With a hockey season that lasts more than half the year, in addition to ongoing concerts, performances and much more, the facility managers of the St. Louis Blues home Scottrade Center had limited time to replace the outdated broadcast equipment in the arena’s video control room with more integrated, future-ready solutions. Knowing they needed an efficient provider, St. Louis Blues selected Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, to upgrade the video equipment in their home arena in three months from order to install, prior to the start of their 2016-2017 season.
Grass Valley outfitted the improved video control room with a complete solution, including the 3M/E Karrera K-Frame S-series production switcher, three LDX 86 WorldCam cameras for HD/3G acquisition, an LDX 86 XtremeSpeed camera for 6X HD and 1X/3X 3G acquisition, an LDX C80 Compact WorldCam camera for hard to reach and remote applications, XCU Universe XF base stations, six Densité 3 Frames for housing audio and video signal processing modules, eight Kaleido-Modular-X Multiviewers, two K2 Dyno Replay Systems with ShareFlex capability, an NVISION 8500 Hybrid Series router with 144×144 matrix and an NV9000 controller.
“Our goal was not only to have one primary provider for our video equipment, but that this provider could deliver flexible, easy-to-use, long-term solutions to meet the specific needs of the St. Louis Blues and the needs of the other diverse events hosted at the Scottrade Center,” said Chris Frome, senior director of event presentation, Scottrade Center. “From the start, the team, management, fans and even sponsors noticed the difference in quality of experience with Grass Valley’s solutions. It has improved the arena experience and has given us the time and tools to create more quality content for arena visitors.”
Sports-centric solutions were of the utmost priority for facility managers as they decided on a provider. The K2 Dyno Replay System fit the bill, offering multi-channel replay, including super slow-motion, and an easy-to-use interface, as well as remote access to highlights and clips through ShareFlex. Grass Valley’s Karrera K-Frame S-series switcher also allows for highly creative, versatile sports content production with 3 M/Es, a large number of input/outputs and multiformat support, including 1080p and 4K UHD. In addition, the wide range of LDX 80 and LDX 86 Series cameras, from compact to high-speed, allows for the capture of crisp, multi-angle footage that fans expect, on the ice and off.
No matter the event, facility managers also sought to ensure the production team had top-of-the-line equipment that improved workflows on already hectic game nights. Transitioning from an outdated analog control room to an HD-ready room with Grass Valley, game night producers can easily import and export content via the network, integrate animated transitions with a multi-functional digital switcher and efficiently create engaging replays and highlight packages.
“The St. Louis Blues and the Scottrade Center are an integral part of the city’s entertainment industry,” said Kyle Luther, VP of sales, North America, Grass Valley. “Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the arena each year to see their favorite team play or artist perform, and our video control room solutions give the production team an opportunity to take the fan experience to the next level.”
With the upcoming upgrade of their video and LED boards, the St. Louis Blues plan to take the capabilities of their new Grass Valley Karrera K-Frame S-series switcher even further to sync their video boards, ice projection systems, lighting systems and more in the upcoming season.
