Daktronics LED bonanza at Snapdragon Stadium

Article posted by Coliseum, September 23^rd, 2022

Image: Daktronics

When San Diego State Aztecs football fans head to the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, this Fall, they will be greeted by 19 new LED displays as Daktronics of Brookings, South Dakota (US), has partnered with the San Diego State University (SDSU) to design, manufacture and install the new system totaling nearly 8,400 square feet and 7.5 million pixels. Features of the stadium include local aspects to help fans feel at home in San Diego.

The San Diego State Aztecs football team represents the San Diego State University in the sport of American football. The Aztecs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the West Division of the Mountain West Conference.

The 35,000-capacity Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as the Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the West Coast of United States, in San Diego, California.

The San Diego State University is a public research university in San Diego, California, US. Founded in 1897 as the San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and Southernmost in the 23-member California State University system. The SDSU has a Fall 2020 student body of 35,578 and an alumni base of more than 300,000.

Daktronics helps its customers to impact their audiences throughout the world with large-format LED video displays, message displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, audio systems and control systems in sport, business and transportation applications. Founded in 1968 as a USA-based manufacturing company, Daktronics is today the world leader in audiovisual systems and implementation with offices around the globe.

Put in John David Wicker, SDSU Director of Athletics, “We are excited to partner with Daktronics, the premier scoreboard and digital board organization in the world. We’ve always said that the gameday experience is the most important piece to the Snapdragon Stadium and the Daktronics video scoreboards provide fantastic displays to a stadium with great sightlines. The viewing experience at the Snapdragon Stadium is now unmatched in collegiate athletics.”

‘Daktronics’ stated that the new main video display measures 42 feet high by 73 feet wide to deliver more than 3,000 square feet of digital canvas for the university’s football, athletics and other special events. It is mounted in the Northwest corner of the stadium. Mirroring the main display in the opposite corner of the stadium, a video display will measure approximately 26.5 feet high by 50.5 feet wide to deliver similar and supplemental information as the main display. Both displays feature industry-leading environmental protection to ensure they operate as expected in the San Diego outdoors.

Remarked Robin Hall, Daktronics Regional Manager, “We’re thrilled to be a part of this Snapdragon Stadium project and to help the San Diego State deliver a local experience to their events. The displays will help to create an amazing home field advantage for the Aztecs for years to come. We are grateful to continue working with the school on their campuswide initiative to enhance the in-person experience at all of their athletics venues as they move into the future.”

‘Daktronics’ further stated that the end zone video displays are each capable of variable content zoning allowing each to show one large image or to be divided into multiple zones to show any combination of live video, instant replays, up-to-the-minute statistics, graphics and animations, and sponsorship messages.

All 19 displays feature 10-millimeter pixel spacing to deliver crisp, clear imagery to fans throughout the stadium.

Commented Luke Tingle, Daktronics Senior Project Manager, “Going from a conceptual drawing to an actual stadium is always exciting with new construction, and having a good onsite team is essential. Living local, I take great pride in San Diego getting a new stadium and our company delivering state-of-the-art displays to help bring it to life for this community.”

The stadium also features two large ribbon displays mounted to the seating fascia. One measures approximately 2.5 feet high by 420 feet in length and the other measures 2.5 feet high by 400 feet long. Nine additional ribbons measure 2.5 feet high and combine for 290 linear feet while five more ribbon style displays measure six feet high and combine for 167 linear feet. These displays work together to deliver additional graphics and animations as well as providing opportunities to highlight sponsors throughout events.

Creating a complete street-to-seat experience, a marquee display is installed outside the stadium to connect with the fans and audiences as they arrive for the main event. This display measures 13 feet high by 23 feet wide to brand the experience, promote upcoming events and deliver sponsorship recognition.

Daktronics included its powerful Show Control solution with this installation. This industry-leading system provides a combination of display control software, world-class video processing, and data integration and playback hardware that forms a user-friendly production solution.

In addition to the equipment installation, the San Diego State University will also receive a content package that will be produced and delivered by the Daktronics Creative Services.

Daktronics has grown with the sports industry from the company’s beginnings in 1968. Today, the company has LED video display installations at hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States.

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