Stadium scoreboard/TV/message boards are always evolving. Bigger, better and even better sounding are almost the norm each season as basketball, hockey and other indoor sports start their seasons. So it’s big news for all those selling points when the walls come tumbling down. And to an outside venue, at that.
Bristol Motor Speedway is no stranger to going big. They are one of the hottest tickets in NASCAR racing, having enjoyed 55 sellouts from 1992-2008 even though it’s in one of NASCAR’s smallest markets. Even today, as racing attendance is down overall, it is showing signs of coming back to that sellout level. And BMS also has a Bristol Dragway on the property, holding national events. Being part of Speedway Motorsports Inc., it is used to doing things big. SMI has already installed large electronic digital signage systems at two of its other tracks, Charlotte and Texas with rave reviews. Now comes one so much bigger and better, it even has its own name: Colossus.
Colossus is the world's largest outdoor, permanent, center-hung digital display and features four display monitors, each measuring about 30 feet tall by 63 feet wide. Those monitors will offer the highest viewing quality of any permanent outdoor stadium display in the world. They feature 2880 x 1350 lines of resolution, compared to the average home HDTV screen at 1920 x 1080. That equates to 23 times brighter and 25 percent sharper than a typical home HD TV. Each screen boasts nearly 54 million LEDs and 18 million pixels. At 6mm pitch, the pixels are grouped tighter than the large-scale outdoor displays in Times Square. The result is capable of displaying 281 trillion different color combinations.
Each screen will be at least 20 feet closer to guests and five times larger than the raceway’s current screens. Panasonic will build the TVs and calls them ‘game changers.’ “Panasonic is honored to be chosen by Bristol Motor Speedway as their technology partner for a project that so dramatically transforms the fan experience,” said Douglas Moss, senior vice president, Marketing and Sales, president of Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company. Panasonic partnered with SMI on its digital projects at Charlotte and Texas where those monitors are also used as drive-in movie attractions.
An additional circular LED display beneath the screens measuring nearly six feet in height also will convey messages. Between the screens and the LED ring, more than 8,500 square feet of high-resolution displays make up the active viewing areas.
The sound is big, too. A state-of-the-art, 540,000-watt audio system includes 380, 3-way loudspeakers and 48 stadium subwoofers. Colossus provides a listening distance of no more than 90 feet from speakers to ears, compared to a previous listening distance of 200 to 400 feet. The quality of this system means there will be less than three decibels of difference among any seat in the grandstands. The sound system hosts 40 miles of cabling and fiber optics, enough for 80 laps around the track.
Colossus weighs nearly 700 tons and will be suspended over the center of the infield via four massive support towers ranging in height from 190 to 220 feet and weighing in at about 437 tons. The towers will be located outside the grandstands, keeping one of Bristol’s big selling points intact -- unobstructed views of the entire concrete track, pits and infield. It’s one of the few tracks on the circuit that offers such vision. Colossus will be suspended with a halo-shaped truss on miles of cables weighing 117 tons. The largest cable weighs 63 pounds per foot and are larger than the vertical cables on the Golden Gate Bridge. The main cable suspending the screens is long enough to circle the half-mile track twice.
Rentenbach Constructors of Knoxville, Tennessee, is building the structure.
"It's a real thrill for Rentenbach to be back at BMS to help install this exciting piece of technology," said Don Freeman, chairman, Rentenbach Constructors.
Colossus will used at the “Battle at Bristol,” college football’s biggest-ever game. When the racetrack transforms into a football stadium and plays host to rivals, the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech, the event is expected to set a new NCAA college football attendance record. BMS is billed as the “The Last Great Coliseum,” and it seats about 160,000 for racing events.
"Combine all the energy and excitement of Bristol with the ultimate home theater system, and you've got Colossus,” says Jerry Caldwell, BMS Executive Vice President and General Manager. "The size, resolution, and sound of this display will draw our guests into every bit of action on the track and in the infield.” Caldwell goes on to explain, “Colossus will transform the way we see, hear and experience events at Bristol and provide additional opportunities for events here." What he’s talking about is another of Colossus' new design elements: the ability to transfer screens around the property for events like their NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals on the Dragway in June and the track's annual holiday celebration, Speedway in Lights. BMS runs more than 70 event days each season at the facility that is part oval track and part drag strip. In fact, the Dragway celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, headlining with their NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.