The Heat completed $50M-worth of renovation and upgrade work this past offseason at Kaseya Center, including a new centerhung scoreboard, lighting and audio systems and a retractable seating bowl system. The Heat operate Kaseya Center, which turns 25 this New Year’s Eve, and paid for the renovation. This past offseason focused on improving game presentation following four projects between 2012 and 2019 that upgraded the venue’s premium offerings. The renovations will be unveiled on Oct. 7.
“It’s going to give us this incredible canvas now when you talk about the board and the lighting and the audio, it’s now going to enable us to create this completely immersive experience,” said Heat EVP and CMO Michael McCullough, who is in his 28th season with the team. “When we turn those lights off and go into our introduction sequence, it is going to transform the experience of what our fans have been accustomed to seeing.”
The centerpiece of the latest project is nicknamed “Fireball,” a 3-dimensional, LED-covered 2,525-square-foot replica of the team’s ball and flame logo that will anchor the venue’s new centerhung videoboard. The Fireball is framed by four video displays measuring 19.5 feet by 29.5 feet, two top ring displays and four underbelly displays, measuring 7,440 square feet and 55M pixels in total.
It replaces a scoreboard that was already one of the more unique in the league, nicknamed “Medusa” by Heat staff for its upward rising tentacles. The new board, designed by Mike Rowe of Anthony James Partners, engineered by WJHW, and manufactured by Daktronics (CAA Icon contributed project oversight), won’t top the NBA’s main videoboard size charts. Ed Filomia, Heat senior director of broadcast services, conducted a scoreboard study for the team, zeroing in on the NBA scoreboards whose character reflected their team, like the Hornets’ beehive design.
“When we started this project, we wanted to make sure that we kept our scoreboard iconic,” said McCullough. “We didn’t want to put up a big box in the center of our building. We wanted the board to fit the room.”
Beyond the main videoboard, 11,000 square feet of new digital display space has been installed throughout the arena, including corners, vomitories, basketball goal stanchions, and event floor clocks, a 585% increase over the previous system. The sound system, manufactured by L’Acoustics and installed by Solotech, includes a nearly 50% increase in speakers, which, combined with better digital processing and surround sound features, will create a more immersive audio experience for fans. And the new lighting system, manufactured and installed by Musco Lighting, is full LED color and will help the Heat’s game presentation team react to moments by turning the building full color. During regular game action, “it’s going to give us that boxing ring effect,” said McCullough. “That’s going to be a dramatic showcase for the new scoreboards and corner boards, everything is going to be more pronounced.”
And the retractable seating system is a major gift for the Kaseya Center operations team. The StageRight system will upgrade 2,100 seats and create new pathways for the home and visiting teams to travel between their locker rooms and the court. Kaseya Center VP of Operations Jeff King expects the system to cut the arena’s changeover time by nearly 50%. The system will get a good test in October when the arena hosts 20 events, including the opening games of the 2024-25 NBA season.
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