That's when Dome officials will, in essence, flip the switch on a new LED lighting system, illuminating the outside of the 36-year iconic stadium in a spectrum of animated colors and images.
New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, Superdome commission Chairman Ron Forman and SMG Senior Vice President Doug Thornton will host a free-to-the-public lighting ceremony to showcase the capabilities of the $1.6 million permanent system that will be set to a musical soundtrack. The ceremony is at 7:15 p.m. Thursday night at Champions Square; the square opens at 6 p.m.
"This is something we have been talking about for quite some time," said Thornton, whose company operates the Dome and the adjacent New Orleans Arena on behalf of the state. "We've always wanted to have a permanent lighting system on the Dome that could really be something special.
"For us this is all about creating an exciting new profile and image for the Superdome. This is all apart of the rebranding of the facility since Katrina. With the new imaging of the facility and all the renovations that have been done here we basically have a new stadium now. And what better way to showcase it than to have the lights out there."
In June, the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District -- the board appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to plan, finance, construct, develop, maintain and operate six state-owned facilities including the Superdome and the New Orleans Arena -- voted to approve the LED lighting system, which was paid for out of the recently completed $85 million renovation budget.
Although the price tag seems costly, Dome officials told LSED members at its June meeting that it will save money over the long haul because it'll reduce the cost of the monthly energy bill.
The entire system, when operating in one color, draws only 10 kilowatts of electricity -- the equivalent amount of energy used by a small home. When operated six hours per day every day of the year, no lights will need to be replaced until 2057, according to Dome officials.
The lighting will be similar to the temporary system that was in place for the 2006 "Monday Night Football" reopening of the Superdome and the first post-9/11 Super Bowl in 2002.
But Dome officials said this system will be used permanently, and on a nightly basis, reflecting multiple colors and images, including the logo of the Mercedes-Benz, off the stadium while further enhancing its place in the New Orleans skyline.
Unlike the two occasions when the temporary lighting was brought in, the new LED system will be capable of illuminating the entire building not just the upper half.
"What better way to celebrate our world-class stadium, championship football team and one of the great cities of the world?" Forman said. "The 2-million-square-foot exterior makes the Superdome an incredible palette for this amazing new lighting system, and we are excited for the public to see some of the ways we anticipate using it for sporting events, holidays, and other special events."
Gary Solomon Jr., the president of the Solomon Group, the company that designed the system, said crews have installed more than 26,000 LED lights in 288 fixtures that are capable of reproducing every color of the rainbow on all 96 concave aluminum panels that ring the building's exterior.
The lighting system, which was installed by local contractor, Frischhertz Electric, is expected to not only showcase the stadium as part of the city's vibrant sports district but to also include coordinated illumination with Champions Square and the Hyatt Hotel, slated to reopen Wednesday.
"We designed it in such a way that it offers incredible flexibility depending on what the event is at the Dome, what the season is, what time of year it is," Solomon said. "If you think of the Empire State Building in New York, if you look on the side of it, there is always a changing array of colors based on whether there is a holiday or whether there is a particular event in town.
"We designed this system to be sustainable in that way as well, so that it has a real long lifespan and is constantly changing. And it has incredible ability to make new visual images on a daily, weekly basis. We are really pumped about that. We think it is going to really change how the skyline is downtown in terms of what is lit up at night. It's going to set a new bar."
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