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Sixers Install New Lighting System to Burn Out Your Retinas
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If you watched the Sixers beat the Cavs on television, no doubt your damaged your retinas with the washed out and fugazi-looking court visuals, highlighted by the jumbotron reflecting off the floor:
It wasn’t a TV thing. There’s actually a new lighting rig for this season, which the Sixers mentioned in a press release that went out on Thursday afternoon:
Game Presentation Revamp
This season, fans will see an enhanced game presentation experience through a new arena-wide lighting system that transforms the whole venue. Paired with theatrical lighting focused on the court and PixMob lighting installed throughout the seating bowl, the technology creates a more immersive atmosphere for player introductions and key game moments. Fans will also see updated videoboard graphics featuring broadcast-quality statistics and information. Together, these upgrades bring a world-class atmosphere that will elevate the intensity, emotion, and spectacle of the game, bringing fans closer to the action than ever before.
Going through some of the in-arena videos, like player introductions and whatnot, it looked pretty cool. Good atmosphere. Hard to tell how much different it is from prior seasons, obviously, without being down there, but what we do know is that it looked like shit on television. It looked like the court was washed out, like ESPN was using a filter or their photographers forgot to white balance. There were plenty of moments where you could see streaky reflections running horizontally across the floor, almost like you were trying to get a channel to show up properly while using one of those old TV antennas.
I’m sure the Sixers can and will tweak this thing to make the experience better for everyone. NBCSP can do some things on their end when they start broadcasting the games. More people are watching on television than live, inside the arena, but the paying customers are in South Philly. From a philosophical standpoint, who is this experience being optimized for? Probably the latter, but that’s just me spitballing.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com