How Are Venues Using Our Displays During This Break In Sports?

During the past few months, events have slowed and been canceled completely as venues try to do their part to keep everyone safe. But this doesn’t mean they’ve stopped using their LED video boards.

Some of the earliest uses we saw were in support of health care workers with the ‘light it blue’ event that took place across the country. From professional sports to colleges and universities, venues were using their displays in solidarity. This includes the New England Patriots and Texas A&M University.

Photo Credit: Fox4News

Venues such as Globe Life Field, the new home of the Texas Rangers, had the ability to host different events such as graduation ceremonies. Not only are they providing a unique experience for the graduates, but they are also getting their first chance to run a live-event production in their new venue ahead of the 2020 baseball season.

A few grads were even brave enough to experience a first for the venue by sliding into home plate and trotting around the bases after ‘hitting’ a home run. The pictures of the grads on the big screens in the venue are sure to provide some unforgettable memories.

Photo Credit: Hard Rock Stadium

In Miami, Hard Rock Stadium is creating memories for fans in a different way. They have opened up the stadium to movie nights using their Daktronics video boards to show some classic and also more recent movies. But this isn’t just buying a ticket and walking into the stadium, it’s an in-stadium drive-in theater experience!

If you’d rather not drive into the stadium, there’s an outdoor, open-air theatre experience using the venue’s marquee video board. These movie nights present a new idea the stadium is using to give a unique experience to the public while giving all proceeds to the Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program.

At Gillette Stadium in New England, the same type of idea is being used, but for sporting events. The New England Revolution opened up the stadium for a live drive-in watch party. The Daktronics displays showed a live feed of the action for fans that pulled their vehicles into the stadium.

Doing something similar, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are holding a community showcase this summer at Regency Funiture Stadium. A Disney movie night is slated for mid-July followed by an MLB watch party the next week as baseball returns to action. Accompanying the live baseball action on the video board will be beer and wings for a tailgate environment. A week later, another movie will be played on the video board as part of a family sleepover event.

Some venues are even opening their doors to other professional leagues to play out a season. The Sugar Land Skeeters are hosing a four-team professional baseball league at Constellation Stadium as they help others conduct their season from a single facility.

Finally, a more recent use for the existing video boards: family Zoom sessions with players. The Milwaukee Brewers are working out ahead of the season and turned on their video board to bring many of the players’ families into view inside Miller Park. While this was a bit of surprise for the players, it highlights one of the great non-traditional uses of the LED video board technology: keeping families in touch.

Some of these are specific one-time uses of the displays, but they certainly don’t have to be. Other venues might be implementing movie nights to help support their charities and philanthropic organizations. Venues might even be looking to see how many graduations they can make unique and memorable using the technology they have at their fingertips.

These are just a few examples of how Daktronics LED displays have been and are being used during this time away from active, live sporting events. Ideas created today may live into the future offseasons and lulls in venue schedules. Or maybe it will just add to the craziness these venues are used to experiencing throughout the year. Either way, we love seeing the innovation and look forward to hearing about additional unique uses of technology by live event venues.