The AAC was busy with an overhaul over the summer, and crews recently finished installing the new LED, super-high-definition main scoreboard that hangs over the arena floor, plus the two big screens on both sides of the building and the outdoor screen that overlooks PNC Plaza on Nowitzki Way.
Dave Brown, AAC general manager, says crews worked for six weeks to install the new scoreboard screens and finished the project Sunday morning. The main scoreboard is 30% larger and twice as bright as the old screens. It also houses a 360-degree ring screen and more screens underneath the main scoreboard so guests sitting in ringside and courtside seats can see every point and instant replay. The screens are even curved for maximum effectiveness.
"This is a big deal," Brown says. "Since the board is larger, that would have compromised the sightlines if you were just looking at the primary screens. If you're down low trying to look at the scoreboard, it's quite an acute angle to view the video."
Dave Brown, general manager of the American Airlines Center, says crews have upgraded all of the seats in the arena for the first time in its 22-year history.
Courtesy of Dallas Mavericks
The old scoreboard screens were powered by LEDs, but the new one has a "continuous surface," so nothing gets cut off or segmented during home games for the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars, Brown says.
"With the upper ring, the primary screens and the lower ring, nothing was connected," Brown says. "Now it's one flat, continuous surface and you can probably see that better with some of the visuals out there. The 360-degree continuous screen provides all types of cool programming possibilities."
All the digital signage in the AAC is undergoing an upgrade as part of the renovation plan, including the two large video screen at the very top of the arena behind both goal sides.
The old screens could display only static images like scores and logos, but now they can show the same images on the main scoreboard. Even the familiar outdoor screen overlooking PNC Plaza allows the AAC to "do anything we want video wise out there that we can do inside," Brown says.
"They are fully replay-capable," Brown continues. "Now the same high-definition replays we show on the center scoreboards can be shown on those massive 72-foot-wide screens. That'll be a huge change for how we program those for guests on the terrace level."
The seats also got a much needed upgrade, the first of its kind in the history of the AAC. The new seats are more durable, stain-proofed and comfortable, which will come in handy during those tense moments when the difference between winning and losing hangs on a single point.
"It's a gamer changer just how much more comfortable the seats are and resilient to the environment they're in from rips, spills and tears," Brown says. "The seats hold up much better and the fans will feel much more comfortable in them."
