A BIG , BOOMING BOWL
Elevating the Fan Experience at London ’ s Budweiser Gardens
By Kevin Young | Photos by Jeremy Tredenick .
( L-R ) AARON MURRAY , AUDIO TECH & INSTALLER , PA SHOP AV ; DARREN MORRISON , PROGRAMMER & INSTALLER , PA SHOP AV ; JUSTIN FIDLER , CHIEF ENGINEER & SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER , BUDWEISER GARDENS ; JIM BAROUDI , IT / AV MANAGER ,
BUDWEISER GARDENS ; RYAN SCHROEYENS , ACCOUNT REP , PA SHOP AV ; STEVE DELINE , DESIGN & INSTALLER , PA SHOP AV ; ( ABSENT ) GARY TURRELL , DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS , BUDWEISER GARDENS
Even though no major league professional sports team calls London , ON home , Budweiser Gardens is very much a major-league venue – one boasting the facilities and functionality that would rival those at most A-market arenas across the country . That ’ s especially true since a hometown crew from The PA Shop AV Solutions outfitted the main bowl with an all-new audio system .
As Ryan Schroeyens , The PA Shop ’ s project lead , points out , this was not only a big job , but one that he and his family ’ s company were pleased to have taken on . “ It ’ s the largest venue in the city , so it ’ s definitely a flagship install and something we ’ re very proud to have been a part of ,” he says .
The PA Shop has done larger installs at other institutions in terms of the amount of infrastructure and equipment required , but none in a structure of this size and scale , and it seems to be the beginning of a welcome trend . Since the Budweiser Gardens install got underway , The PA Shop has been tapped for similar projects at Peterborough Memorial Arena and recently confirmed that they ’ ll be working on the Lucan Community Centre , which will host a preseason NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators in September 2018 .
“ So this is the first of many larger-scale venue installs for us ,” Schroeyens says , adding that it was a good starting point being such familiar territory for his team . “ We ’ ve been doing event productions at Budweiser Gardens for years , and others at similar venues like [ Mississauga , ON ’ s ] Hershey Centre , the WFCU Centre [ in Windsor , ON ], Oshawa ’ s Tribute Communities Centre , and more recently , Soctiabank Arena [ formerly the Air Canada Centre ] in Toronto . As a company and as technicians , we ’ ve been working with sys-
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