Helping Feed the Media Day Frenzy

College-football-conference media days generate the same effect for gridiron-starved fans as giving a single cracker to a hungry man awaiting a big meal. Although the events merely comprise hotel conference rooms filled with scores of media encircling coaches and players recounting mostly safe, inoffensive clichés about their excitement for the upcoming season, they’re the first televised harbinger of football season, which often leave fans more ravenous for September’s on-field action.
 

On July 25 and 26 at Dallas’ Westin Galleria Hotel, the Big 12 Conference held its annual football media day. Conference officials hired Corporate Magic, a Dallas firm that specializes in special-event, multimedia development, to enhance the event. The firm subsequently hired GoVision LP, an Argyle, TX-based company, to construct an LED wall to serve as a backdrop for the primary stage.
 

GoVision developed a 12 x 20.5-ft video wall using a Barco I6 6mm-pixel-pitch screen built from a series 17.625-in.-sq. tiles. Corporate Magic developed the graphics, which included video highlights of each school’s team while its head coach moved toward the podium, and a moving logo of the team’s logo during each Q and A session. During preliminary events, the screen features a supersized conference logo. The Barco processor employs a DX 700 controller, which executed a high-definition SDI feed from a switcher. A Hippotizer media server fed playback and graphics into the switcher.
 

“The eyes of Texas, and much of the rest of the country, were on the Big 12 Conference this week. This was the first major conference event with its 10-team lineup, plus the added intrigue of the Longhorn Network’s launch [a network devoted solely to University of Texas – a Big 12 member – sports],” Chris Curtis, GoVision’s CEO, said. He continued, “For an indoor application, resolution is such a high priority because the audience is in close proximity and the content is usually extremely important. This served as a backdrop for print and TV coverage, so we worked within tight specs. “
 

GoVision’s portfolio includes the last two Presidential inaugurations, the NCAA Final Four and Major League Baseball and NBA All-Star Games.