Today when you are sitting in your seat and the offense churns out another first down on a big play, the first thing you will likely do is immediately look to the Georgia Dome video board for a key to finishing off the drive. When a time out is called on the field, odds are you will also look up at the video board to see which section is about to win a pizza or a t-shirt. Right before the second half kicks off you are certainly likely to stare at the video board to see highlights from the first half. The video board in the Georgia Dome is sometimes taken for granted by the casual fan but way more planning than one would think goes into each and every shot, graphic, replay, highlight, and promotion that airs during a Falcons game.
Roddy White, the Falcons Director of Event Marketing, said that the packages that run during each break in the action are planned out well in advance and constantly refreshed with new graphics and clips all in an effort to keep the Falcons fans engaged in the action. “In April and May we will start to inventory all of the elements needed for the year.” White and his staff will work with the sales staff, the video production people and other key members of the organization to create the overall video board package for the season. Some of the elements or packages will be driven by conversations with the Falcons’ partners and sponsors, and by June all of the video features will be released for production in an animation house. Entertainment elements are also created in this time period. White said that the elements such as the player introductions have been refreshed, changed and polished since May.
The sponsor elements that are driven by a partner mush promote fan engagement, tie in to football or the Falcons and perhaps even have a giveaway that would benefit a large number of fans.
White said he starts out with a blank bulletin board and then slowly fills it up with different index cards representing packages and elements all with the plan to keep the Falcons in the Georgia Dome interested in the game and not checking their phone or zoning out during breaks in the game. “We want to keep people engaged so when we come back to live action they have been interested throughout the break.”
Starting 10 days before a game White and his staff will create a 44-page script that will break down the game day schedule to the minute leading up to kickoff. Once the kickoff takes place, White’s script will then switch to a “break” format. Each Falcons game will have 22-NFL mandated network breaks and well as other breaks such as injury time outs that will require video board elements that White cannot plan for in his script. “The script is simply a starting point,” said White. “We may have to make a decision on spot to change the script around due to the flow of the game.”
In his 16 years of doing this job, White said he has never had a game go 100% according to the script because it is so hard to know how a game will play out. Several features have rigid spots on the video board but if the Falcons run a interception back, White said he isn’t afraid to run a different feature and “pay back” the initial spot down the road. “You are reacting to live elements on the field.” White has 65 people that are affected when part of the script is switched and those folks need to be on their toes at all times, ready to refresh features on the spot with in-game elements like highlights or fan response.
The bottom line is the video board and its staff’s main purpose is to keep fans engaged before, during and after the action. Enjoy the video board because it is there for you the fan.
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