Never Been Done Before…Until Now!

The past couple of weeks marked a key milestone as we started onsite installation of the Halo video board at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. As the new home to the Atlanta Falcons (NFL), Atlanta United FC (MLS), and many of the upcoming landmark events in sports and entertainment, Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be a technological showcase we are proud to be a part of, and one of the most awaited new construction facilities in all of sports.

With over 18,000 LED video installations under our belt, we, nor any other sporting facility has seen an LED installation like this one. The Halo board has been anticipated since visuals were released over three years ago depicting what the new facility was looking to incorporate for LED digital signage.

Credit: Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Since then, we have worked together with representatives from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium design and structural project teams, to fully understand their direction for the project and help bring their creative and forward-thinking concepts for the new stadium to life. All while keeping their end goals in mind to meet and exceed their every expectation. Everyone is looking for that next game changer in technology in sporting facilities, to set themselves apart and provide something that will resonate as unique to their facility, or never been done before.

Bringing a creative and first-of-its-kind concept to life takes groundbreaking innovation from a company that lives and breathes these challenges and this marketplace. Our proven engineering, project management, manufacturing, and installation staffs, were tasked with many challenges on this project to create, design, and install a massive display hanging high above the playing field, that will create an immersive fan and game-day experience that is unique, memorable and unparalleled.

While there are many challenges with an unprecedented design like the Halo board, we have been looking forward to this point in the project as many of the other video displays at Mercedes-Benz Stadium are installed, and now it is time to turn to the most anticipated piece, the Halo board.

As perhaps the most visual and iconic element fans will notice when they enter Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 360-degree Halo video board design started with a vision to introduce and produce something never been done before in facility design. A desire and aspiration to think outside the box of standard digital signage shapes and sizes and provide a revolutionary display to the size and scale never seen before. Something that pushed the limits of engineering capabilities with groundbreaking innovation. And it took an experienced, proven team eager to take on the challenge.

Now, with the steel structure in place high up in the retractable roof of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 35 truckloads of US-manufactured LED video board sections shipping from Brookings, South Dakota, and cranes on the ground, we start to insert over 43,000 modules containing over 37 million LEDs that comprise the Halo board. At nearly 62,000 square feet of LED, the Halo board will measure 58 feet high by 1,075 feet in length, longer than three football fields, and making it by far the largest video scoreboard in the world.

Creating the largest video scoreboard in the world wasn’t the only unique and iconic part of this project making its debut at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this fall. A total of 16 displays, from the unprecedented 360-degree Halo display, to the 101-foot tall four-sided Mega Column display, to the uniquely shaped Feather Wall display, to the Narrow Pixel Pitch club displays, Mercedes-Benz Stadium will offer the ultimate fan experience for all in attendance.

Together, the displays will provide a digital canvas for fans to stay connected with a viewing experience and great sightlines to the action throughout the stadium. With over 83,500 total square feet of LED from Daktronics, Mercedes-Benz Stadium will offer more LED real estate than any other stadium in the world to display all the engaging and entertaining content fans crave, from live video, replays, crowd prompts, in-game stats, fantasy stats, out-of-town scores, social media, and so much more.

As we continue with installation of the first-ever Halo board, it is somewhat hard to visualize and explain the sheer size and scope of this display, which will be the largest non-transparent LED video display in the world. So, we’ll leave you with some Halo fun facts to help you envision what this game-changer in stadium technology and fan experience will look like.