In late November 2018, Esports Stadium Arlington opened as the largest gaming and esports facility in North America. Located in the heart of Arlington’s entertainment district, the facility was built to serve the unique and technologically advanced demands of the esports industry.

As part of the design-build team, Henderson Engineers delivered the building systems design for this 2,500-seat stadium featuring a competition space with a built-in 85-foot long LED wall that is accompanied by an immersive sound and theatrical lighting system. The facility’s flexibility allows it to cater to a wide variety of audiences and event types. In order for this to happen, we had to blend the unique needs of an esports event with the general principles of venue building systems design.

A first-of-its-kind production facility equipped with Glass Valley systems powers event broadcasts, complete with a dedicated observer room, caster studio, data center, and control room. Players can utilize eight dedicated team rooms to strategize and practice. The facility also features a player lounge and specialty spaces for working media and facility staff.

Housing multiple large computers and servers, pulling extensive amounts of bandwidth on Wi-Fi and dedicated networks, broadcast to in-house video boards and online streaming applications, with audio immersing the audience, the facility is a nucleus of technology. This increase in technology required our team to design a mechanical system that accounts for the additional heat generation. We also added a back-up generator to avoid disruption and altered tournament outcomes that could be caused by system outages in the middle of play. Lastly, the lighting in the space had to achieve an optimal level to interact with the broadcast and video boards. It was important to avoid glare, but equally critical to prevent eye fatigue.

Esports Stadium Arlington features the flexibility to cater to a wide variety of audiences and event types. By transforming previously underutilized space of the Arlington Convention Center, it also showcases the adaptive reuse potential of esports. The stadium features major competition event space, gaming, retail, social spaces, VIP hospitality, broadcast studio, and team training areas.

Location

Arlington, TX

Project Size

Approx. 100,000 SF

Services

Acoustics, Architectural Lighting, Audio-Video, Broadcast Services, Electrical, Fire & Life Safety, Mechanical, Plumbing, Security, Telecom



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