Green Bay Packers

Panasonic plasmas give Green Bay Packers' coaches a better view for performance analysis

The National Football League's Green Bay Packers are using 25 Panasonic 42" professional plasma displays in coaches' offices, conference and meetings rooms in its Lambeau Field facility in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Fifteen of the plasmas are assigned to the team's coaches for reviewing game and practice analysis video.

According to Bob Eckberg, the Packers' Video Director, "Watching football in 16:9 is a perfect application for the plasma screen. In our former facility, our coaches were reviewing video on projection systems in their 12' by 16' offices, and they couldn't get far enough back to see properly. The images were larger than they needed, and too diffused."

"I'd had my eye on earlier generations of plasma displays, and thought that Panasonic's models were head and shoulders over other offerings," said Eckberg. "Originally, I placed an order for three displays for the old facility. The coaches were totally impressed, and everyone wanted one. By the time we made the larger purchase, the prices were roughly equivalent to projection systems, so we felt the plasma displays were cost-effective as well as technically superior."

"[Panasonic's] Real Drive Black System is superb, and gives us great definition around the colors. Coaches and scouts are looking for who's in the play, and they can really see a player's number on the plasma displays. That wasn't always the case when the video was projected on a 10' screen in a small room."

The Panasonic plasmas proved to be a very versatile, compatible solution for their visual needs. "The coaches can input video from our Pinnacle NLE systems, from video decks, from their own computers," said Eckbert. "Altogether, the equipment has performed flawlessly since its installation – it's one part of a big equipment picture that we don't have to worry about!"