Pixels in Progress: Rogers Centre Gardiner LED Pylon

ABOUT THE PIXELS IN PROGRESS AUTHOR

Davis Green is a photographer, a videographer, a graphic designer, and a drone operator commercially licensed through the Federal Aviation Administration. He joined SNA Displays in 2020 and works out of the company’s downtown Los Angeles office.

Davis Green is a photographer, a videographer, a graphic designer, and a drone operator commercially licensed through the Federal Aviation Administration. He joined SNA Displays in 2020 and works out of the company’s downtown Los Angeles office.

Upgrading the Rogers Centre Video Experience

SNA Displays overhauled a 124-foot-tall digital pylon sign outside the south side of the Rogers Centre as part of a series of video upgrades to the Blue Jays’ home stadium. 

Each main face of the Gardiner LED pylon display is approximately 31 feet tall x 55 feet wide. The fully wrapped screen features 158 feet of continuous LED video at a resolution of 936 x 4,736 pixels. Each end of the 360-degree screen has a tight radius of 7’4”, giving the entire display structure a depth of 14 feet that accommodates interior catwalks for improved service and maintenance access. In total, the display processes 4.4 million pixels across approximately 4,800 square feet of digital canvas.

PICTURED: LED Installation, Crane Work, Onsite Technicians

The 30-screen video deployment throughout the Rogers Centre includes in-bowl LED displays, locker room screens, and video enhancements to premium lounges within the stadium.

Davis’ Thoughts

I’m always in awe of the scale and complexity of professional sports stadiums. Rogers Centre has been around for a long time, and is already iconic for large-scale engineering—most notably because of the way the dome was designed. For that reason, SNA felt right at home working on the new LED installations in and around the park. I’ve spent a lot of time observing our project and installation managers, and one thing I appreciate is their passion for (and ownership of) engineering and logistical work of staggering scope and scale.

In particular, it was an insightful opportunity to shadow our installation manager Raul Menjivar, who oversaw all the LED work happening onsite. Throughout the day, we tread a familiar path between the exterior Gardiner Board and the interior Heinz Club. During installation, Raul readily assisted with two disparate types of installations (notably, in between phone calls about installations in other cities). It’s work that can’t be faked, and it demonstrates the value of many years of hands-on experience. One team asks about crane placement, another team asks about electrical wiring, and someone needs to have answers for them. I recommend calling Raul.

On the photography side, one unique challenge was the drone operations. Toronto hardly feels like international travel when you live in the U.S., but crossing that border meant that my FAA-issued drone license and familiarity with U.S.-based drone flight rules were not going to apply. So, the challenge leading up to the Rogers Centre shoot was researching Canadian airspace rules so that I could fly legally (and safely) in the middle of downtown Toronto. Anyone familiar with the perplexing minutiae of UAS regulation will not be surprised to hear that my only option to stay in compliance was to buy a whole new drone that met a very specific set of criteria. (Not that I’m complaining about getting to buy another drone…thank you SNA!) All in all, it was a great opportunity for us to put our expertise to good use helping build a very complex tech network at Rogers Centre. In Raul’s words, we want to install it once, and we want to install it right. For an MLB stadium, I can’t imagine anyone would want it done any other way.

By the way, if you’re in Toronto, don’t miss AFURI Ramen near downtown.

Visit Limelight: The SNA Blog for more Pixels in Progress coverage as well as industry and SNA Displays content.