Venue News: Olympic Organizers Face Pressure to Fill Seats; Cauldron Construction Explained

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

London Olympic organizers are under intense pressure to fill stadiums and venues after empty seats clearly visible on television infuriated British viewers who would much rather have experienced the Games live. Organizers have scrambled to fill the seats with mainly soldiers and students, but early Monday, gaps could still be seen at weightlifting, volleyball, and fencing. They were mainly in the sections with the so-called “accredited” seats for the media, officials from international sports federations, other Olympic officials and their families and friends. The situation is particularly galling given that the London organizing committee (LOCOG) had pledged to fill all the stadiums after a similar fiasco at the 2008 Beijing Olympics forced China to bus in spectators…

…The very first instruction to designers of London’s Olympic cauldron was a blunt directive: no moving parts. What resulted was an elaborate creation involving 204 moving pieces, each representing the coming together of the competing countries. Creator Thomas Heatherwick said that test runs on the cauldron were done in secret in the north of England before the assembly was brought to the stadium and discreetly tested — but only after airspace restrictions prevented news helicopters from getting an advance look. Petal-shaped heat elements made from hammered copper were created for each country and then carried into the stadium by children during the parade of countries. The “petals,” each fitted with an igniter, were then whisked to the cauldron assembly area beneath the stadium floor where they were attached to stainless steel rods in preparation for lighting…

…For visitors to London’s Olympic Games, firearms, drugs, and kittens are just a number of things prohibited from the Games’ venues. But also on a list of banned items from sporting venues are devices that can be used to connect other gadgets to the Web — such as Wi-Fi, Mi-Fi, and 3G hotspots — which cannot be taken in with you. If you’re caught with one, you could lose it and never see it again. Also included in the list are walkie-talkies, phone jammers, radio scanners, personal/private wireless access points, and 3G hubs (smart devices such as Android phones, iPhone, and tablets are permitted inside venues, but must not be used as wireless access points to connect multiple devices). It’s not clear exactly why these items have been banned from the Games — animals aside, except service animals to help those with disabilities — but it could be down to one of two things: security, or profit…

…Missouri athletic officials are researching whether it’s possible to have the expansion to Memorial Stadium’s east side done earlier than originally planned. The first phase of the $102 million facilities project announced in June includes renovations to the football, baseball, softball, golf and tennis complexes over the next three years. The original plan was to have the east-side stadium expansion project — the largest of the announced improvements at a cost of $46 million — completed by 2015, but associate athletic director Tim Hickman said last week that officials are researching the feasibility of finishing it in time for the 2014 season…

…Brown University will have a new integrated LED video and scoring system this fall at Brown Stadium, home to the university’s football team. Fans of the Bears will have the opportunity to cheer on their team while a new LED video display, featuring Daktronics 15HD pixel spacing, shows live video and instant replays, scoring information, sponsor advertisements, vivid graphics, and colorful animations. Measuring more than 18 feet high by nearly 36 feet wide, the display will incorporate clarity and contrast of images, multiple levels of protection from the elements and a robust cabinet design with an improved ventilation system. It is capable of both showing one large image and of being divided into separate windows to show a variety of information, all with outstanding brightness and wide-angle visibility. A custom football scoreboard measuring 8 feet high by nearly 36 feet wide will be installed below the video display to show scoring, timing, and statistical information.

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