ANC Sports Enhances Seattle’s Safeco Field Second Consecutive Year
One year after unveiling what ESPN.com called “the best out-of-town scoreboard in the game,” ANC Sports again partnered with the Seattle Mariners to unveil the latest signage renovation to Safeco Field for the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.
ANC replaced the lighted, static sponsor signs and black and white incandescent matrix scoreboards which were found along the Wells Fargo Terrace Club fascia and the Outfield Reserve seating section with the same Diamond Vision light emitting diode (LED) technology as the Out of Town Scoreboard in left field which ANC installed last off-season.
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| Out of Town Scoreboard at Safeco Field |
Prior to the start of the 2010 season, ANC replaced the original Out of Town Scoreboard above the bullpens in left field with a new energy efficient LED board that offers full-color animation capabilities and uses about one-tenth of the energy of the old board. . The old board used incandescent bulbs and cooling system that was in operation 24-hours a day, 365 days a year
The scoreboard is roughly the same size as the previous unit, measuring 99-feet, 4-inches wide by 11 feet, 6.5-inches high. It covers about 1,100 square feet and features scores of Major League Baseball games in progress. Driven by ANC Sports’ patent-pending VisionSOFT™ operating system, it is possible to display additional information about each game such as current pitcher, batter, outs and runners on base.
The out-of-town display at Safeco Field is the only one digital display in Major League Baseball that mimics the look and feel of an old traditional hand-moved scoreboard. VisionSOFT™ is the only platform capable transforming these graphics onto an LED system.
While the Out of Town Scoreboard was called “the best out-of-town scoreboard in the game” by Jim Caple on ESPN.com’s Stadiums, Ballparks, and Drives, each new section of the new full-color digital boards installed for 2011 has the same capabilities.
“Being from tech-minded Seattle and having an ownership that is made up largely of Nintendo and other technology-based executives, the Mariners are continually pushing the envelope in terms of display technology,” said Chris Mascatello, EVP of technology sales and services, ANC Sports. “Our goal is to bring the technology of the 21st century into a ballpark that is styled with a classic feel to it.”
The LED ribbon along the fascia of the Terrace club totals more than 734 feet and is over four feet high, stretching from the edges of the Press Box to the foul poles along both the 1st and 3rd base lines. The video screen above the right field Outfield Reserved seats will be 160 feet wide by 6 feet high, combining three static, lighted sponsor signs and three matrix boards into one video display.
“They may not have the most LED in terms of pure area, but the Mariners are definitely a case of quality over quantity,” Mascatello continued. “900 linear feet is obviously a big installation, but the key for the Mariners was not the sheer size as much as the high quality of the boards.”
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| LED Fascia Signage at Safeco Field |
As with the Out of Town Scoreboard, the new LED displays are powered by VisionSOFT™, which provides unique flexibility when displaying statistical and game information, including displaying graphics and layouts designed exclusively for Safeco Field. The signage can also be programmed for sponsor messages on a game, series, home stand or season basis enabling the Mariners’ corporate partners to activate their programs based on real time events.
Along with Boston’s Fenway Park, Safeco Field is the first ballpark to employ ScorePAD’s STADIUMnet scoring interface this season. ANC Sports purchased the source code for the software in November with plans of integrating it with VisionSOFT™. The program provides advanced real-time and situational statistics as well as an innovative scorecard graphic to LED displays throughout the facility.
In addition to the new LED boards, ANC also provides the Mariners home plate rotational signage, creating another source of advertising inventory for the team.
“We are excited to continue growing our partnership with the Mariners by providing Seattle fans with the very same in-depth statistics found on television, the radio or online in a visually impressive way they can only find at the ballpark,” said Jerry Cifarelli, president and chief executive officer of ANC Sports Enterprises. “We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with the Mariners to develop custom graphics and applications which will further enhance the fan experience at Safeco Field over the next several years.”