College Venue Renovation Preview, Part 1

As college football season approaches, venues across the country are hurriedly preparing for opening day. From new scoreboards and revamped control rooms to full-fledged renovations and retrofits, SVG has college football venues covered. Part 1 of College Venue Renovation Preview features UC Berkeley, Minnesota, BYU, and Brown.

Memorial Stadium
UC Berkeley
Perhaps the most highly anticipated, and closely watched, renovation in college football is California Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus. Home to the Cal Golden Bears since 1923, Memorial Stadium has undergone an extensive $321 million retrofit and renovation to bring the venue up to modern standards.

Preliminary work began in June 2010 with the installation of temporary bracing around the outer wall, hazardous-material removal, and interior demolition. In December 2010, major construction began when the interior bowl was demolished.  Although the venue will be ready to house the Golden Bears when the season starts, renovation is slated for completion early next year.

The significant upgrades made to Memorial Stadium include three new club levels for members of the Endowment Seating Program, a new press box, wider concourses, improved ADA access, more restrooms, and additional concession stands. The historic façade, one of the facility’s signature features, has been retained, and the playing surface has been lowered to improve sightlines for fans seated in lower rows. Capacity has been reduced from 71,799 to approximately 63,000.

TCF Bank Stadium
University of Minnesota
TCF Bank Stadium, home to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, will feature an expanded state-of-the-art high-definition video-replay control room integrated by Minnesota-based Alpha Video Sports & Entertainment Group.

Located on the press level of the venue, the control room will deliver content to HD videoboards and televisions in TCF Bank Stadium, Mariucci Arena (men’s hockey), and Williams Arena (men’s and women’s basketball) via a new fiber-optic network. The control room, which will feature digital editing, asset-management, and archival systems, will be able to accommodate multiple events occurring simultaneously.

LaVell Edwards Stadium
Brigham Young University
LaVell Edwards Stadium will feature a new video-display system, highlighted by two 16mm surface-mount LED video screens provided by ANC Sports Enterprises. The system will deliver live action, replays, game animations, team logos, student-athlete features, and real-time statistics.

The HD video screens, which measure 35 by 50 ft., were manufactured with the newest outdoor surface-mount technology, which offers higher pixel densities than traditional lamp LED displays, creating sharper, clearer imagery. In addition to the video screens, the video-display system includes more than 950 ft. of 25mm LED ribbon. Approximately 240 ft. of LED ribbon will flank both sides of each scoreboard, running across the top of the stadium.

Uncompressed content will be delivered to the screens using ANC’s VisionSOFT operating system. These visuals can be synchronized to appear as one theme or segmented into different elements to provide fans with various information and entertaining content.

Brown Stadium
Brown University
Brown University will have a new integrated LED video and scoring system this fall at Brown Stadium, including a new LED video display. Featuring Daktronics 15HD pixel spacing, the display will show live video and instant replays, scoring information, sponsor advertisements, vivid graphics, and colorful animations.

The screen measures more than 18 ft. high by nearly 36 ft. wide and incorporates a high level of image clarity and contrast. It is capable of showing one large image and of being divided into separate windows to show a variety of information, all with outstanding brightness and wide-angle visibility.

A custom football scoreboard measuring 8 ft. high by nearly 36 ft. wide will be installed below the video display to show scoring, timing, and statistical information.

Brown Stadium has also installed a Daktronics Sportsound 500HD audio system, which will provide full-range sound reproduction that can integrate with the in-venue displays.