New scoreboard brightens Blues in St. Louis

By Andrew Lippe

Scottrade Center, home of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, has upgraded its facility with a new center-hung Daktronics ProStar scoreboard and a new 360-degree ribbon board. The ribbon measures a circumference of 1,063 feet, making it the largest in any NHL arena.

“Video displayed on this scoreboard is like having HD wireless television in your home,” said Peter McLoughlin, CEO of St. Louis Blues Enterprises. The fascia display features full-color LED technology that measures approximately 2-feet 8-inches high and incorporates 23 millimeter pixel spacing (14,176×32 in pixels). The board displays exclusive Blues graphics and animations as well as player video clips, out-of town scores, game statistics and advertisements.
The Blues main addition was the inclusion of, the Daktronics HD-ready ProStar scoreboard. “The Scoreboard replaced the previous scoreboard we have had for the past 11 years,” said McLoughlin.

The video board displays picture elements on 10 millimeter pixel spacing. Each of the four main video boards measures about 15 feet wide and nine-feet seven-inches high. There are eight screens atop the scoreboard. Each of those about 12-feet wide and six-feet six-inches high with a 20 millimeter pixel spacing. There are also four bottom screens measuring 15 feet wide and 2.5 feet high. The Blues chose the ProStar for its HD digital superior viewing quality.

The Blues have had three home games and the reception so far has been great. “There is energy in the building,” says McLoughlin.

The Blues have put together video packages on players and game highlights. Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, 3D Studio Max, Light Wave Media 100, and Final Cut Pro are all used to build the packages. They also have the join the Blues Revolution advertising campaign that includes many historical video packages of the team s legendary greats, all part of the team’s 40th anniversary celebration.

And the scoreboard even came in handy for non-hockey use. “When the Cardinals were playing the New York Mets down the street we were able to put highlights from the game right on the scoreboard,” said McLoughlin. “This was not possible on our old scoreboard.”

“The scoreboard and LED ribbon board need two operators to run the Daktronics computers to play out the pre-built animations and statistics,” said Chris Frome event presentation director of the St. Louis Blues.

According to Frome the animation process is very time consuming and consists on conceptualizing new ideas and rendering old ones. “It generally takes five to 20 hours per animation,” said Frome.
The new animations are a part of the new Blues outlook that includes the hiring of President John Davidson. The addition of Davidson and the new technology is helping to reestablish hockey culture in St. Louis.

“John played here back in the 70’s,” said McLoughlin. “The fans have embraced one of their own coming home. He is helping this franchise become great again.”