New Meadowlands Stadium: More Than an Acre of HD Displays

Want to totally immerse yourself in HD? Head over to the New Meadowlands Stadium — the $1.6 billion home to the New York Giants and Jets — which by my calculations has more than an acre of high-def screens.

In each of the 82,500-seat stadium’s corners are four 118-by-30-foot HD video display boards. Circling the interior is a 4-by-1810-foot “ribbon board.”

The East Rutherford, N.J., venue also will be outfitted with more than 2,200 HD video displays throughout the stadium, as well as 20 HD “video pylons” ranging in size from 20-by-40 feet to 20-by-60 feet.

That all easily adds up to more than an acre (43,560 square feet), with the total depending on how big the 2,200 individual displays are.

“When fans enter New Meadowlands, they are going to feel like they’re stepping into the future,” New York Giants president and CEO John Mara said in a statement.

Or they’ll get temporarily blinded.

Daktronics is the supplier of the four large scoreboards, the ribbon board and the pylons, while Sony is supplying the HD monitors and is the integrator for the stadium’s video-replay room.

Of course, everything’s bigger in Texas: the New York teams won’t have a screen as massive as the two 160-by-72-foot (11,520 square foot) monsters facing the sidelines in Dallas’ Cowboys Stadium.

Verizon, an official sponsor of New Meadowlands Stadium and provider of telecommunications services, is teaming with Cisco to bring 34 channels into the stadium (29 of them in HD), letting visitors in the luxury suites scan NFL Red Zone HD and ESPN HD… and, if the kids are getting restless, Nickelodeon HD (see below for the full list).

That setup isn’t going to serve as a promotional vehicle for FiOS TV, though: there is not any special Verizon promotional branding on the monitors that carry the HD content, according to Verizon spokeswoman Maria Montenegro.

The 2,200 video displays are powered by Cisco StadiumVision, a video and content distribution system designed to deliver live game footage, team trivia, news and weather, ads, promotions and general venue information.

On Sept. 2, Verizon will produce a 3DTV broadcast of the preseason Giants-Patriots matchup, available exclusively to FiOS TV customers (see Verizon FiOS To Kick Off 3D Coverage Of Giants/Pats NFL Preseason Game).

As one of four corporate sponsors of the stadium — along with MetLife, Pepsi and Bud Lite — Verizon has rights to some exclusive Meadowlands-related content. Verizon Wireless’ V Cast VOD customers and Verizon FiOS TV subscribers will have access to exclusive video content and channels featuring the Jets, Giants and other activities at the stadium.

Here are the channels on tap at the stadium, supplied by Verizon:

WCBS HD
WNBC HD
WABC HD
WNYW HD (FOX)
WWOR HD (MY 9)
WPIX HD
WNJN HD
Big 10 Net HD
CNN Headline News SD
CBS College Sports SD
Bloomberg TV SD
Cartoon Network SD
GOL TV SD
TNT HD
TBS HD
ESPN HD
ESPN News HD
ESPN U HD
ESPN 2 HD
YES Network HD
NHL HD
NFL HD
NBA TV HD
Versus HD
CNN HD
CNBC HD
MSNBC HD
FOX News HD
Weather Channel HD
MTV HD
VH1 HD
Nickelodeon HD
Sports Net NY HD (SNNY)
NFL Red Zone HD