Mental Floss: 100 Years of Scoreboard Watching

Here's a great post from the mental_floss Blog, chronicling the technical evolution of video scoreboards over the past century or so. The article is full of great photos, and here are some highlights:

In 1908, Chicago inventor George A. Baird developed an electric baseball scoreboard that recorded balls, strikes, and outs. While Baird’s invention was tested by Boston’s two major league clubs, it didn’t immediately catch on across the league. Team owners were hesitant to provide information to fans for fear that it would cut into the sale of scorecards, but the electric scoreboard signaled an eventual shift in the in-game experience at stadiums and arenas. Over the next two decades, manually operated scoreboards evolved to feature more information than the score. Lineups with player names and numbers were displayed, along with scores and pitchers’ numbers from games around the league...

When Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, it featured a large manually operated scoreboard in right field that was visible to every spectator in the park. In 1950, the Yankees unveiled an electric scoreboard that the team called “the most efficient scoreboard ever built and, in general, a big stride forward.” The Yankees’ new scoreboard was operated by two men as opposed to five and featured a non-glare enamel covering...

Before the 1959 season, the Yankees made another upgrade, installing the first scoreboard to feature a changeable message display. The New York Times, which dubbed the new scoreboard “the electronic miracle,” provided the specifics: “The board will contain 11,210 lamps with a wattage of 115,000, 619,000 feet of electric cable, will weigh 25 tons (not including the steel supporting structure), will have more than 4,860 push buttons on the master control console and will have a total face area of 4,782 square feet.”

Wrigley Field’s iconic 89-foot scoreboard was built in 1937 under the direction of flamboyant club treasurer and future White Sox owner Bill Veeck, whose father was team president until he died in 1933. Most of the original Wrigley Field scoreboard, which still stands today, is manually operated, but the batter’s number, balls, strikes, and outs are displayed electronically in the center portion of the board. The original control panel is still in use.

“What’s baseball coming to?”
That’s what former White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes asked after Comiskey Park’s exploding scoreboard, which featured multi-colored pinwheels and shot off fireworks after every home run by a Chicago player, was unveiled in 1960. “All I know is that if I was a pitcher whose home run ball had started that Fourth of July celebration, I’d fire my next pitch at the head of the next hitter,” Dykes told a reporter. While some opponents resented the extravagant display, which was another one of Veeck’s ideas, the unique scoreboard design was retained when Chicago’s current stadium opened in 1991.

Bigger and Better
When the Houston Astrodome opened in 1965, its 474-foot wide scoreboard was the largest in all of sports. The scoreboard featured 50,000 lights that erupted in a 45-second animated display of cowboys, ricocheting bullets, flags, steers, and fireworks after every Astros home run or victory. The display was set to a soundtrack that included “The Eyes of Texas.”

Diamond Vision
The Los Angeles Dodgers unveiled a $3 million, 875-square foot video board at the 1980 All-Star Game. Mitsubishi’s Diamond Vision, which enabled operators to show replays using a VCR, was the first video board of its kind and a sign of things to come. Similar video boards soon became standard in stadiums and arenas, as the resolution and functionality of the screens improved and Sony entered the market with its popular JumboTron. In 2009, the Dallas Cowboys unveiled the world’s largest high-definition video display, an LED scoreboard developed by Mitsubishi.
Other Iconic Baseball Scoreboards

Read the entire article...

New scoreboard installation in Buffalo

Check out this vid of a new scoreboard installation in Buffalo.

My scoreboard's the biggest

The Arizona Diamondbacks say they'll have the largest HD scoreboard in pro sports, according to the Canadian Press:

The board, estimated to cost US$10 million to $12 million, will be 47 metres wide and 16 metres high, and it is expected to be ready for next season's opener. It would be 900 square feet larger than the biggest existing board, at Atlanta's Turner Field.

"This is an important addition to an already fan-friendly ballpark," Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said. "Fans will have a difficult time taking their eyes off of the crystal-clear picture before them."

Hall said the board would be paid for by Maricopa County, which owns the building.

Chase Field opened in 1998 as Bank One Ballpark. The new Jumbotron is part of an upgrade in the stadium's sound system and other amenities.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., the Verizon Centre is set to install the first "true" HD indoor LED scoreboard. From LEDs Magazine:

Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. is set to score the ultimate arena experience by installing the first indoor high-definition (HD) LED display scoreboard. The 4-screen center-hung scoreboard will be created, installed and operated by ANC Sports Enterprises and Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision Systems...

The four HD screens making up the scoreboard will measure 14 feet, 5 inches high by 25 feet, 2 inches wide, with a total area of 365 square feet. The displays have a pitch of 6 mm, and the resolution is 736 x 1280 physical pixels.

The displays are described as "true" or "pure" HD because they have the requisite number of individual pixels to make up the HD image. Other HD technologies use fewer pixels, but by sharing pixels they are able to achieve the necessary resolution (number of dots). Side by side, the superior performance of the true HD display would be obvious.

In addition to the high-definition boards, the new center-hung scoreboard will also feature four 10mm 5-foot, 3-inch high by 25-foot 6-inch wide LED video matrixes and two 20mm LED rings.

A renovation of the current LED boards and static fascia signage will also take place and involve the replacement of the existing signage with Mitsubishi’s new 20mm Diamond Vision® indoor fascia display. Over a 1,000 feet of linear LED fascia will bring to life the entire upper level of the arena bowl, while 400 feet of full motion signage will continue to animate the lower level of the arena bowl.

Four additional LED displays will also light the top corners of the arena bowl with statistics, 3D graphics and advertisements, thus completing the entire digital display system.

The new scoreboard is set to debut this fall at a yet to be determined date.

Link round-up, post-playoff edition

Now that we have a bit of free time on our hands after the end of the Stanley Cup Final, here are a few "recommended reading" links that have piled up \over the past couple months:

• GameOps.com interviews Benjamin Hill, who covers the "wacky minor league baseball promotions" beat for MLB.com. Read about a mustache growing contest, a salute to indoor plumbing, and a bobblehead giveaway featuring the local Catholic Diocese bishop. We're not making this up.
  
  
• National anthems: On NBCSports.com, Eric McErlain makes the case for playing both the U.S. and Canadian anthems before every NHL game. They've been doing it in Buffalo since 1970, why not everywhere else?
  
  
• Here's a list of sports teams that have Build-A-Bear outlets inside their stadiums. Example: Build your own Phillie Phanatic at Citizens Bank Park.
  
  
• Video: Visit the The N.J. Devil mascot page, and check out the "N.J. Devil Shopping" video. It's a very funny trip to the local Walmart.
  
  
• News: Lots of new attractions added to Pittsburgh's PNC Park this season, including a new video scoreboard twice as big as the old one, new food & beverages, and a new & bigger jolly roger flag that will be raised each time the Pirates win.
  
  
• Fun promos: Charlotte Knights join Sheryl Crow to help the environment Crow recently announced on her web site that everyone should use less toilet paper, and suggested a “one square per restroom visit” limit. In honor of Crow, the team hosted “TP Night at the Ballpark” at their May 24 game. Fans who brought a roll of toilet paper received $1 off the ticket price. Every roll of toilet paper was donated to a local shelter. (via GameOps.com)
  
  
• Fun promos: You've heard of hoceky hat tricks, now the Long Beach Ice Dogs have introduced the Golden Sombrero for 4-goal games. (via GameOps.com)
  
  
• News: Texas Rangers launch a "ball girl" program similar to hockey's "ice girls", but not quite cheerleading for baseball (via GameOps.com)
  
  
• Video: Cleveland Cavaliers Scream Team (via GameOps.com)
  

Behind the scenes at Joe Louis Arena

From the Detroit News, here's an account of some of the staff and activities that go on behind the scenes to prepare for a Red Wings game:

Ricky Gopigian Audio engineer ... By 9:30 a.m. Sunday, he was doing routine checks around the building, including a stop in the media work room to prepare morning news conferences. He also made sure Karen Newman had the proper setup for the national anthem ... Gopigian, an entertainment business veteran since the late 1970s, ended the day overseeing the postgame news conferences.

...

Sheldon Nueman Director of broadcasting ... Nueman has the most unique office in Detroit. It's 100 feet above center ice. From there -- inside the giant four-sided scoreboard at the Joe -- Nueman and his company control everything from the animated octopus to the distinctive horns that blare after goals. Nueman, 51, president of Livonia-based Joseph Productions Inc., also can control the video needs at Comerica Park and the Hockeytown Café from this location.
...
As for the goal horns, they're real horns powered by nitrogen tanks. Hockey fans know the sound is unique to the Joe, and Nueman wouldn't be more specific about how it's created.

"It's a mystery, kind of like the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken," Nueman said

.
(via Kukla's Korner)

The baddest scoreboard in the NBA

From the DC Sports Blog, found via Gameops.com:

"We have the baddest scoreboard in the NBA," bragged Cavaliers Senior Vice President of Marketing Tracy Marek.

...

So the idea was floated: what if "Q Tube" itself blew fire? Through the mouths of four giant swords? The brand new scoreboard was taken apart and fitted with propane-powered firebreathers at a cost of $200,000, plus $2,500 per flaming game. The original plan was for a pyro wiz named Lloyd to sit inside the scoreboard to monitor the firestorm, but the experts eventually determined that was unnecessary.

...

Anyhow, the flames discharge throughout the pre-game introductions; all four corners at once (that's called "The Big Kahuna") and then individually in succession after each starter is introduced. It's loud, and it's warm, all over the arena. I think my face got singed. Such performances landed Q Tube the featured spot on the team's postseason media guide, and even the Wizards approved of its power.

"Oh that was hot," DeShawn Stevenson said of the intros, although he denied being startled. "I don't ever get scared," he said. "If they were trying to scare me, it didn't work."

Read more...

Here's some more from an official press release from the Cleveland Cavaliers:

Cavaliers Unveil Flaming Swords at the Q

The Cleveland Cavaliers have introduced “The Flaming Swords” as blazing exclamation points to the team’s player introductions at Quicken Loans Arena. The pyrotechnic display that shoots out from four corner retractable swords on the center-hung video scoreboard called Q-VISION, dramatically sets the tone for the fans and home-court advantage. The unique presentation to the team’s pyrotechnics, which was unveiled at the November 1st season opener, is already a much talked about signature trademark of Cavs games at The Q.

The use of pyrotechnics is one of the NBA’s fastest growing game presentation features. This season, the Cavaliers have creatively adapted the pyrotechnics that traditionally spout from atop the basketball stanchions, to fire out from the emblems of the team logo. The four swords hang vertically on the corners of the scoreboard and are lowered to a 45 degree angle before flames proceed to explode from their tips, much to the spine-tingling amazement of the fans.

Read more...