Daktronics Displays World Series Pride for Royals and Mets

Company installed video boards for both American and National League champions among its 25 MLB clients.

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Daktronics will finally break its three-year drought of being the supplier for the World Series champions this fall no matter who wins. (Sorry, Chicago Cubs, fans, we know it’s been slightly longer since your team hoisted the trophy as the best in MLB.)

In fact, going into this season, Daktronics had a five-out-of-six chance in being the company that installed the World Series winners’ video board since it installed screens for 25 of the 30 big league clubs. The San Francisco Giants (World Series winners in 2012 and 2014) and Boston Red Sox (2013 champs) aren’t among Daktronics’ clients, though, so the wait to pour champagne on each other has been interminable.

Going into the 2015 Major League Baseball playoffs, Daktronics knew it had a strong chance to break its World Series drought, with nine of the 10 teams serving as clients. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost to the Cubs in one of two National League Division Series matchups, was the only holdout among this year’s playoff crop.

That will all end soon, though with the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets meeting to determine who is Daktronics VP of sports and entertainment Jay Parker’s favorite client this year.

“When people ask me who my favorite team is or who I’m rooting for, I usually tell them my favorite team is the one that’s a Daktronics client,” says Parker with a laugh. “When you have two customers going after each other like we have with the Royals and the Mets in this year’s World Series, you have to take a neutral stance.”

The Royals’ Crown Vision board, a 100-foot-by-85-foot portrait-style Daktronics display installed in time for the 2008 season, utilizes first-generation HD-X LED technology and was the largest HD LED board in the world at the time it was installed. Daktronics also installed an LED fascia and smaller display in a fan gathering area at Kaufmann Stadium. The orientation allows for “unique flexibility,” says Parker.

“We take pride in providing a board that ages well,” he says, noting most large-scale displays are replaced about 10 years after their installed as technology changes. “It’s performed beyond our expectations.”

The Mets’ new video board, which replaced its original CitiVision board in time for this year, stretches 54 feet high by 105 feet wide, about 62 percent larger than its 2009 predecessor. Citi Field also replaced left-field static signage with new fascia displays approximately 5 feet high by 234 feet wide. It uses the newer version of HD-X.

Most large video boards in sports stadiums are made up of between 3000 and 5000 panels, says Parker.

Daktronics has staff at both World Series venues in case gameday production staff has questions or ideas on maximizing the technology, says Parker.

“The World Series adds a whole new level of creativity for the production people,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun but a lot of work at that level trying to entertain fans and sponsors. Every team has a different personality and different culture.”

Although Parker and other Daktronics officials aren’t likely to get a championship ring or a float in the winners’ parade, “I’m sure we can go and watch it if we want to.”

Daktronics is working on a new display for the Cardinals this offseason and hoping to land the Giants as a client, says Parker. The White Sox and Mariners join the Giants, Dodgers and Red Sox as the only teams in Major League Baseball that don’t work with them.

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