Arthur Griffiths, chair of Northwest Entertainment Group,
unveiled a model of the new state-of-the-art scoreboard for GM
Place. The arena will be home to the Canucks and the expansion
Grizzlies. The Mitsubishi "Diamond Vision," an eight-sided
scoreboard, will cost $6M. The 62,000-pound video scoreboard has
four 9-foot-by-12-foot full color screens, four monochrome
message boards and will be controlled from a miniature TV studio.
Only the Madison Square Garden, the new United Center, and Kiel
Center have eight-sided video scoreboards. As part of the
sponsorship arrangement, Mitsubishi will also provide 499 TVs
throughout GM Place. NEG also announced a deal with sound system
supplier Bose Corp., who will install 400 loudspeakers (Gary
Kingston, VANCOUVER SUN, 4/21). Griffiths, who recently endured
a corporate restructuring, admitted yesterday it has been a tough
year. Griffiths: "The most difficult emotion was realizing that
in 24 months we had started the building, been awarded the
franchise and then gone to the Cup final and all the incredible
stress of keeping it together was so tough" (Tony Gallagher,
Vancouver PROVINCE, 4/21).
