Hit the lights: Mets outfit Citi Field for electric light shows

Sport

Hit the lights: Mets outfit Citi Field for electric light shows

2024-10-18 00:27 Last Updated At：00:30

NEW YORK (AP) — The Mets are lighting up Citi Field, even before their batters step up to the plate.

About 70 front-office staffers scattered around the ballpark for over five hours to install 3,500 strips of LED lights on each railing ahead of New York's first home postseason game.

When the games reach the late innings and the sky darkens, the Mets dim the stadium lights as the ribbon boards flicker in blue, and then they activate the rail lights that glimmer in the team’s colors of royal blue and orange, and later red, white and blue for “God Bless America.”

“It’s a cool fan experience,” Mets outfielder Harrison Bader said. “Obviously, this is entertainment, so I’m sure the fans enjoy it, which is obviously very important.”

In-game light effects have been on the increase for a decade. The Yankees started blinking the lights atop their stadium to excite crowds during home run trots in 2016. Even historic venues like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field have been upgraded for startling light shows.

After the 2023 season, Musco Sports Lighting replaced the halogen lamps installed for Citi Field’s 2009 opening with LEDs. That enabled the Mets to implement dramatic entrances for closer Edwin Díaz. Fans started posting clips.

“I looked at TikTok because it’s the best search engine these days,” said Trisha Donlin, the Mets’ vice president of brand marketing. “All the videos were of our light sequences, whether that be our pitching change, our Diaz entrance, home runs. These are all moments where we trigger the greatest lighting effects. And so I was like, OK, this is what everyone’s talking about. This is where we need to double down.”

When the Mets beat Milwaukee to win their Wild Card Series and ensure postseason home games, the team contacted PixMob, a Montreal-based company founded in 2006 that distributed ski caps with LEDs to fans for Bruno Mars’ halftime show at the 2014 Super Bowl in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. PixMob has since worked with NFL, NBA and NHL teams and musicians including Coldplay, Bad Bunny and George Strait, often supplying light-up wristbands for the audience.

PixMob did a Citi Field walk-through on Oct. 4. Technicians installed 32 transmitters for the infrared signals on the upper deck, and Mets employees fastened the Nova Mini LED strips with zip ties on Oct. 7, a day before New York hosted Philadelphia in Division Series Game 3.

“We can do effects, like a chase around the stadium or up and down,” PixMob account manager Phil Belanger-Bishinga said. “We program in Montreal in our warehouse and then our light operator on site can trigger those effects from his console board.”

Brendan McKeon, the Mets’ executive director of in-game operations, operates the ribbon boards and LEDs, as Jon Barron, the manager of in-game operations, prompts the PixMob team on site to coordinate timing and colors.

NLDS home games started shortly after 5 p.m., when daylight remained. There is more extensive use at the NLCS night games, with the strips and fans' cell phone lights creating a sparkling effect.

PixMob supplied LED wristbands for the 2019 World Series, 2023 World Baseball Classic and this year’s opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego in Seoul, South Korea, as well as the All-Star Home Run Derby in Texas, part of initiatives by Caylor Escalante, MLB’s senior manager of global event experience and game presentation.

“We’re always looking at trying to find new creative enhancements to what we do from a ballpark entertainment standpoint,” said Brian O’Gara, MLB’s vice president of global events and game presentation. “This is a pretty seamless way to add another effect that the fans can be very involved in. and since they’re so customizable -- the guy’s literally reacting to game situations or home runs or big plays or the closer coming in.”

AP freelance writer Jerry Beach contributed to this report.

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Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dies at 31 in Argentina hotel fall

2024-10-18 00:25 Last Updated At：00:30

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former One Direction singer Liam Payne, 31, whose chart-topping British boy band generated a global following of swooning fans, was found dead Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, local officials said.

Buenos Aires police said in a statement that Payne fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the trendy Palermo neighborhood of Argentina's capital, resulting in “extremely serious injuries.” Medics confirmed his death on the spot, the statement said.

The police statement to The Associated Press said Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.” Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time warning of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” the statement added.

The hotel manager can be heard on a 911 call obtained by the AP saying they had "a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol ... He’s destroying the entire room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.” The manager's voice became more anxious as the call went on, noting the room had a balcony.

Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, told Argentina’s Todo Noticias TV channel that authorities were investigating the circumstances of his death and conducting an autopsy.

Payne had been vocal about struggling with alcoholism, posting a video in July 2023 to his YouTube channel where he said he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment. Representatives for Payne did not immediately return emails and calls.

Dozens of One Direction fans flocked from across Buenos Aires to the Casa Sur Hotel after the news broke, forming lines that spilled into the cordoned-off street outside the hotel where police stood sentinel. Forensic investigators were seen exiting the hotel, from where Payne’s body was removed around three hours after the fall. Young women filming with their cellphones expressed shock and heartbreak as a makeshift memorial with rows of candles and bouquets quickly grew outside the hotel.

“I didn’t think he was going to die so young,” 21-year-old Isabella Milesi told the AP.

Payne was one of five members of One Direction, which formed when they each auditioned for the British singing competition series “The X Factor” in 2010, two years after Payne's first attempt to get on the show. At 16 the second time around, Payne sang Michael Bublé’s version of “Cry Me a River,” appearing nervous at the start but warming up with the audience’s cheers and applause.

After each singer failed to make it through the competition as solo acts, Simon Cowell and his fellow judges combined Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson into what would become one of the most successful boy bands — even though they lost the competition.

Each member had their own persona, with Payne — who hailed from Wolverhampton, a city in the West Midlands region of England — being known as the responsible one. The band became known for their pop sound and romantic hits like “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Night Changes” and “Story of My Life.” Payne had prominent solos on songs including “Stole My Heart” and “Change Your Ticket,” co-writing several of the band's hits. They had six Top 10 hits on the Billboard charts by the time they disbanded in 2016 and a highly loyal fan base, known as “Directioners,” many of whom were teen girls.

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said 18-year-old Juana Relh, another fan outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

With his meteoric rise to fame, Payne had said that it took some time to adjust to the public eye.

“I don’t think you can ever deal with that, it’s all a bit crazy for us to see that people get in that sort of state of mind about us and what we do,” he said in a 2013 interview with the AP after recounting an experience where a fan was in a state of shock upon meeting him.

After the group's dissolution, Payne — like each of his erstwhile bandmates — pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop. His 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10, and stayed on the charts for several months. He put out an album “LP1” in 2019, and his last release — a single called “Teardrops” — was released in March.

Payne had a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, with his former girlfriend, the musician Cheryl who was known as Cheryl Cole when she performed with Girls Aloud. She was an “X Factor” judge during One Direction's season, although their relationship began years later. Payne was previously engaged to Maya Henry, from August 2020 to early 2022. Henry released a novel earlier this year that she said was based on their relationship.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and his two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.

Huamani reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Natacha Pisarenko and Debora Rey contributed reporting from Buenos Aires, Argentina.