Saturday, March 04, 2000

Strip scoreboards add stadium sizzle

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Complements to end zones have many uses

BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Bengals fans will have a choice of watching their team on a big screen or a small screen this year. And that's while they're at the stadium.

New ribbon scoreboard is tested Friday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Two long, thin scoreboards at Paul Brown Stadium, mounted on the concrete fascia between the second level and upper deck of the Bengals' new home, were unveiled Friday.

        The smaller scoreboards are called “sideline ribbon scoreboards” and measure 4 feet high by 200 feet long. They will complement scoreboards in each end zone that will measure 27 feet by 88 feet.

        The small boards will have the capability to show video replays from any NFL game, advertising, animation, statistics and more.

        Project Manager Dan Streyle said the technology al lowing such small boards to perform such big tricks is relatively new, and Paul Brown Stadium will be the first in the country to have it.

        “Most stadiums just have advertising panels in that area,” Mr. Streyle said. “This will give us incredible flexibility because we'll have video capability in the two end-zone scoreboards as well.”

        Each of the ribbon scoreboards is made up of 573,000 individual lights, which look similar to red, green, yellow and blue Christmas tree lights.

        Those colors can be used in concert to generate more than 16 million colors.

        Dan Chase, project manager from South Dakota-based Daktronics Inc., which is providing the scoreboards, said any type of statistic or graphic can be displayed on the smaller boards, which cost a total of $900,000.

        Total cost for all four scoreboards is $7.8 million.

        Mr. Chase said adding the little blue lights — known as light emitting diodes, or LEDs — to the mix is what allows videos to be played on the smaller screen.

        “The blue LED really came around about four years ago,” Mr. Chase said. “ ... it wasn't until recently that we made them bright enough for outdoor use.”

        Mr. Streyle said assembling the larger scoreboards in each end zone is back on schedule.

        Those scoreboards were listed as one of 18 problems the construction team was working on to make sure the stadium was ready by the first preseason game Aug. 19.

        In a Jan. 21 memo, Project Director W. Shelby Reaves wrote to county officials that “open design issues” had to be resolved.

        Mr. Streyle said the big scoreboards will be among the last things done in the stadium.

        “The scoreboards were one of the last things designed, and there are a lot of small components that must be put together on them,” Mr. Streyle said. “The good thing is those don't impact anything else on the project.”

       

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