PROJECT OVERVIEW
To impress and persuade top high school football recruits to play for the Miami Hurricanes, the Athletics Department at the University of Miami (UM) envisioned creating a dynamic “Recruiting Rotunda”—featuring a “Miami Hurricanes Football Recruitment Experience”—that immerses prospective recruits in the sights, sounds, and excitement of the celebrated team and its five national championships.To bring its “Recruiting Rotunda” vision to life, UM’s Athletics Department enlisted Midtown Video, a Miami-based AV systems integration company, which orchestrated and integrated a complex array of hardware, software, and media assets to realize this immersive multimedia extravaganza.
The Recruiting Rotunda serves as a portal that leads to the coaches’ offices on the second floor of UM’s Hecht Athletics Building. When coaches escort new recruits into the Rotunda Experience, they use a wireless control panel to activate the multimedia show, including firing up the fog screen and selecting the video replays and highlights to present.
Recruits begin their journey by walking down a darkened, 60-foot corridor lined with flashing LED lights that illuminate a visual history on the walls, including the championship years. At the end of the hallway, they see and hear championship highlights projected onto a fog screen that shrouds the entranceway.
Once inside the Rotunda, they’re barraged with 360-degree video projection, multi-channel surround sound booming from embedded speakers, 3D projection mapping, LED lights, and more. The experience leaves them wowed, smiling, and excited to join this winning team.
