Xavier's Tech Deck Named Finalist for 2018 Annual Best Game Day Technology Experience Award

CLEVELAND – The Tech Deck at Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier University was named one of three national finalist for the 2018 Best Game Day Technology Experience Award by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and CDW-G , a leading multi-brand technology solutions provider to business, government, education and healthcare organizations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The announcement was made at the 53rd Annual NACDA Convention in Washington, D.C. The other finalists for the 2018 Best Game Day Technology Experience Award are Purdue and UNLV.

The Best Game Day Technology Award will be presented in the fall, at an on-campus event hosted by the winning institution. The award was designed to recognize NACDA member institutions in Division I, honoring athletics directors and their universities highlighting the ways technology plays a role in the fan experience. A five-person committee consisting of athletics directors across the country and representatives from CDWlG and NACDA will help choose this year's award winner.

TECH DECK

The Tech Deck features what is believed to be the first in-arena live virtual reality game experience of its kind. The space was renovated from an existing conference room on the fourth level of the Cintas Center. The Tech Deck was rented on a single-game basis starting at $1,500 per game plus food and beverage for up to 40 guests. The room included a television wall, glass garage door to be opened to allow full access onto a balcony in the arena, and virtual reality headsets that enable fans to watch the action as if they were standing at midcourt. The Tech Deck was sold for 17 of the 19 home games during the 2017-18 season, generating nearly $40,000 in revenue.

Click below to see more from the nomination for the Tech Deck.

PURDUE

The 50^th Anniversary of Purdue's Mackey Arena was celebrated throughout the 2017-18 basketball season with various promotions, but when the Boilermakers hosted Northwestern just one day after the actual anniversary of the building, the athletics department targeted that game to do something never done before in the Big Ten Conference on gameday. Purdue worked with ON Services out of Orlando, Florida, to help storyboard and produce a story-telling court projection that not only had the wow factor of amazing 3-D effects, but also walked the fans through the stories of Mackey Arena through the years. The video and communications team worked to put together a real glimpse into the history of Mackey in just over two minutes. The court projection was a complete surprise to the fans, making the presentation even more special.

UNLV

UNLV was once the only major sports team in town, but within one calendar year, Las Vegas welcomed the addition of the NHL's golden Knights, MLS's Lights, WNBA's Aces, and began building a stadium for the Raiders. The objective was to provide UNLV fans with a game experience that rivaled other entertainment alternatives in town. As a result, one of the most iconic pregame shows in athletics was enhanced with 3D Video Projection Mapping for the last five home games of the season. Determined to see this vision to fruition, UNLV, Learfield, 4Wall Entertainment, Epson, and oogoog productions partnered on the project. The show included 3D modeling, motion graphics, video and audio integration. The technology carried over into the starting lineups featuring pyrotechnics, and ended with a shark ripping through the court as a tribute to the legendary coach, Jerry Tarkanian, "Tark the Shark."

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