, the boards will also be able to show messages sent by fans through Facebook and Twitter.

Prior to the upgrade, there were four different operating systems for the Carrier Dome scoreboards, but now there will only be one, Sala said.

All of the operations will be done from a new control room. They can also be controlled from the scorers’ table during basketball games, Sala said.

New play clocks and time and temperature boards were also installed, all part of improving the fan experience at the Dome.

“For the environment, we’re saving power which is a great thing,” Sala said. “But for the fan experience, I can’t wait.”

Published on August 9, 2012 at 7:23 pm

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