Stadium will Have the Most Advanced Field Lighting System in Professional Sports
ST. LOUIS, Mo., January 24, 2019– The St. Louis Cardinals have partnered with PLANLEDTMto install a new, state-of-the-art lighting system in Busch Stadium. The new lights will improve the visual experience for players and guests as well as reducing operating and energy costs. The system will have the highest, true-to-life color rendering in an outdoor sports venue.
“Since we moved into the new Busch Stadium in 2006, our field lighting has received high marks in MLB evaluations,” said Joe Abernathy, Vice President of Facility Planning. “However, with the recent advances in LED lighting technology we now have an opportunity to further improve the quality of our field lights and reduce our operating and maintenance cost.”
The new lighting system is designed to have a life expectancy of 30 years. The Cardinals will see a considerable reduction in the labor required to maintain the lights and up to a 60 percent reduction in the energy required to operate the field lights.
The project began last November with the removal of 680 MH sports lights. Those lights are being replaced by LED lights manufactured by GigaTera. Sachs Electric is performing the installation of the lights, which is expected to be complete by mid-March. Busch Stadium will be one of 18 MLB stadia that will have LED lighting for the 2019 season.
The new lighting system will provide a quality of light that will be 90 percent of the quality of natural light with improved uniformity while reducing shadows and glare. This will make the lighting more visually comfortable for players and guests. The advanced nature of the LED lights will also improve the broadcast quality for viewers at home since the system is HD compatible and 4K ready. Ultra-slow motion replays will no longer have the light flickering that is visible using MH lights. The system is capable of producing theatrical lighting effects and themes that can be programmed for home run celebrations and other special events.
Additionally, the Cardinals and PLANLEDTM will partner to share the same LED lighting technology with the St. Louis community. The SHINE program will donate LED Human Centric Lighting products to a local school and host educational programs on Human Centric Lighting for local building owners and designers.
“It is an honor and a privilege to partner with Cardinals to introduce SHINE to St. Louis,” said John Hwang CEO of PLANLEDTM. “SHINE will make a difference in how our children learn and play at schools by bringing daylight experience indoors.”
More information on the SHINE program will be available in the coming weeks.
