The center-hung at the Milwaukee Bucks’ new arena, which team officials plan to announce Tuesday, counters the “monster board” trend at other NBA venues, but team officials feel it will still be an attention-grabber when the facility opens in 2018.
Bucks officials shared information about the center-hung and renderings exclusively with SportsBusiness Journal in advance of the announcement.
Produced by Daktronics, the center-hung stands 25 feet tall and 29 feet wide, which is twice the size of the one in place at BMO Harris Bradley Center, the Bucks’ current home, said Mike McCarthy, the Bucks’ chief operating officer.
The new board’s four curved screens are all of equal size, projecting the same image to all fans, whether they’re sitting along the sidelines or behind the baskets. It’s the largest board tied to that design in the NBA, Bucks officials said.
 |
A rendering provided by the team shows a traditional square board with displays beneath for fans sitting courtside.
|
All told, it’s similar to the Daktronics center-hung at
Madison Square Garden, where McCarthy spent 23 years and became president of
MSG Networks. He’s been with the Bucks since November after spending six years as the St. Louis Blues’ CEO, and three years with
The Legacy Agency.
In Milwaukee, it was important to design the board without it being a distraction from the action on the court, McCarthy said. As a result, the Bucks went with more of a standard design compared with the giant rectangular-shaped screens at arenas in Houston, Indianapolis and Cleveland.
“In today’s world, the newer video boards have large sideline displays and the end zone screens are much smaller,” said Jay Parker, Daktronics’ vice president of live events and spectaculars. “This one is more of a traditional four-sided scoreboard, and for those sitting courtside, there are displays underneath the board for them to have a better view.”
The board has 6-millimeter resolution, on par with other NBA center-hungs, and can accommodate 4K broadcast technology, the next generation of high-definition images, Parker said.
Apart from the center-hung, Daktronics will supply a 360-degree ribbon board in the seating bowl, high-resolution screens in the corners of the upper deck and more than 20 LED screens installed on the concourses and premium areas, a relatively new feature at big league venues.
As the cost of LED technology continues to drop, more teams are replacing LCD monitors with LED boards outside of the seating bowl, in both public and private spaces, Parker said. The LED boards last longer, require less maintenance and the images are much brighter than LCD screens, he said.
On the exterior of the new arena, Daktronics is producing an 85-foot-wide video board that wraps around the northwest corner, to display upcoming events, sponsorships and community service initiatives. The parking garage will have a smaller video board attached to the structure.
At this point, the video board package has surpassed $5 million and could reach $10 million pending deals for Daktronics to provide additional video screens for the 30-acre retail and entertainment district tied to the arena, McCarthy said. The district, with the Bucks serving as the developer, includes apartments and office space, and it should begin to take shape over the next two years, he said.
As part of the agreement with Daktronics, the Bucks and the video board manufacturer, in conjunction with the Milwaukee Police Department, have partnered on the distribution of 10,000 co-branded packs of free Bucks trading cards to kids in town. It’s a first for Daktronics, company officials said.
> BIG SHOT: Veteran arena manager Rich Krezwick spied a new twist on alcohol service during his visit to see the new Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Live Nation runs the arena, and it opened the building with a string of four Metallica concerts. As part of the in-house concessions operation, patrons can buy a shot belt holding 20 plastic test tubes full of apple and licorice flavored vodka.
The shot belt sells for about $50. Worn across the shoulders, it’s perfect for standing on a crowded floor during live events, said Krezwick, AEG Europe’s senior vice president of facilities.
“The first night, they sold out of inventory in the first hour,” he said. “In this industry, you never stop learning.”
Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @breakground.
