North America's most watched sporting event is being held in Jacksonville, FL, this February. In preparation, the 76,000-seat ALLTEL Stadium, home to the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, has just undergone a $60 million renovation in advance of the Jaguars’ hosting Super Bowl XXXIX, on Feb. 6, 2005. The upgrade has included the installation of 294 high-contrast Panasonic plasma displays to increase the fans’ visual enjoyment. Located on 18 acres, adjacent to the St. John’s River in the heart of downtown Jacksonville, ALLTEL Stadium was built in 1995 at the site of the old Gator Bowl.
Phase One of the stadium’s refurbishment took place last summer, with a three-story space constructed in the South End Zone to house the 14,000sq ft Bud Zone sports bar for general patrons and the 17,000sq ft ADT Terrace Suite, a party suite with its own buffet dining, bar and seating. A total of 90 Panasonic 37in wide-screen professional plasma displays are strategically placed throughout the Bud Zone and the ADT Terrace Suite for patrons’ viewing.
Phase Two, completed prior to the start of this year’s NFL season, comprised the interior renovation of all 90 private suites, as well as the remodeling of the two 65,000sq ft East and West Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs, which had been untouched since the opening of the stadium 10 years ago. The updates included upgrades in food service (including two new bars), furniture, finishes and audio/visual.
The private suites have each been outfitted with Panasonic 42in wide-screen HD plasma televisions. Twenty-four 50in 16:9 professional HD plasma displays comprise the centerpiece of the East and West Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs, and are located above the new East and West Club Central Bars. Thirty-two 42in professional plasmas have been installed in proximity to select dining areas within each Club. Fifty-two 37in plasma displays have also been placed in the vicinity of the main concession, smaller bars and lounge areas dispersed throughout each Club. In the Bud Zone, ADT Terrace Suite and East and West Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs, the Panasonic plasmas are all controlled from touch pads at the central bars. During a game, feeds can be taken from the team’s in-house broadcasting, network television broadcast trucks, the scoreboard or from the internal stadium cable package. To accommodate business meetings during the week, the Panasonic professional plasmas are equipped with PC and AV inputs for connecting a laptop computer or playback device for presentations.
For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/plasma
