Video Replay Control Room and IPTV Systems
It Has To Be Spectacular for Las Vegas
Las Vegas has long been known as the entertainment capital of the world, so everyone knew when AEG and MGM Resorts International announced plans to open the $375 million T-Mobile Arena, it was going to be unique—and, of course, spectacular.
So it’s no surprise two of the biggest names in the integration world – Alpha Video & Audio and Daktronics - wanted to be part of the project. Daktronics installed 25 video displays around the 650,000-square-foot T-Mobile Arena and Las Vegas’ first see-through display outside the building. Alpha Video integrated T-Mobile Arena’s video replay control room and IPTV system in a space that, at the time, didn’t have a team ready to call it its permanent home.
Video Boards Everywhere
Four Daktronics displays fill the corners between the main displays of the center-hung scoreboard and measure 21 feet high by 6 feet wide. On the underside of the center-hung board, four displays measuring 7 feet high by 14 feet wide provide additional viewing opportunities for seats that are closer to the playing surface with supplemental content to the main displays.
Two ribbon displays mounted to the seating fascia, four tunnel displays mounted above entrances to the seating area and six scorer’s tables positioned on the sidelines of the court provide opportunities to highlight sponsors throughout events as well as provide additional statistics and animations.
A trapezoid-shaped, freeform linear LED video wall on the exterior is the first see-through display in Las Vegas, covering 9,000 square feet and measuring approximately 43 feet high by 210 feet wide. Pixels have been placed 50 millimeters apart to provide a video solution for outside viewers while still allowing those inside the building to see out through the display.
Alpha Video Sports Delivers Under Pressure
Jeff Volk, VP of Alpha Video’s Sports & Entertainment group, says AEG and MGM upped their expectations in December in terms of what technology they wanted incorporated in the project. The shift from a more standard system to one that could handle an NHL or NBA tenant came in December, only 13 weeks before the deadline to complete the project. Typically, Alpha Video gets about 19 to 24 weeks for similar projects.
Near the end of the project, AEG and MGM encouraged Alpha Video to complete their portion 10 days earlier than they were contractually obligated, and they complied.
It’s probably the most aggressive timeline we’ve ever worked with. Initially, the system was going to be small, but the changes they made required an acceleration of the entire process. We had to get it done.
Jeff Volk, Vice President, Alpha Video Sports & Entertainment
Although Alpha Video has done many digital signage and IPTV installations with other companies in Vegas, this was their first time working with MGM.
“It was a strategic way for us to increase our presence,” says Volk. “The ultimate benefit is that it continues our position as one of the two or three best sports system integrators in the world. It attaches us to a marquee property in a marquee location. It’s a piece in what we hope will be more work in the western part of the U.S. There’s a lot of opportunity in that area.”