Q&A on the New Video Board

NORMAN, Okla. -- A little more than one year ago, Oklahoma hired Brandon Meier as executive director of video production. Meier previous headed up the video opeation for the Toyota Center in Houston, where he programmed games for the NBA's Rockets.

Meier is overseeing the addition of the new video board at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and the installation of an HD control room at SoonerVision. Often honored for his achievements in the video field, Meier lends his expertise in this Q&A with SoonerSports.com.

SS.com: How is the new board progressing?
Meier: Very well. The actual board is going through testing stages, but it's all powered and wired and we're just waiting on the finishing touches - the steel work and some of the work up top.

SS.com: When do you hope to begin formal testing?
Meier: We're testing right now. Testing with the new Sooner Vision control room will begin in the next couple weeks.

SS.com: What has been done in the Sooner Vision control room that relates to the new board?
Meier: We have a complete overhaul of equipment including high definition cameras, switchers and replay system. It's an entirely new control room that would be considered one of the best production facilities in the Midwest.

SS.com: What was done to the ribbon boards on the facing of the upper decks?
Meier: The east side was expanded to match the west side. On the west side the camera baskets have been removed to eliminate the breaks in the ribbon board. The baskets have been replaced by camera seats for the network camera positions. These seats will allow camera operators and fans to co-exist while blocking as little view as possible. The ticket holders in those areas have been notified.

SS.com: How often will the new board feature full-length video?
Meier: The intro video will be full length and it's really up to us how many times we want to use that feature. We still have to have some scoreboard area, although that space can be dissolved as we choose. This board gives us complete flexibility to go full video or two different videos at one time to including scoreboard, stats and video. There will be a good variety of different viewing options.

SS.com: How do you determine the amount of advertising that is used on the board?
Meier: We have to make space for our six corporate sponsors and incorporate them into our different looks. A lot of it hinges on our agreement with Learfield Communications, our multi-media rights holder. Our goal is to include our sponsors tastefully and creatively. Learfield pays our department $7.6 million per year so they are a great partner, as are our sponsors, and we want to package them in a way that contributes to our overall presentation. We're pretty proud of the fact that we are one of very few self-sustaining athletics departments so I hope our fans understand the importance of the sponsors.

SS.com: Will there be any changes with the north board?
Meier: The north board will be in a 16x9 aspect rather than the 4x3 that the fans saw last year. The image will be 10 times more clear. Our high definition versus our old analogue equipment is night and day.

SS.com: How many people are involved with the production effort relative to the board?
Meier: There are five full-time employees and nearly 30 student interns. It's a very involved operation. Right now we're doing content creation for the boards ... things like head shots, shuffle games, features and rebuilding all of the content for the ribbon boards since they were expanded.

SS.com: What's the greatest challenge presented by the new board?
Meier: The sheer size of the board and all of the signal processing that goes into displaying an image that large. Our new control room consists of more than 30 computers that run everything.

SS.com: What excites you the most about the new board?
Meier: The fact that we have the best board out there right now. There are only two-three others who have that board and one of them is the Kansas City Royals. Not only do we have the best type of board, we also have the best backend to feed a signal to that board with our control room. That backend will make a huge difference.

SS.com: If you had to name just two or three major differences that fans will notice, what would they be?
Meier: I think fans will see far more fan-interaction on the big screen. Our new cameras with bigger lenses will allow us to shoot video of anyone in the stadium. It will be neat for our fans to see themselves 32 feet tall by sometimes 165 feet wide. Otherwise, just the clarity of the images. From the tests we have had so far, this board will light up the entire stadium even without the stadium lights. We will have to dim it back. The brightness and clarity are amazing.

SS.com: What are the greatest benefits of the new board?
Meier: The flexibility we will have to entertain, inform and inspire our fans. During the game, we'll give them bigger and better looking replays. During timeouts we'll be able to give them bigger, more entertaining pictures, and interactive content. During our intro video, we'll be able to give them a more inspiring presentation.

SS.com: What will change from now to the first game?
Meier: If you drive by now you're just starting to see it come together. The steel structure on top of the board is really going to make it look nice and tie it into the stadium. Instead of just throwing up a giant board, the decorative steel work and flags are going to be a nice compliment to the rest of the stadium. Joe Castiglione takes a lot of care when it comes to the appearance of the facility and the decorative work was a real good idea.

SS.com: There is also a new sound system in the stadium. Have you had an opportunity to test it yet?
Meier: We have tested it and it's still got some final tests. Essentially, we have twice the number of speakers that previously served the stadium. Most of the sound previously existed in the center of the south board. Now we have that much sound coming out of just one side of the board. And we still have other speakers throughout the stadium. It should be a very significant improvement and distributed more evenly.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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