AV/IT TEAM:
David Kaplan, associate athletic director for Broadcast and Video Services; Evan Feinglass, associate director of athletics, Facilities Management and Planning; Jeff Mele, chief commercial officer at Metinteractive and project executive for Gampel Pavilion; Eric Pirozzi, integration technician at Metinteractive and project manager for Gampel Pavilion
GOALS: The University of Connecticut at Storrs recently sought to upgrade its AV systems at the Gampel Pavilion basketball facility in order to deliver an improved fan experience. This upgrade was the latest in a long line of projects that the integration team at Metinteractive has completed with UConn, including UConn Freitas Volleyball, Toscano Hockey arena, the student rec center, the university’s Athletic District Development, and exhibits for the UConn Hartford campus. Metinteractive also supplies the majority of UConn’s on-site AV game support.
“UConn is our home team—we’re big Huskies fans,” Jeff Mele, Metinteractive’s chief commercial officer and project executive for Gampel Pavilion, said. “As taxpayers in the state, it’s also important to us to see that tax dollars and donor dollars are spent wisely.
CHALLENGES: A major long-term challenge for both in-house staff and the integration team has been overcoming a lack of standardization between campus sports facilities. “Gampel Pavilion is part of the continuing effort to standardize and connect facilities across all sports on the UConn Storrs campus,” Mele explained. “Facilities that are fragmented often require more support and more initial capital expenditures due to their individual, complete systems. Although standardization and connectivity add complexity, the long-term results are lower costs and greater operational flexibility.”
An additional challenge, according to Eric Pirozzi, an integration technician at Metinteractive who served as project manager for Gampel Pavilion, involved “optimizing live production by installing an up-to-date broadcast system and integrating with existing infrastructure.”
Daktronics LED videoboards; Ferrofish Pulse16 MX AD/DA converter; ElationLogic DV65 monitors (2); Ross Video Ultrix router; Ross XPression motion graphics render engine; Evertz DreamCatcher DC-ONE replay platform
FINAL INSTALL/USER BENEFITS: Gampel Pavilion’s geodesic dome structure “makes it unique in the NCAA spectrum,” Mele noted. Inside, the upgrade added new and improved LED videoboard displays and replaced old inner bowl seating. Metinteractive updated Gampel Pavilion’s existing broadcast system to enhance the university’s live production capabilities and planned for the future by tying Gampel Pavilion to the Rizza Performance Center’s control room, enabling a second basketball show to be produced there when Gampel Pavilion’s control room cannot accommodate people shooting for in-house and major broadcast simultaneously.
The control room was outfitted with two larger ElationLogic DV65 monitors, a Ross Ultrix router, Ross XPression motion graphics render engine, an Evertz DreamCatcher DC-ONE replay platform and a master clock for AV synchronization.
Metinteractive installed fiber to connect the control room to two much larger Daktronics LED videoboards mounted at each short end of the court and integrated a Ferrofish Pulse16 MX AD/DA converter with the displays’ video content.
“We have an extensive roster of work in sports facilities nationwide and have such a great relationship with UConn that it made this project go very smoothly,” Pirozzi said. “It’s always a pleasure to return to UConn and work with David Kaplan and Evan Feinglass.”
UConn director of athletics David Benedict thanked Metinteractive “for the incredible work” they did in updating the Gampel Pavilion. “The new graphics, lighting, and videoboards have truly transformed the venue, and the improvements are already making a noticeable impact,” he said. “Metinteractive’s attention to detail and dedication to enhancing the experience for everyone who visits Gampel is evident in every aspect of the upgrade.”
Benedict continued, “We’re excited to see the positive effects these updates will have on both fans and teams alike. It’s clear that Metinteractive’s efforts have set a new standard for what this space can offer, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.”