Safeco Field to be First MLB Stadium With LED Lighting

For the first time in Major League Baseball history, a baseball stadium has installed LED lighting. "This season, the Mariners have become the first major-league team to illuminate its playing field with LED lights, giving Safeco Field its first lighting upgrade since it opened in 1999." Both fans attending the games and fans watching from home will notice a huge difference. Colors, and yellows and reds especially, will pop. The LED lighting simulates natural sun light, and will appear very similar to natural daylight.

LED lighting is not new to sports. University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona upgraded to LED before this year's Super Bowl .'Part of a reason for the delay is in a baseball field’s unique shape, in the nooks and crannies tucked in the corners of its stadiums. 'Having the diamond shape rather than a rectangular shape makes it much more of a challenge,” Planled CEO John Hwang said. “We had to look at them from the perspective of the fielders and the cameras and the fans.”' The new LED lighting will be more efficient and will reduce energy use by sixty percent. The lighting will also be more even, with less shadows. This will make it easier to track long fly balls. “To provide a better playing environment to play baseball under, that’s the biggest thing for us,” Mariners vice president of baseball operations Joe Myhra said, “It will enhance their ability to play baseball, under natural sunlight like it should be.”


For more information, read the full article from The Seattle Times here.

---