Tuesday's Daily Briefing: Lights will be used frequently at FAU stadium
By Chuck King
When people began talking about putting a football stadium in Boca Raton, I remember there being a concern that the community surrounding the university would fight it because the lights would be too bright, disturbing people trying to sleep and such.
FAU will attempt to alleviate those concerns with the Qualite system that's already been installed is is currently being wired. Each of the 160 lights is focused on a specific aspect of the field, and while the venue will present a glow at night, there will be very little spillage outside the stadium.
“It not only gives you the light where you want it, also keeps it from going where you don't want it,” explained Pat Kinney, Vice President of Hunter Knepshield, which sold the lighting system to FAU.
That could be important because it sounds like those lights will be needed for most events. Games that kickoff at 4 p.m., especially those that begin later in the season, will end near or after nightfall.
And FAU kickoffs won't always be at 4 p.m.
“I can see our games maybe merging into evenings, like 6 o'clock kind of things, because it's so hot around here,” FAU athletic director Craig Angelos said.
Angelos is expecting to be able to attract world class soccer matches to the new stadium and believes those games will likely be played at night. There is also hopes of a bowl or college all-star game in the near future, and even high-profile high school football games.
“The Herbstreit Classic folks have talked to our people about putting a game down here on television,” Angelos said.
There could be a new night life scene in Boca. Bring on the night.
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I referred to it above. In case you haven't read it yet, here is the third installment of our weekly series examining different aspects of the new on-campus stadium. On Monday, we looked at the lights.