Youngstown State Christens Don Constantini Multimedia Center on Cusp of 2020

Youngstown State Christens Don Constantini Multimedia Center on Cusp of 2020 The project has greatly expanded the dimensions of Stambaugh Stadium By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Thursday, December 26, 2019 - 1:37 pm

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As many put a bow on their 2019 activities and tie up loose ends before the conclusion of the year, Youngstown State University (YSU) is doing the exact opposite. Back in September, the athletic department opened the doors to the $1-million Don Constantini Multimedia Center that will now be the newest anchor of video productions inside of the home of the university's football team, Stambaugh Stadium.

The Don Constantini Multimedia Center cost $1 million and is situated inside of Stambaugh Stadium.

For the last four or five years, we were working off of white folding tables in a storage room of the stadium. It wasn't very conducive because there was no heat or air conditioning and during the game, [staff] would come in mid-broadcast to get things out of the room, says Kevin Davis, specialist, video production, Youngstown State University. Now, we have a control room, home and visiting radio booths, a press box, [space for] our TV and public address announcers, and instant replay.

Laying the Brick & Mortar: The On-Campus Construction Process

After 1966 graduate Don Constantini footed the bill with a charitable donation, Youngstown State put on its hard hat and went to work by partnering with a local construction company. After closing the entire east side seating area of the edifice to make room for the demolition of the concourse, the process hit a bit of a snafu in the middle of 2018.

As construction moved forward, they realized that some of the foundation wasn't going to hold the weight of the structure, says Trevor Parks, director, athletics communications, Youngstown State University. They had to spend some time coming up with an idea to make it work, but once they got that idea, the process started to speed up.

As the calendar turned over to this year, a diverse team of academic administrators, athletic department officials, and other staffers at YSU worked closely with the construction company to develop the project at a quicker speed.

The YSU athletic staff, the foreman, the architect, electricians, some of the deciding people, and university IT met every Wednesday. The subcontractors were also at as many meetings as they could, says Parks. We figured out what to do with the foundation and it really started to go full bore by the middle of April.

When the structure was put into place by the summer months, it was a mad dash to the finish line to have everything in place before the first football game vs. Howard University on Sept. 7.

When we received the furniture for the control room, Kevin, the students, and I had to carry that and a bunch of the equipment up the steps because the elevator didn't get approved until the week of the game. Our electrician said he went up and down the steps 60 or so times in one day, he continues. You couldn't come in here without bumping into somebody because there were so many people working their tails off to try to get it done.

The old control, inside of a small storage room, presented the team with unpredictable and adverse conditions.

The Finer Details: NewTek Powers Control Room Productions

With the dust settled, Parks and company have become acquainted with the equipment and have custom-fitted each device to their liking inside of their new home. That much-needed time to work with the equipment is the consequence of YSU's pre-wiring strategy.

It's nice that the only thing we really need to set up prior to the game is the talent audio and whatnot since we use that for multiple sports, says Parks. Then, it's just taking the cameras out to their locations and plugging in the eight AJA FiDO single-mode ST converters to make sure that everything works on game days.

With a wide network of fiber in place, their compact list of equipment can be easily accessed from inside of their control room. In the space, an eight-channel NewTek TriCaster 8000 Advanced Edition 2 production switcher and an AJA KUMO 64 64 video router sit at the helm. On the playing field, five Sony HXR-NX5 and two Marshall CV506 POVs capture the action. Whether within or away from the central hub, all employees are kept on the same page via ClearCom's HelixNet intercom system.

On the other end of the control room, an Allen & Heath SQ-5 console with Dante, an eight-channel NewTek 3Play 4800, and an AJT Systems LiveBox GFX LE respectively control audio, replay, and graphics.

An Overarching Reach: Space Spurs Plans for Centralization

The litany of equipment will be truly put to the test over time. In the future, the Don Constantini Multimedia Center will be utilized in further on a grander scale. Although football is the only sport being produced out of that control room, the YSU staff have bigger plans in the coming years that will make the area the nucleus of the school's video productions. This, of course, will prevent the crew from working in less than ideal conditions.

We are in the process of working to get it linked to, at least, Beeghly Center which is where basketball and volleyball are produced. As soon as we can get a few things set up, we will be good to control [those games] out of the new control room, says Davis. Over there, we have another seven ft. by seven ft. storage room that we're producing games out of that gets really hot since there are four computers.

With a total of four on-campus athletics facilities (men's and women's soccer's Farmers National Bank Field and softball's Covelli Sports Complex alongside Beeghly Center and Stambaugh Stadium), Davis recognizes that centralizing their production workflow

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/12/26/youngstown-state-christens-don-...
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