In 2019, Comcast Spectacor, ANC, and TAIT partnered to design and create the world’s first-ever 4K kinetic center-hung entertainment system at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. The culmination of ANC’s expertise in experiential design and technology implementation with TAIT’s creative engineering and manufacturing features an unprecedented Kinetic entertainment system that transforms, expands and compresses in under 40 seconds, splashing the action across more than 40 million pixels creating an entirely unrivaled fan experience.
Background/Objectives
TAIT, ANC and Comcast Spectacor helped develop Wells Fargo Center into one of the most technologically advanced and engaging sports and entertainment venues in the country, furthering that feat with the first-of-its-kind 4K kinetic entertainment system.
Featuring more than 6,600 square feet of 4K LED video technology – more than any other NBA arena in North America – the new system is designed to captivate audiences with multi-directional movement.
Weighing in at 90,000 pounds, the entire scoreboard is made up of three individual elements:
- The Header: The header is located at the top of the scoreboard and is surrounded by LED screens. It acts as the brains of the entire system and houses TAIT Navigator hardware products, cables and pick points.
- The Center-Hung: The main hour glass-shaped scoreboard features two center video screens and two horn-shaped video screens. When fully closed (at 36 ft. long x 23 ft. wide), the center video screens compact together and live inside the two horn-shaped video screens. When fully open (at 57 ft. long x 23 ft. wide), the two horn-shaped video screens expand to reveal the center video screens.
- The Crown Trusses: Complementing both sides of the scoreboard are two 65 ft. long crown trusses that each weigh roughly 12,000 lbs. The crown trusses are also surrounded with LED screens and feature different lighting, pyro and cryo effects. To support the crown trusses, 6 Big Tow Winches are installed into the arena’s catwalk and are attached to each crown truss. On TAIT Navigator’s cue, the crown trusses move up/down and travel at 4 ft. per second to run from their highest position (at the top of the scoreboard) to their lowest position (just above the arena floor) in a matter of 30 seconds.
The combination of thoughtful and innovative design, expert engineering and craftmanship, seamless functional fluidity, and audiovisual content makes the center-hung nothing short of extraordinary.
Results
Already a Systems Contractor News 2019 Install of the Year, the world’s first 4k kinetic center-hung is a major accomplishment in the $250 million total Wells Fargo Center renovation project.
Of the center-hung, Valerie Camillo, President of Business Operations for the Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo Center told The Philadelphia Inquirer, “This is taking the Wells Fargo Center into entirely new levels of greatness and is making us one of the most fabulous and technically advanced arenas in the world.”
Phil Laws, VP of Operations for Comcast Spectacor (the owners and operators of Wells Fargo Center) told Sports Video Group, “The videoboard is now a huge part of the fan experience. It has also been great for revenue growth and for our corporate partners to be able to highlight their products and services and be able to reach our fan base.”