The fan experience at one of the best ballparks in all of the minor leagues will be even better in 2012. Earlier this winter, the Memphis Redbirds announced a major new facility addition, which is now underway and expected to be ready for the Pacific Coast League club’s home opener on April 13.
The AutoZone Park scoreboard is being replaced by a new 60 foot by 60 foot LED high-definition video display. The 20-ton unit, constructed by Daktronics, will sit 127 feet above the playing surface at its highest point and is reported to be the largest in all of minor league baseball.
It appears the entirety of the old scoreboard at AZP was of comparable size, though the video portion at 21 feet by 28 feet was just one-sixth the square footage of the new board. The top portion of the old board was used for balls and strikes plus the line score with the sides and bottom covered with fixed advertising.
It remains to be seen how advertising will be worked into the new board, as it surely will be. The video board can be dynamically partitioned into multiple zones or windows. Yet the artist’s rendering of it devoted entirely to one image looks stunning.
I am anxiously awaiting my visit to AutoZone Park this summer to see the new scoreboard for myself.
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Say what you want to about the lack of fan support in Memphis but that park is spectacular. With the addition of a jumbotron it will be even more spectacular. There are apartments in the outfield that many of the players lived in and that was always cool to me. You could sit on the balcony and watch a game and walk out the front door and travel a rocks throw to the field. Its a beautiful place.
Attendance is on the rise. They went from about 6,500 per game in 2010 to just over 7,000 in 2011, which ranks Memphis sixth in the 16-team Pacific Coast League.
Emulating the Cubs doesn’t seem like a good idea.
I thought they were broke?
The Ricketts family, who own the Cubs now, are far from broke. What part of the scoreboard is emulating the Cubs, though?
Aren’t the Cubs putting a jumbotron in Wrigley?
All I heard about was a long, thin board in RF that looks like will mostly be advertising. Hadn’t heard they are doing anything with the main board in CF.
Yea, its a 70 foot LED board. I had remembered the headlines where they were calling it a jumbotron, buts more of a ribbon board as you say. For some reason I was picturing a big thing that would block out the rooftop seats across the street.
http://bloguin.com/theoutsidecorner/2012-articles/january/wrigley-field-gets-a-jumbotron-in-an-attempt-to-drive-more-cubs-fans-away-from-the-park.html
Nice overreaction by that headline writer.
I meant I thought the Memphis org was broke. Sounds like a high dollar expenditure. Maybe the advertising will pay for it.
I guess the youngsters coming up know they are getting closer as the stadiums get better. Compare Autozone at AAA to Howard Johnson field at JC.
Good question. Yes one might guess ad money, in which case that jumbo player view may be atypical.
I guess the Yadi story is one of those hurry up and wait things. Nothing today so far after some were hyperventilating yesterday. Crdswmn must be on the edge of her seat.
It would be a blessing to not have a Yadi stay or go issue getting chewed on all season long.
Strauss in a TV interview expected this to be all finalized more around March 1st or 2nd. So later this week. He seemed pretty confident about it, so……yeah.
I know Strauss isn’t a favorite of some people, I duly understand that. But I think he has a pulse on the situation.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a pitching machine that throws curve balls. There is and they have one down there.
Really? Almost every pitching machine I’ve ever used, sans the giant lever-armed models, can throw curveballs.
The most popular machines on the market, the vanilla Jugs machines, can throw curveballs with ease – and my high school had like six of them. Thankfully my college didn’t believe in pitching machines – but that is another story.
Molina contract seems to be kind of complicated ………………………….. any guess why?
I work with contracts, so the most obvious response would be language of the contract and w/e perks are agreeable to both parties. IE: Hotel Suites, charity softball games, box seats at a certain number of home games.
But, let’s put the rationale aside and play it your way. Selig and the MLBPA stepped in and want to set a precedent for the upcoming FA catchers Martin, Nap, and Monty. Here’s the grand question, Westcoast: Which side will get their way? the Union? or the Owners?
Or maybe, Yadi will be the 2nd base coach (first of it’s kind, not sure if that’s legal) in 5 years. Better yet, he’ll be a player/coach. Better yet, he’ll be the Manager in 2 years after Matheny is fired. It will actually state that in the contract, mind you, a contract that neither you nor I will ever see, but “we’ll know”. Right?
And making the first part of Yadi’s extension a NTC one. I believe he has 2 or 3 seasons remaining before he’s a 5/10 player. Or 10/5 player.
June 2014. He’s not likely to be traded before then so a NTC isn’t needed.
You don’t think for piece of mind, Yadi wouldn’t want it? If I were on my 6th or 7th year and an extension was offered, I’d want a NTC in there. Besides the stability insurance, it brings much more to the table. Especially in the relationship between the player and organization.
Why should he worry? They are paying him big money because they have no good replacement, and they are not going to have one before 2014.
He got the NTC. I figured it was rather important to him.
If so, it is based on unfounded fear. The Cardinals are not going to invest that much money in him only to trade him off in less than two years, especially since it would be very difficult to find a team to take on that contract.
Fear is in the eye of the beholder, especially when dealing with athletes. Anything to make them feel more secure, wanted, loved, etc.
Walk a mile their shoes…..
It’s easy to imagine one could see themselves being traded in a 2 1/2 year window. Linus loved his blue blanket, remember?
Whats interesting…………is that they went from “no hurry” to an ultimatum……..and now to a protracted negotiation on “perks”???????????????????? well beyond market expectations ………. at Molina’s leverage “ground and pound”……………. I say this all has to do with appearances……….. notice how Pujols has dialed it back for a few days …………… do you know what the contractual definition of a “Suite” is on these contracts? this contract will have a meaningless “ego” option……. thus the 75……… I see 10.5 in year 1………….
Which year are you calling “year 1″? This season? If they include this season, then I can see how it can reach +70MM. Your 10.5 might just be dead on, or rather close. I was thinking the option year would be a whopper of one with a whopper of a buyout. I pondered an incentive laden option, on par with what Wainwright had. Except this would require 130 games avg over his final two seasons. But then, I had to ask myself, is Yadi too sensitive for something like that? Would someone close to him be insulted? I chuckled when I thought that, and I realized, I don’t know him that well and to immediately couple him with Albert wasn’t appropriately fair, at least for me.
In the end, I tend to lean to the ego option as you said. What do you think? 15-17MM? 5MM buyout as a parting gift?
On the ultimatum part, several things contribute: 1) The market is easier to define 2) Investing 5 years is far less crippling than 10 years. 3) Lesson learned (that might be the most important). Dialog is important.
4) Image repaired, which could fall under #3)
The 5 yrs $75M that is being twittered about sounds like top dollar. And there will be Wainy to extend next year. On the other side, commitments to Lohse and Westbrook will be ending, and Lance and Carlos are short term. And there is a reasonable chance that the system can provide a couple pitchers and perhaps a hitter. Sounds like Mo has it under control. Lets play ball.
I forget the poll Brian had up a little bit back but I voted somewhere in the 13-15 mil range so I like this deal for Yadi, the Cardinals , and the Cardinal fans. As was said in Inglorious Bastards by Lt. Aldo Rain….”Damn good Deal”.
RC, what happens when they take off that Cards uniform when the game ends? I think we need Lt. Aldo to carve a Rally Squirrel in their foreheads, so people will know they are a Cardinal…;)
Sounds like a plan…….The cardinal’s that play like a cardinal should play….. and appreciates the history of the franchise. Those guys should get a rally squirrel carving.
You know how you get to Carnegie Hall T8Ball?
Practice