The intrasquad Black and Gold scrimmage wasn’t just a test run for the Colorado volleyball team.
Saturday afternoon’s exhibition also marked the official unveiling of the new center-hung video board above the Coors Events Center floor.
Added this summer at an expense of about $1 million, the new structure includes a total of four video boards and a number of amenities and attractions CU officials believe will enhance the fan experience at the 38-year old facility. In addition to live feeds, the new video screens will provide additional replay viewings and statistics among other features.
“It really changes the visual fan experience pretty dramatically,” said Matt Biggers, CU’s associate athletic director of external affairs. “People have been coming into this building for many years, and obviously we’ve had the video boards in the corners that have served us well. But to have a center-hung and to have the replays and the graphics in your line of vision, your line of sight, it really changes the whole atmosphere in the building.”
Those two video boards in opposite corners of the arena will remain intact. The center-hung structure includes two large screens measuring 11.5 feet by 20 feet that face each sideline and a pair of 8.5 feet by 14.5 feet screens that face each baseline.
Although it wasn’t in use Saturday, CU added an imbedded camera to the bottom of the video structure above the arena floor near center court, allowing for a unique bird’s-eye view of the action at basketball and volleyball games.
“Today was more of a soft opening, but we’ll start doing that stuff when we get into the games,” Biggers said. “The corner boards aren’t going anywhere, so that will allow us to do more stuff, whether it’s sponsor graphics or stats. It just gives us more flexibility with more stuff on more screens.”
(NOTE: This article was updated to reflect correct placing of central camera above arena floor.)
Pat Rooney: rooneyp@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/prooney07
