Between the star-studded halftime show, the hilarious commercials, and the spectacular touchdown that happened in the final minutes of the game , there was a lot to be excited about during this year’s Super Bowl. But one of the most incredible parts of this year’s game wasn’t actually on the field — it was above it.
This was the first Super Bowl where fans around the country could catch a glimpse of SoFi Stadium’s monstrous Infinity Screen — a hulking, high-flying marvel of modern technology that’s unlike any other stadium screen you’ve ever seen. We couldn’t stop staring at it during the game, so in order to share our geeky enthusiasm with you, here’s a rundown of what makes the Infinity Screen so impressive.
The first thing that’s worth marveling at is the sheer scale of the it. This thing makes the gigantic “jumbotrons” of most other stadiums look quaint in comparison. The screen itself boasts a whopping 70,000 square feet of LED display space — the entirety of which is stuffed with approximately 80 million pixels, thereby making it the largest 4K end-to-end video board in the world.
Amazingly, the Infinity Screen is actually longer and wider than the football field that it hangs over — 1.2 times longer and 1.5 times wider, to be exact. Even its smallest dimension — height — is almost unfathomably huge. The tallest panels on the screen are four stories tall (40 feet), and the shortest ones are just over two stories tall.
But size alone isn’t the only thing the SoFi’s supergiant screen has going for it. The screen’s shape is also exceptionally clever. Rather than merely projecting images from its outermost edges like most stadium screens do, the Infinity Screen is designed to display images from both inside and out of its ovular body.
This is particularly nice for spectators, as the additional display space makes it easy to see no matter where you might be sitting in the stadium. Fans seated lower and closer to the center of the arena can look up at the oval’s interior, whereas fans higher up and further back can enjoy a clear view of the display’s exterior panels. It’s a first-of-its-kind design. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In addition to all the display tech that delivers incredible visuals, the Infinity Screen is also equipped with a world-class sound system. According to its designers, “the video board has more than 260 speakers embedded into its structure, and the wattage power equivalence of 1,500 home theater systems.” And all of this is wired together with “more than seven miles of loudspeaker cable wound throughout.” No wonder the halftime show sounded so good!
Perhaps the most impressive part of all, however, is the fact that this leviathan display is hanging from the roof of the stadium. Thanks to all those aforementioned pixlels, panels, speakers, and cables, the Infinity Screen weighs in at an estimated 2.2 million pounds. That’s roughly equivalent to the weight of 220 Ford F-150 pickup trucks, dangling from the top of the arena. It’s so much weight that it couldn’t simply be installed retroactively after SoFi Stadium was built. The entire arena was designed from the outset with the Infinity Screen in mind just to ensure that it could bear the weight of such a gargantuan display.
So next time you find yourself watching a Los Angeles Rams home game, take a minute to look up and gawk at the monstrous and magnificent display above the field. Even if the game isn’t going your way, you can enjoy the fact that you’re standing under the craziest display in the world.
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Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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