Daktronics To Deliver First Ever 360-Degree Halo Display for Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium

The largest LED video display in all of sports has been designed and engineered, and is now being manufactured and installed by Daktronics for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC. This never-been-done-before, 360-degree halo display will be installed above the field as part of the stadium’s unique retractable roof structure.

A large, first-of-its-kind mega column LED display is also being installed in the stadium and stretches 101 feet from the first concourse level to the roof. Altogether, Daktronics will install more than 82,500 square feet of video displays at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“Daktronics is in a league of their own,” says Rich McKay, President of AMB Sports and Entertainment. “We selected to work with them because of their dependability known throughout the industry as well as the creativity they bring in crafting something that has never been done.”

The massive halo display measures 58 feet high by 1,075 feet in circumference – large enough for a helicopter to fly through – for a total of 61,900 square feet of display space. It will be more than five stories high and nearly three times larger than the largest display in professional football.

“We’re proud to provide Mercedes-Benz Stadium with this unique, visionary halo display,” says Daktronics CEO Reece Kurtenbach. “The project is a test of engineering and architecture coordination that showcases our company’s depth and capabilities. Increasingly, there is a desire to move beyond common rectangle shapes and Daktronics has been at the forefront of the creative use of LEDs. We are equipped to be a valuable partner with our customers for complete solutions, no matter what their aspirations may be for their venue, their display systems and overall experience for their fans.”

The mega column is a four-sided display covering a building support structure with usable video space to entertain fans. At a total of 6,700 square feet, approximately 101 feet high by 71 feet around, the mega column has more square footage than the main video displays at 19 professional football venues and 24 major league venues for baseball.

These displays will provide all of today’s modern LED video capabilities using 15HD pixel layouts to provide full HD video and instant replays. They can also use variable content zoning for multiple windows to show any combination of video, statistics, graphics and animations, sponsor messages, and other game information.

In addition to the halo and mega column displays, Daktronics will install 12 other LED displays throughout the facility including fascia and auxiliary displays. Three displays will feature Ultra-High Definition (UHD) LED technology with pixels spaced 2.5 millimeters apart to bring fans into the action with up close live video and replays in two club areas at the stadium. Field-level perimeter displays are also included as part of the project to surround the pitch during Atlanta United FC events.

Daktronics Creative Services Preps Teams, Colleges And Brands Fall Sports Season
In other Daktronics news, as the fall sporting seasons began, Daktronics Creative Services provided numerous teams, colleges and brands with custom and catalog digital content for football, hockey, basketball and volleyball.

“One of our busiest times of the year is the fall sports seasons and we were once again prepared to handle the challenges of scheduling and producing effective, quality content for our customers in 2016,” says Trisha Schuver, Daktronics Creative Services manager. “We were able to deliver thousands of content files to our customers this year to help make some of their big moments memorable as well as providing them the support they needed to prepare for another season.”

Custom content tailored for a specific team or school is often a big task for the Creative Services team as evidenced by the large amount of work done for professional football, college football and national sponsors this year. A task in which they work closely with the customer to understand their end goals and provide the best possible solution. Aside from custom content, catalog content plays a big role for digital content customers.

“In addition to creating custom content, having quality catalog content packages available for our customers is something we work hard to do,” adds Schuver. “These packages provide an affordable solution that can be formatted and delivered very quickly to fit their specific displays sizes. In addition, we are able to customize some of these pieces with team colors and logos to give our customers something that is unique to them.”

This year, more than 20 teams requested more than 800 catalog content files for football, hockey, basketball and volleyball. Content provided included crowd prompts and race and game packages to engage fans in the action.