A giant screen that defies logic. The fireball, symbol of the Heat, comes to life in the new video scoreboard at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Almost 60 tons in total, more than 700 square meters of LEDs and 72 million pixels. Mike Rowe, ‘CEO’ of Anthony James Partners, and engineer Todd Rose of Daktronics, who worked on the project, tell EFE what the ‘Fireball’ is like.
An investment estimated at 50 million to deliver Miami a unique, visionary, daring… and profitable giant screen. The project took four years of work. The Heat wanted an iconic design and to do so they hired AJ Partners, a leading company that carried out dozens of projects with various NBA, MLB, MLS and NHL franchises.
To manufacture the structure, the pulley system and the LED screens, Daktronics was entrusted, the American colossus that also made the ‘halo’ of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu, as well as the video scoreboard for the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. .
The fireball, whose project also included the participation of WJHW Consultants and CAA Icon, is suspended more than 15 meters high and has a complex system of nine pulleys that allow each screen to move independently.
Miami’s ‘Fireball’ is much more than a giant screen. For AJ Partners, developing the design of these projects means “representing the personality of the team” and “creating an artistic product”, capable of adapting to the different sporting and business needs, Rowe, who worked as a team with the director, told EFE. of creative services Nathan Hamric.
“At Daktronics, more than 100 people were in charge of this project, including design, production, project management, supervision and installation of the structure and screens,” Todd Rose assured EFE.
“It’s a unique design, obviously inspired by the Heat fireball logo. It took four years to complete the design. Its uniqueness is that all parts are totally independent. Each main screen can be lowered and raised, the rings are on a different set of pulleys and the fireball also has its own system,” Rowe said.
The Heat will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their arena this year and its owners have made large financial investments to ensure it remains an elite facility.
“They were very proud of the Medusa (the structure now replaced by the fireball), it had very recognizable characteristics. When they hired us they said they wanted something iconic, something that would differentiate them from the rest. We try to provide visual personality to everything we design. What may work for the Heat, doesn’t necessarily work for the Utah Jazz or the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Rowe said.
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“This project meets all these requirements. It is a very beautiful product, it has very interesting technology, and visually it is unique. It allows them to change their appearance every time. It is also excellent for advertising,” he continued.
AJ Partners has a broad portfolio of sports projects with franchises from the major American leagues. Teams from the NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NFL, as well as university sports, entrusted this firm with the creation of their video scoreboards.
The Crypto.com Arena and Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, Commanders Field in Washington DC, Spectrum Center in Charlotte, Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto are just a few stadiums that have projects carried out by AJ Partners in the United States.
“We are managing 86 projects right now. This is the final result, but in each project there is a lot of work to get an idea of what they want, and in the case of Miami we made more than 30 designs to arrive at something that was feasible. There are many challenges,” Rowe assured EFE.
More than 20 trucks carried the displays from Daktronics headquarters in Brookings, South Dakota, to Miami. The two cities are separated by 3,020 kilometers.
The American company, a benchmark and leader in the production of LED screens, manufactured another gem after giving the Bernabéu a futuristic ‘halo’ that left the world speechless.
“Daktronics took care of the design of the pulley assembly, the design of the structure under the roof, the design and manufacture of the screens. The biggest challenge was making a customized structure and modules to create the fireball,” Todd Rose told EFE.
“Each of the main screens and lower screens are on different pulleys to allow independent movement. The fireball is also on a separate pulley. In addition, the rings are attached to four pulleys that are synchronized to move them independently of the other screens,” he added.
The result was the fruit of the work of more than 100 people at Daktronics, to perfect a project whose suspended part has a weight of more than 59 tons.
With information from EFE.
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