The New Minnesota Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, will illuminate the field with high performance LED stadium lights from Ephesus Lighting, which specializes in LED lighting solutions for sports facilities.
According to Mike Lorenz, president of the Syracuse-based company, and Mark Wilf, owner/president of the Minnesota Vikings, the facility becomes the first new stadium to announce construction with LED lighting.
The New Minnesota Vikings Stadium will have the capacity to seat up to 72,000 fans and will be one of the most versatile facilities of its size. In addition to housing the Minnesota Vikings NFL franchise beginning in 2016, it will also host a wide assortment of events, including Super Bowl LII (2018), the 2019 NCAA Final Four, a potential Major League Soccer franchise, collegiate baseball and more.
“Over the past two years, sports and entertainment venue operators have come to understand that LED is the premier lighting solution and a great way to enhance the fan experience,” said Lorenz. “The fact that this venue will be used for such a wide variety of events plays to the strength of our LED lighting solution as it’s versatile, flexible and programmable for many different events.”
Each Ephesus LED light provides a significant increase in illumination compared to the traditional metal halide lights that have been common at stadiums for more than 30 years. LED lighting also provides natural and more uniform light which improves the overall clarity of the playing surface, to create a better stage for players and fans, both in the stadium and those watching on high-definition television.
“From day one this stadium has been designed with the fan experience in mind, so it was logical to select an LED Lighting solution,” said Wilf. “We selected Ephesus after careful consideration of the other available options based upon their track record of developing innovative solutions and their ability to meet our requirements for having a positive impact on the fan experience.”
To enhance the fan experience, the stadium solution will be feature the new Ephesus color tuning technology, which according to Joe Casper, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, “will allow the system to adjust the light output to match the activity being seen to create even more engaging experience for fan entertainment without adding new fixtures.”
The new LED system is also consistent with the stadium’s mission to be as environmentally friendly and energy-efficient as possible. It is projected to consume 75% less energy as compared to a traditional metal halide system.
“In addition to the high-quality lighting this partnership will provide for all of our events, the energy efficiency of these LED lights will provide significant savings to the Authority every year,” said MSFA Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen.
Since lighting the first sports venue with LED technology in North America in 2012, Ephesus Lighting luminaires have been operational for over 300,000 hours in more than 100 indoor and outdoor sports and entertainment venues across North America. Some of the prominent facilities that have made the switch to LED include: University of Phoenix Stadium home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, and The Canadian Tire Centre, home ice of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.
