The final DDMC meeting of 2016 ended the year in epic fashion. Chad Lampman of Duke Athletics and Jack D’Ardenne of OIT Communications treated over 20 DDMC members to a behind the scenes look at the new studio and fan facilities at Wallace Wade Stadium – as well as a delicious lunch.
Jack led the installation of well over 300 Cisco digital media players around the complex that handle everything from live television distribution to digital signage to point of purchase menu boards and even the massive video wall at the amazing new Duke Fan Store.
The signs can be customized centrally to different locations or to welcome different groups. These signs were in the press box.
There are three controls rooms that can be working on different content at the same time. Games from Cameron are also produced from these rooms.
There’s a small studio where announcers can call games locally or at remote locations or have wrap up or other shows produced in the facility.
The entire design of the video infrastructure was focused on making as easy as possible for networks such as ESPN to produce games at Duke. This helps with Duke’s exposure in the national media and provides ease of use for our own productions as well. The cabling is all integrated so it can be run from remote trucks or camera locations around the entire stadium without having to run a single piece of cable externally.
The Champion’s Club was created above the new Duke Basketball museum outside of Cameron and features many digital screens as well. This and the club level of Walace Wade are available to be reserved for private or departmental events.
The Athletics video infrastructure had not received a major upgrade in close to 60 years. An incredible amount of work went into (and continues to go into) the development of a world class facility that showcases Duke Athletics to the world (and beyond).
