Huge sport display at European Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia
This may seem as a typical sports news item. But our magazine chose it as a topic for our article for the obvious reason. A huge sport display was installed prior to the Championship. It took a tremendous effort for the Russian team to win the Cup! It probably took a bigger effort on the part of organizers to bring up the stadium to the proper European level of such prestigious events! Naturally this is a wonderful New Year present to all Russian sport fans! Our congratulations to all those who made this event possible!
But let us return to large sport display – the main topic of this article. Actually, it is not only the display that we need to talk about here – but a comprehensive audio-video system that was installed at a Russian stadium for the first time.
At this point in time “Yenisey” stadium is a lucky exception among all Russian and even many European arenas of this kind. The stadium is not large. It seats only 10 000 spectators. But the administration of the stadium and its Director, Konstantin Yarinsky, achieved the impossible during the short three months of preparations.
From a plain simple open skating-ring with seats, the stadium has been miraculously transformed into a modern facility of excellent European quality. In record short time the following equipment has been installed:
- Excellent refrigeration and ice treatment equipment;
- Modern audio speaker system (Art-Kornishev Ltd.) with perfect undistorted sound of both stadium announcements and concert-quality music. This audio equipment is especially useful during the breaks and intermissions to broadcast musical and advertising inserts. “Yenisey” is an open stadium and sound quality is especially difficult to achieve in such conditions (Kransnoyarsk is a Siberian town with extreme temperatures in winter and summer);
- State-of-the-art sport lamp display (manufactured by “ATV Outdoor Systems, Ltd.”) of the huge size – 9x12.5 meters.
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| Huge outdoor sport display at “Yenisey” stadium in Krasnoyarsk, Russia | |
The sport display is big enough to be clearly seen by all the spectators: it may work as a display to show the score and time but is mostly used to offer live images of the game as well as repeats of the most interesting moments. During the breaks the display turns into a regular advertising electronic board that operates in perfect synchronization with the audio system. So far, only Moscow and St. Petersburg main stadiums (Luzhniki and Petrovsky) had electronic sport displays. However, the sport displays installed in the two Russian capitals are far beyond the new one in remote Krasnoyarsk both in linear dimensions and all other technical and visual characteristics.
The modernization turned the stadium into a great sports arena! It is now a comprehensive complex for professional sports and recreation. In between competitions the stadium is used for training and family sports. People come to watch their favorite teams at play, come to listen to good music and watch video on the huge sport display.
No doubt, the informal attitude of the stadium director Mr. Yarinsky helped change for the better not only the stadium appearance but improved the fighting spirit of local teams. It is obvious that victory is not only the result of training; the atmosphere at the stadium provides an important psychological boost to the home team.
Players and their fans appreciate the comfort of the stadium; games are more exciting when the conditions are right. The presence of sport display was a visible addition to the ambience. The whole stadium was cheering when reruns of important goals were shown on the display repeatedly. It is very pleasant that Russian stadiums realized the need to equip arenas (even smaller size for 5-10 thousand spectators) with modern sports equipment as well as special equipment for fans: huge video display and audio systems in spite of ever-present budget limitations. We can only cheer the organizers and winners!
The “Yenisey” stadium in Krasnoyarsk proved the fact that even smaller sports facilities must be equipped with video displays (something that market-oriented Europeans and Americans realized long ago). The tendency to install huge sport displays of 100 sq. meter and more is also worth noting. A stadium with such sport display stands a better chance to host prestigious games or competitions.
Previously huge sport displays were mostly used in the North America. Even relatively poor colleges would install large sport displays with sizes similar or over 9x12 meters. From now on we may talk about the similar tendency in Russia!
