Baseball season is under way, and Norfolk Southern is at the plate

[NS Newsfeed]

The Major League Baseball season starts this week, and Norfolk Southern is participating in a high-profile way at the Washington Nationals home stadium.



The Thoroughbred is a five-year sponsor of the "Norfolk Southern Club Level," which accommodates 5,000 game attendees, including supporters, guests of the company, and fans who will enjoy a distinctive game experience.



The NS Club level features Game Central, a gigantic (20-foot by 24-foot) mechanical scoreboard that employs large model trains to display real-time game statistics. NS locomotives pull colored freight cars to represent balls, strikes, and outs. NS trains pop out of tunnels to depict men on base. A locomotive on a rotating turntable indicates the top or bottom of an inning.



Game Central pulls the digital feed from the official Nationals scoreboard and translates the data into instructions that drive the motors that move the trains. RP3 Agency handled the design and software development of Game Central, while The Character Shop, a Los Angeles-based builder of animatronic characters and devices for Hollywood and Broadway, constructed it.



In addition to Game Central, a large G-scale model train continuously circles the NS Club Level, high above on a trestle. Fans can get a closer look at it from the club's second level.



A mural chronicles the railroad-baseball connection through archival photographs. In the game's early days, employees from NS predecessor railroads often formed company-sponsored teams and played in towns across their systems.



Outside the NS Club Level, on the official stadium scoreboard (and on away-game scoreboards as well), NS is placing messages that highlight the railroad's capabilities.



Sports-related promotions are a new communications avenue for NS, but it looks like a natural, said Frank Brown, AVP corporate communications. "The Nationals and NS both honor our heritage and community roots, but more important, we like to make sure everyone knows what we can do for you today and tomorrow.



"In order to do that, we first have to get your attention. This is one way we can make a positive impression in Washington."