Home at Intuit Dome, Part 2: Traditional Production Blends With New-Age Game Presentation for Reimagined Fan Experience In-venue team works with marketing, creative to wow the Clippers faithful By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor Tuesday, October 29, 2024 - 1:02 pm
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T-shirt cannons. A Roman Colosseum-style lower bowl. Decibel meters on every seat. These are but three elements of an enhanced game-day atmosphere at the new Intuit Dome. Technological innovation is a hallmark of the Los Angeles Clippers' revamped in-venue production, and the advanced workflows have opened the door to a fully immersive production.
[Executive Producer/Showrunner] Payden [Adams] has creative control of our game-day show, says Jason Lemiere, director, broadcasting, Los Angeles Clippers. Along with [Director, Game Presentation] Jared [Ponce], the two of them came up with a vision of how they want to present it, and I'm here to make sure that their content is loaded and played out correctly.
Merging Old and New: Tech Boosts In-Game Interactivity Advised by CMO Claudia Calderon and given executive sign-off by Owner/Chairman Steve Ballmer and Halo Sports and Entertainment CEO Gillian Zucker, the game-presentation department has all the tools to develop a mind-bending run of show. No storyline or enhancement is off the table, and, following the lead of Ballmer's adventurous and bold risk-taking, Adams and Ponce have taken every detail into consideration.
We're going to make some mistakes on this, says Lemiere, and some of this stuff's not going to work the way we want it to, but Steve's giving us the opportunity to fail at some things until we can get it right. We're definitely going to take some chances.
Click HERE for Part 1 and HERE for Part 3 of our three-part breakdown of Intuit Dome
On the outside looking in, the newly available technology is an immense upgrade from what the NBA franchise worked with at its former home, Crypto.com Arena. The previous digs outfitted the arena with new ribbon boards and end-wall displays in 2022 and a new six-display, 5,500-sq.-ft. centerhung this past summer, but, at nearly a quarter of a century, the in-venue show relied heavily on traditional activations. The club is learning from previous seasons, building on those shows, and merging the lessons with technology. For example, content is being generated around a gaming pad installed on each fan's armrest.
The Intuit Dome Halo Board during Opening Night, the Los Angeles Clippers vs. Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23
The biggest thing that we've demonstrated is our ability to interact with the fans, says Lemiere. When we do trivia on the Halo Board, we can pinpoint down to the specific seat who submitted the correct answer the fastest. We also have games that get the entire building involved. That flexibility allows us to come up with a ton of elements for fun.
Also enabling interactivity is the infusion of real-time data and statistics on the videoboard. For the Clippers' Stats Break during every timeout, fans can view a dynamically controlled selection of real-time stats powered by Mixon Digital: for example, true shooting percentage, effective field-goal percentage, and offensive and defensive ratings.
Graphics Overhaul: Creative Team Adapts to New Clippers Branding Moving into a new home was the perfect time for a new brand identity. Letting go of the basketball-focused design and bold-typeface lettering, the organization dove head first into nautical theming with a navy-blue base and shipping and navigational iconographic. The shift in logos and branding celebrates a new era, but, from a production perspective, the creative team needed to create an entire new suite of videoboard graphics with the help of Ross Video.
That was a heavier lift in the offseason, says Lemiere. Every team does some sort of refresh before every season, but all of our elements had to be rebuilt from scratch.
The Los Angeles' Clippers in-venue show is anchored by 33 cameras, including eight Sony UHD standard-frame-rate cameras, three Sony UHD wireless cameras, and two Sony UHD high-frame-rate cameras at 4X speed.
From lower thirds and headshots to sponsored content and scorebugs, the package was changed from top to bottom. Once the base layer of the package was created, designers worked on building each piece. The only problem was that the slightest error could require a graphic to be re-rendered - which, given the massive size of the videoboard, would take six to 10 hours.
We have a main system for rendering but also multiple backups, Lemiere explains. We have multiple systems in place for both sides of the videoboard. There might be some outages that come with a new LED display, but the only thing that would cause a complete showstopper would be power failure.
PixMob LED technology is deployed at every seat for synchronized lighting in the venue.
With a venue in its infancy, the Clippers have the possibility of correcting any faults on the tech side. In addition, they can learn fans' tendencies and alter their script. I see a lot of people looking up at the Halo Board and then down at the court to watch the action, says Lemiere. The more games we get under our belt, the more we'll be able to track that activity [to refine our show].
Pulling in the Fan Early: The Work Starts When Fans Park Their Car Although the Halo Board is the centerpiece of game presentation, fans aren't necessarily instructed when to look up at the LED display. At base, the Halo Board is a videoboard and the activity in the lower bowl a run of show. The particularly memorable aspect of the Intuit Dome is the creative team's ability to take the emotions that the Halo Board gives patrons and extend that feeling to before attendees walk thro
