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Raising the Gillette Stadium Sign

WB Equipment designed and provided a sixteen point Synchronous Jacking System to raise the Gillette Stadium sign 36 feet in a single day, just three weeks prior to the Patriots’ first game of the NFL season.

Stephen
By Stephen Cireco
Posted
  • Using a 12 point Synchronous Lifting System we lifted the GILLETTE STADIUM SIGN 36 ft in a single day.

Our client had asked to design and provide a sixteen point Synchronous Jacking System that had the ability to raise the Gillette Stadium Sign 36 feet in a single day three weeks prior to the first game of the NFL season.

The sign had to be raised in order to fit the previous two Super Bowl banners underneath the Gillette Stadium sign.

Using twelve centerfold cylinders and a control panel, we were able to raise the sign approximately three feet per hour. (See the Gillette Stadium progress pictures from 7.00 am – noon – 4.00pm).

The system was a huge success – see the letter from the client

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Here are some quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:

1. How did the Patriots ultimately decide on plans to fit their fifth Super Bowl banner inside Gillette Stadium? Here are some behind-the-scenes nuggets from one of the most unusual storylines of the offseason:

  • The Gillette Stadium sign/structure that was raised to fit the five banners underneath it weighs approximately 8,000 pounds.
  • When the stadium was designed prior to its 2002 opening, there wasn’t any thought on where to put a Super Bowl championship banner. The reason is simple: The Patriots didn’t have one at that time. The stadium opened in May 2002, just a few months after the team won its first Super Bowl.
  • When the Patriots unveiled their first Super Bowl banner, the placement was on the walkway opposite the third-level press box. At the time, team officials thought that would be the permanent home for any banners.
  • If the team ever earned four banners, all of them would then be moved to the pre-cast concrete around the video board (the banners’ home in 2015 and 2016) because it would be nice symmetry. If the total ever reached five, the team would entertain raising the Gillette Stadium sign/structure.
  • What team officials liked about the possibility of raising the Gillette Stadium sign/structure to fit five banners was that it becomes a central element of the stadium: straight-on center in the main end zone, above the video board, below the stadium name. The five banners also filled the space nicely. Anything smaller, and it would have looked too sparse.
  • Plans to raise the Gillette Stadium sign/structure were hatched in late February/early March, and what surprised club officials was the extensive engineering involved because of the weight and the considerable steel behind the banners that helps support them. Unlike the banners that hang in an indoor arena or stadium, these banners require a lot more support so they don’t rip and become compromised by bad weather or wind.
  • The cost was significant, projected to be in the millions. But it is an expense the Kraft family was obviously happy to incur.
  • As fans will see, there is now room for more than five banners, should the Patriots add to their collection.
  • There are still a few needed finishing touches, from an architecture perspective, before the job is finished prior to the Sept. 7 opener.When the Patriots unveiled their first Super Bowl banner, the placement was on the walkway opposite the third-level press box. At the time, team officials thought that would be the permanent home for any banners.









Stephen

Stephen Cireco

WB Equipment Corp.