When Dallas Cowboys faced off against the Tennessee Titans this weekend it marked the start of the 2009 season in their new $1.2 billion stadium. The newly completed stadium features the world’s largest HD video board. A 4-board cluster system featuring two 160-foot long by 72-foot high boards for sideline view and two additional 53 foot long by 30 foot high boards serving the end zones. The video board weighs 1.2 million pounds and the video screens span 25,670 square feet. The assembly hangs 90 feet above the field, and is the first such center hung video board in a US stadium. Very cool! But—There's just one problem— the giant LED system may be hung too low.
The design flaw was exposed when the Titan's A.J. Trapasso's third quarter punt hit the screen exposing what could be a very expensive problem for the Dallas Cowboys.
According to a June 2009 press release issued by Mitsubishi Electric, the makers of the Diamond Vision LED system: "The new displays will allow fans on any level of the stadium to easily view the action, creating a premium on the value of the upper-level seats." The 3 million-square-foot stadium has an approximate capacity of up to 100,000 fans. As the largest NFL venue ever built, the new stadium boasts the most spectacular column-free room in the world, stretching a quarter-mile in length.
The problem is really an architectural design issue— not a digital signage issue. Designed by the HKS Sports & Entertainment Group, the Mitsubishi system is beautifully executed and is a great example of just how far the technology has come. HKS Sports & Entertainment Group, ranked as one of the top-five sport/stadium designers by BD World Architecture.
To hold the video board in place, a 72-foot tall steel structure was created that contains a 10-level network of catwalks. Three-inch diameter steel cables grip each end of the video board and are tethered to the stadium’s large steel box truss arches. The center-hung structure is also designed to support a 90,000 pound basketball arena style scoreboard hung from below when needed for other events. The only access to the video board is via one of two motorized platforms. The motorized platforms stop at Levels 1 through 9. Level 10 is the top of the scoreboard and holds the backlit Cowboys star. These platforms move at a rate of 30 feet per minute. They are operated from the field when there is nobody in the board. They are also operable from within the cages themselves when getting down from the board.
Fixing the problem might cost Dallas a few million to raise the screens to a higher level.
