State Farm Center Renovation

#476      
IbleedOandB2014
If you follow illinimbb on instagram they have a really cool and in depth video story of the new SFC. Check it out!
 
#477      
JFGTheCloser
ilphotog said:
There is nothing major left to do, the new video panels that will go up on the East and West sides are not due in for a few more weeks, these were a late addition add on.
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Sounds like these "hustle boards" will not be in until late December or early January per the video of Warren Hood on the scout website.

Another couple questions

1. Where exactly is this team store? It is hard to tell in the photos? Is it behind the Hall of Fame (noticed some folding glass doors as a wall in the HOF.

2. Will you be photographing the complete finished product (minus the hustle boards) as you did last year? Or is that what is already up on Victory Illinois Varsity?

Thanks again for all your info, ilphotog
 
#478      
ilphotog
JFGTheCloser said:
Sounds like these "hustle boards" will not be in until late December or early January per the video of Warren Hood on the scout website.

Another couple questions

1. Where exactly is this team store? It is hard to tell in the photos? Is it behind the Hall of Fame (noticed some folding glass doors as a wall in the HOF.

2. Will you be photographing the complete finished product (minus the hustle boards) as you did last year? Or is that what is already up on Victory Illinois Varsity?

Thanks again for all your info, ilphotog
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There is not going to be a Team Store, in the past with Game Day Sports they had portable booths set up around the out concourses. There will now be some small permanently built booths on the upper and lower concourses. If you remember those old light green concession stands on the upper level, some of those have been rebuilt to be merchandise stands.
Not sure what the hustle boards are? If you are talking about the new video boards that will replace the old scoreboards that hung up on the East and West sides, then yes that is what I was told. They were a late addition.

As for shooting, I will be going back to do the final bi-weekly shoot and then later this year a complete top to bottom, every room shoot. And if needed throughout the basketball season I will reshoot an area if it wasn't finished before. This is the plan anyway, always subject to change.
 
#479      
Illinifanatic4ever
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Graphics are up in the team tunnel!
 
#483      
ECETownie
Was at the concert last night. Didn't get a chance to see some of the major new things and the concert setup is much different than for basketball, but it looks really nice in there. There's some cool new lighting that shines on the ceiling above the court and the new sound system can really bump. Concourse is complete and polished. Definitely doesn't feel like a construction sight like last year.
 
#485      
blackdog
The arena looked great. The new West entrance is just beautiful. Really loved it. The second level concourses look really bare but I assume they will be sprucing things up a bit as time goes on.

The biggest problem was the scoreboard which was glitching pretty regularly throughout the course of the game. It got so bad they had to turn off the box scores on top of it. Everyone noticed because at one point some guy yelled out "FIX THE SCOREBOARD" and you could hear him throughout the whole arena.

The hall of fame are was nice but small. Feels like they need to do some more work there. The interactive touch screens were buggy and not very responsive. Seems like there is more space for memorabilia.
 
#486      
Vermilion Slim
The scoreboard glitches were annoying, but honestly to be expected when working with new technology for the first time on game day.

I really liked the lighting that was utilized on the ceiling for most of the game. The orange streaks going from the edge to the middle really warmed up the hall and will look even better when the place is full. Looking forward to seeing if they can get more creative with their use (maybe slowly pulsing during the pre-tip music.. stuff like that).

I was a little disappointed that the ribbon board wasn't utilized more. I know there weren't other game scores to report, but it would have been neat to see team stats or graphics (three pointer text, picture and name of who just scored, etc.) instead of floating/rotating block I's the entire game.

All in all, things looked great!
 
#487      
DanvIllini
Were the jerseys in the rafters the same? I feel like having jerseys from the players time hanging would be pretty cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#488      
Giovanni
blackdog said:
The biggest problem was the scoreboard which was glitching pretty regularly throughout the course of the game. It got so bad they had to turn off the box scores on top of it. Everyone noticed because at one point some guy yelled out "FIX THE SCOREBOARD" and you could hear him throughout the whole arena.
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Thank you for listening! That was indeed me.
Also opined that the black ref should return to DIII, after a series of terrible calls (beyond the early season "let's-call-everything" mode).
Seemed odd that all the folks at the scorer's table seemed unconcerned about the scoreboard. Maybe it's controlled elsewhere (probable).

blackdog said:
The hall of fame are was nice but small. Feels like they need to do some more work there. The interactive touch screens were buggy and not very responsive. Seems like there is more space for memorabilia.
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Not memorabilia, but tons of( orange) poster boards for each Illini sport on the back walls (facing the outside glass wall) of the upper concourse rest rooms & (permanent) concession stands. Each one is supposed to have an interactive (blue) video screen, but so far only Women's Track is installed.

Also noticed the 4 corners of the center court scoreboard are not installed. Warren Hood had said they were having problems with them. I'm guessing they were sent back for re-manufacturing.

Wall treatment in, and leading into, Krush Club area is fantastic. And I'm jealous of the 2 monster-size TV screens they have in there. ;-)
 
#489      
Giovanni
Vermilion Slim said:
I was a little disappointed that the ribbon board wasn't utilized more. I know there weren't other game scores to report, but it would have been neat to see team stats or graphics (three pointer text, picture and name of who just scored, etc.) instead of floating/rotating block I's the entire game.
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Yeah, now that you mention it, they didn't even show the US flag graphic (I had seen before on a tour) during the National Anthem.
 
#491      
Oskee67
Was it just me, or did it seem like it was still as dark as ever in the SFC? Didn't they put in the new lighting already?
 
#492      
ilphotog
Oskee67 said:
Was it just me, or did it seem like it was still as dark as ever in the SFC? Didn't they put in the new lighting already?
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It's a work in progress, trying to get the right settings for what they want. Once they get them, they will get those settings saved into the system. They just haven't had a chance with the court down to do it. Hopefully this week that will happen.
 
#493      
Oskee67
ilphotog said:
It's a work in progress, trying to get the right settings for what they want. Once they get them, they will get those settings saved into the system. They just haven't had a chance with the court down to do it. Hopefully this week that will happen.
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Got it. Thanks for the update.
 
#500      
BRy12
Personally, I'm a little annoyed at the dead space in the Orange Krush/Band seating area. We all thought they'd get this figured out in the offseason and we still have a row of Orange seats in the band area that look awkwardly empty every game. It appears they tried to cover some of them with some sort of banner? But it only covers half of them.. pretty tacky looking for an otherwise beautiful facility. I wouldn't mind if it wasn't so close to the floor and always on TV.

Also, this whole "madison square garden" lighting effect I hear they're going for is not my cup of tea. I thought the whole point of the new lighting was to brighten the arena? Instead, it's no even darker on TV. You can't see anything above the orange krush from your couch, which is disappointing.

If they figured out how to fix the above two issues, I'll be a happy camper
 
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