Image #33-233 © General Electric Lighting Company
A lighting installation is a carefully planned and integrated part of a stadium or arena. In the banks of high-powered metal halide lamps that illuminate Jacob's Field in Cleveland, each lamp is aimed at a particular spot on the field in an overlapping pattern. Even if a few fail, the game goes on.
Occasionally, sports fans are treated to a lesson in lamp physics. High-intensity discharge lamps, like the metal halides in this photograph, operate at very high temperatures and take several minutes to warm up. If power is interrupted, they must cool down before their starters can "restrike" the lamps and begin the warm-up process. This is why even a momentary power outage can delay a game 20 minutes or more.
© 2001 Smithsonian Institution
Last Updated: February 2000