It’s cool enough that commercial integrators often find themselves sharing jobsites with star athletes. Installing a baseball stadium’s video control room, for example, was nothing new for Minneapolis-area Alpha Video and Audio, but getting the call to do such a job for their beloved Minnesota Twins was a bonus.

With the opening of Target Field slated for April 2010, the Twins would need content to feed their new 101-by-55-foot Daktronics scoreboard as well as dozens of monitors installed throughout the outdoor stadium (a move from their longtime Metrodome home).

Alpha Video earned the job to integrate the A/V in a state-of-the-art control room, using systems designed by consulting firm WJHW, that would act as a broadcast studio on game days.

“While we take a great deal of pride in all of our sports venue projects, having the opportunity to do a showcase stadium in our home town was a special honor,” says Alpha Video’s Sports & Entertainment Group director Jeff Volk. “It was rewarding to be able to use everything we’ve learned about best practices in design and integration and have it all come together in such a distinctive and prominent venue. The control room drives one of the largest HD video boards in the Midwest.”

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The design and installation took nine months throughout the year leading up to the ballpark’s grand opening. The design phase took from approximately July through September 2009, followed by installation work October to January and testing and implementation between January and March 2010, according to Volk.

The HD Video Control Room comprises a production area, two A/V editing suites and an equipment rack room. The space is about average size for a control room, says Volk, but its L shape, support pillars and 7-foot-3 ceiling posed some challenges - like narrowly fitting the Middle Atlantic equipment racks below the low ceiling.

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“The tight project timeline and the amount of physical space posed the biggest challenges,” Volk says. “A comprehensive design review ensured that all of the equipment would fit into the space allocated and still allow for an efficient staff workflow.”

To give the Target Field fans all of the eye candy that we’ve come to expect at professional sporting events, Alpha Video outfitted the control room with: a Ross Video Vision 3 production switcher, Evertz HD and AES routing switchers with integrated multi-image viewers, a six-channel EVS slow-motion system, a Ross Video SMS video server, Sony HDCAM camcorders, Panasonic DVCPRO HD VTRs, Apple Final Cut Pro-based editing systems, Chyron HyperX3 character generators and a Riedel intercom and communication system.

Input sources include multiple Sony cameras and Nucomm wireless HD camera systems, Volk adds, and the control room can support a staff of more than 25 people to orchestrate everything on game days.

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Arlen Schweiger

Arlen Schweiger is managing editor of CE Pro and Commercial Integrator magazines. Arlen contributes installation features, business profiles, manufacturer news and product reviews.

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