As a sports bar owner, you have choices when you put in a new video system. And yes, those choices can include going to your local big box home electronics store and having them install screens all over your venue. That’s exactly what the previous owners of Dugout West, a new sports bar on Arthur Kill Road in Staten Island, did.

The space had been a restaurant before, and it had a ton of existing equipment. But HDTV screens were hung crooked, with wires exposed. And the equipment rack? One word: “Spaghetti.”

The new owner needed professional help, and he knew where to turn. In a fast-turnaround project to get the sports bar ready for the Super Bowl, we came in, re-purposed and repositioned most of the gear, added some screens and a projector, and gave them a venue they can now be proud to call home.

Re-wiring “Spaghetti”
The customer had a 20-space rack and were only using four of the spaces for actual gear. The previous contractor had tucked spools of unused cable inside the unit. Our team spent six hours just untangling the wire they were actually using and removing these 50-foot spools of cable so we could fit their cable boxes in the rack.

To save the client money because we knew their budget was tight, we mounted the DirecTV boxes locally behind each screen. Because of the low profile mounting hardware supplied by DirecTV, this solution looked neat and clean and eliminated the need for long cable runs or switching equipment.

Video Design
For the most part, we worked with the LED screens the client already had, but upgraded the mounts to commercial quality. The main bar uses Toshiba LEDs, with a 65-inch center screen above the bar, flanked by two 46-inch screens and two 40-inch screens.

To the left and right of the bar we mounted two LG 47 inch screens with a 65-inch Samsung LED behind the bar.

Along the wall that houses restaurant booths, there are five additional LEDs plus a 100-inch projection screen.

Projector Problems
The projection system could have potentially posed problems, because the client originally requested a 120-inch screen. We faced a unique situation because the ceiling was actually lower where the projector needed to hang, than it was next to the wall with the screen, with a soffit dividing the two spaces. Had we listened to the client and put in a 120-inch screen, we would have had two choices:

• Hang the projector and screen lower to the ground and anyone taller than about 5’5” would have walked directly through the projected image.
• Hang the projector and screen higher, and the projector beam would have hit the soffit on the ceiling, preventing the top of the image from reaching the screen.

We drew it out for the client and, after some discussion, they approved a 100-inch screen. Now, a 6’2” guy can walk right between the projector and the screen and no one will notice. The Hitachi 3,000 lumens projector gives the picture quality the client wanted and will last for years.

Wings, Beer and High Quality Video
Now, sports fans in our little corner of Staten Island have another great place to enjoy wings, beer and the game. And we’ve got a nice little story to tell about the importance of trusting the audio video integrator you hire to make the best choices for your space, whatever your budget might be.

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