Post by elp525 on Aug 22, 2008 12:28:39 GMT -5
By Tony Dobies, Sports Editor
Issue Date: Friday August 22, 2008
The new south end zone scoreboard at Milan Puskar Stadium is still expected to be finished on time, West Virginia University associate athletic director Russ Sharp said Thursday.
But, only one ribbon board will be completed by the Aug. 30 deadline.
“We’re disappointed,” Sharp said. “You shoot for Aug. 30, and that’s the goal that you have on every project since I’ve been here. You want to be done when it’s supposed to be done, and 99 percent of the time we hit the deadline. Unfortunately, it’s just not going to happen with this one.”
The east ribbon board, which will run down the sideline on the upper level of the student section side of the stadium, is expected to be finished on time.
Sharp said, despite it being finished for the WVU football team’s season opener against Villanova, the athletic department will take “baby steps” when using the new technology.
The west side ribbon board won’t be completed, though.
“It’s a five-day job, so it just can’t happen,” Sharp said. “Five days to put them up, then you have to run power to them and test them, so it’s just not something that can happen.”
The structural frames for the LED panels have not arrived yet for the west side but are expected around Aug. 29. The panels, according to Sharp, were sent in April and the power for the ribbon boards was installed through a separate project coordinated by the athletic department in July.
Most of the frames for the east side board have arrived, and the rest are expected to show up soon, Sharp said.
The west side board project should get underway on Sept. 2.
“I expect by the Marshall game we will be 100 percent done,” Sharp said. “They’ve got to go through the testing. It’s just a big electronic component where they’ve got to do a lot of testing, but it’s not tremendously complicated as long as it’s wired right. It ought to be put through the paces pretty quick.”
He attributed the inability to finish by the deadline to a late start among other setbacks.
“The contract wasn’t signed until late March. Plus you’ve got to go through a lot of design work, and that probably took a little more time than it should have,” Sharp said. “But it really comes down to fabricating those frames, the structure that’s going to hang the LEDs.”
Panasonic workers began to make the final connections on the main scoreboard Thursday morning. They will then test run the scoreboard, and technicians from Japan will begin to adjust the board for color among other things early next week.
Advertising frames, which sit to the right, left and bottom of the actual LED scoreboard, are still without the actual panel ads, but Sharp said a separate contractor will install then next week.
“There’s no danger of that not happening by game time,” Sharp said, adding that a piece to top the scoreboard and cover the sound system will be completely installed next week as well.
The main scoreboard will go through numerous tests prior to the season opener, and Sharp said he doesn’t expect any flaws, but like with the old board that was taken out earlier this summer, anything can happen.
“There’s a lot of things that could go wrong – there’s a lot of components up there,” he said. “We’re hoping for the best, we’re planning for the best and I expect it to be working and certainly Panasonic expects it to be working.
“Panasonic wants this to be a showcase. I think they are going to dedicate 100 percent of their resources to make sure it’s perfect.”
The athletic department has also discussed ideas to expand the stadium with additional suites.
“We feel like there is a demand for suites and club seats, so there’s always some type of an effort to enhance our fans’ experience and enhance our revenue,” Sharp said. “We don’t have a timetable at this point.”
Sharp said that the department has not discussed any other additional seating.
The new WVU Coliseum scoreboard is completed, minus some ad paneling. Sharp expects the sound system to be put up in the next few weeks so it is ready for the WVU volleyball team’s season opener on Sept. 12.
“By the time we hit the first volleyball game, we will have some stuff working well, and once we get to Midnight Madness in the middle of October, everything will be full-go,” Sharp said.
He added that the lighting has been installed and tested. The new shutter system will allow the Coliseum to go completely dark in just two seconds.
Issue Date: Friday August 22, 2008
The new south end zone scoreboard at Milan Puskar Stadium is still expected to be finished on time, West Virginia University associate athletic director Russ Sharp said Thursday.
But, only one ribbon board will be completed by the Aug. 30 deadline.
“We’re disappointed,” Sharp said. “You shoot for Aug. 30, and that’s the goal that you have on every project since I’ve been here. You want to be done when it’s supposed to be done, and 99 percent of the time we hit the deadline. Unfortunately, it’s just not going to happen with this one.”
The east ribbon board, which will run down the sideline on the upper level of the student section side of the stadium, is expected to be finished on time.
Sharp said, despite it being finished for the WVU football team’s season opener against Villanova, the athletic department will take “baby steps” when using the new technology.
The west side ribbon board won’t be completed, though.
“It’s a five-day job, so it just can’t happen,” Sharp said. “Five days to put them up, then you have to run power to them and test them, so it’s just not something that can happen.”
The structural frames for the LED panels have not arrived yet for the west side but are expected around Aug. 29. The panels, according to Sharp, were sent in April and the power for the ribbon boards was installed through a separate project coordinated by the athletic department in July.
Most of the frames for the east side board have arrived, and the rest are expected to show up soon, Sharp said.
The west side board project should get underway on Sept. 2.
“I expect by the Marshall game we will be 100 percent done,” Sharp said. “They’ve got to go through the testing. It’s just a big electronic component where they’ve got to do a lot of testing, but it’s not tremendously complicated as long as it’s wired right. It ought to be put through the paces pretty quick.”
He attributed the inability to finish by the deadline to a late start among other setbacks.
“The contract wasn’t signed until late March. Plus you’ve got to go through a lot of design work, and that probably took a little more time than it should have,” Sharp said. “But it really comes down to fabricating those frames, the structure that’s going to hang the LEDs.”
Panasonic workers began to make the final connections on the main scoreboard Thursday morning. They will then test run the scoreboard, and technicians from Japan will begin to adjust the board for color among other things early next week.
Advertising frames, which sit to the right, left and bottom of the actual LED scoreboard, are still without the actual panel ads, but Sharp said a separate contractor will install then next week.
“There’s no danger of that not happening by game time,” Sharp said, adding that a piece to top the scoreboard and cover the sound system will be completely installed next week as well.
The main scoreboard will go through numerous tests prior to the season opener, and Sharp said he doesn’t expect any flaws, but like with the old board that was taken out earlier this summer, anything can happen.
“There’s a lot of things that could go wrong – there’s a lot of components up there,” he said. “We’re hoping for the best, we’re planning for the best and I expect it to be working and certainly Panasonic expects it to be working.
“Panasonic wants this to be a showcase. I think they are going to dedicate 100 percent of their resources to make sure it’s perfect.”
The athletic department has also discussed ideas to expand the stadium with additional suites.
“We feel like there is a demand for suites and club seats, so there’s always some type of an effort to enhance our fans’ experience and enhance our revenue,” Sharp said. “We don’t have a timetable at this point.”
Sharp said that the department has not discussed any other additional seating.
The new WVU Coliseum scoreboard is completed, minus some ad paneling. Sharp expects the sound system to be put up in the next few weeks so it is ready for the WVU volleyball team’s season opener on Sept. 12.
“By the time we hit the first volleyball game, we will have some stuff working well, and once we get to Midnight Madness in the middle of October, everything will be full-go,” Sharp said.
He added that the lighting has been installed and tested. The new shutter system will allow the Coliseum to go completely dark in just two seconds.
