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Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:25 pm
by Belize City Lion
On another thread David cited a book on Lions history that says their was a replay screen used at Empire Stadium in 1970. A CFL first.

But no one seems to remember seeing this screen. So I did a bit of digging. I contacted my brother in law who works in promotion at the Province to see if there were any Sun or Province archives about a screen at Empire. Well, that would involve a labour intesive micro-fiche search and no one was willing to do that. But he did contact Lowell Ulrich and Terri Baker at the Lions on my behalf.

Lowell said the following:
"from my faded childhood memory i do recall a replay screen when the lions went big time towards the end of empire stadium's days. they had a screen that was covered by a rollup garage door when they added a scoreboard at the south (hastings st.) end"

But Terri checked with Bob Ackles and this was the reply:
"Found out that, yes, there was a replay screen built into Empire Stadium in the 70's... Apparently it was put there by the building without consulting the club first, and it became quite a political debate over the rights to it... The screen was never used by the Lions and remained there for the rest of its days. Apparently it was a 'state of the art' screen in its time..."

So the mystery of this history remains somewhat unsolved....

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:59 pm
by David
Thanks for the update BCL. That is very interesting. Contrary to what Bob remembers, they must have used it once - according to the book.

The next rainy Sunday (after football season), I shall go down to Library Square to see what I can dig up on microfiche. It's really not that hard to do as I have the date I need to research, and both papers (Sun and Province) are catalogued. I have done it in the past looking for other early Lion and Canuck stories I remember from my youth.

DH 8)

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:07 pm
by D
I remeber some sort of screen at the hastings end but don't remember ever seeing it in use :juggle:

I do however remember riding the roller coaster pre and post game :yahoo:

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:10 pm
by Bosco
David wrote:The next rainy Sunday (after football season), I shall go down to Library Square to see what I can dig up on microfiche.
DH 8)
Dave - are you forecasting that every Sunday between next week and the start of the CFL season will be rain free? :bb:

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:37 pm
by sj-roc
Bosco wrote:
David wrote:The next rainy Sunday (after football season), I shall go down to Library Square to see what I can dig up on microfiche.
DH 8)
Dave - are you forecasting that every Sunday between next week and the start of the CFL season will be rain free? :bb:
Quite the opposite, I think -- if he didn't add that modifier methinks that he'd miss the Super Bowl.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:46 pm
by TheLionKing
I don't recall a replay screen and I've been to many games at Empire Stadium prior to the Lions relocating to their present location.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:42 pm
by Ballistic Bob
You were under it. BB

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:47 pm
by Jim Mullin
I remember as an added feature they used it in a late season game in the mid 70's, maybe 1976. Had the resolution of the old Commonwealth Stadium screen. Some might remember that there was a "Players Filter" billboard placed over it in Empire's dying days.

Re: Empire Stadium Replay Screen

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:38 pm
by TheZeppo
Belize City Lion wrote:On another thread David cited a book on Lions history that says their was a replay screen used at Empire Stadium in 1970. A CFL first.

But no one seems to remember seeing this screen. So I did a bit of digging. I contacted my brother in law who works in promotion at the Province to see if there were any Sun or Province archives about a screen at Empire. Well, that would involve a labour intesive micro-fiche search and no one was willing to do that. But he did contact Lowell Ulrich and Terri Baker at the Lions on my behalf.

Lowell said the following:
"from my faded childhood memory i do recall a replay screen when the lions went big time towards the end of empire stadium's days. they had a screen that was covered by a rollup garage door when they added a scoreboard at the south (hastings st.) end"

But Terri checked with Bob Ackles and this was the reply:
"Found out that, yes, there was a replay screen built into Empire Stadium in the 70's... Apparently it was put there by the building without consulting the club first, and it became quite a political debate over the rights to it... The screen was never used by the Lions and remained there for the rest of its days. Apparently it was a 'state of the art' screen in its time..."

So the mystery of this history remains somewhat unsolved....

Thanks for doing all this digging BCL. I am prepared to take Ackles'
version of the screen saga as being the correct one. I do vaguely
remember something on the south end scoreboard that could have
been a screen, although as I have stated before, I am certain that
I never saw it in use.
However, with that said, I would not be the least bit surprised if David's
search uncovered definitive proof that the screen was used at least once during a Lions' game. I certainly did not attend every game at
Empire Stadium during the early 70's, and as for Ackles, he may
have just forgotten.
Wouldn't it be great if David, or someone else, could dig up a photo
of the south end scoreboard? I would love to see it again.

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:14 am
by sports & stuff----ric
i dont recall the screen either , even though i was at almost all the games at empire between 1973 to 1982

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:05 pm
by Jim Mullin
They used it for one game, late in the a season. There were even newspaper ads for it. So if you're suffling thru microfiche you might see the evidence of the use.

Yes, there was a replay screen.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:31 pm
by firstandgoal
There was a replay screen at Empire. I recall only seeing it used once. I have a picture of it but I am not having any luck on attaching it here. Any suggestions?

Re: Yes, there was a replay screen.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:58 pm
by Rammer
firstandgoal wrote:There was a replay screen at Empire. I recall only seeing it used once. I have a picture of it but I am not having any luck on attaching it here. Any suggestions?
Are you uinfamiliar with the attachment feature, or is it too large a file for the site? If the latter you could resize it and try again if that is possible.

Here is the breakdown of sizing....

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Plain Text -> Maximum Upload Size: 256 KB
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:27 pm
by sports & stuff----ric
was the screen on top of the scoreclock in the endzone above the quarterback club seats ?? I must be getting old as i still cant remember it. :sigh: :sigh:

Replay screen picture

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:16 pm
by firstandgoal
Here it is. Grey square looking area on the right side of the scoreboard.