Good morning. This is LEADOFF, an early look at Atlanta sports.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium officials are proud to claim the largest video board in sports, but their boss acknowledges he worried it might be too large.
“That was a silent concern that I had,” Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons and Atlanta United, said. “I saw it going up in the building, the skeleton of it, and I said to myself, not out loud, not publicly, ‘This is really big.’ But when it was in full motion and completely activated … I thought the proportions were perfect.”
Called the “halo board” by everyone involved in the project, the 360-degree screen is 58 feet tall and 1,075 feet in circumference, totaling 62,350 square feet of light-emitting diodes. It contains more than 37 million LEDs. And yes, it is by far the largest video board in a sports stadium in the world, according to its manufacturer, Daktronics, a global leader in the industry.
The board rings the opening below the stadium’s retractable roof, forming an oval high above the playing field and providing displays in all directions.
“It will be a completely different perspective that fans obviously have never seen before,” Daktronics senior project manager Tyler Jones said.
Click here for the full story on MyAJC.com and learn how the Falcons satisfied themselves this video board wouldn't be too large or too overwhelming.
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