In the Monday night spotlight

By Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter

	ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES
	Seahawks Stadium is striking at night, as seen in this view from the club level of the northwest corner. The Seahawks play two night games at the stadium this season.

The real grand opening for Seahawks

Stadium might not be in September but rather Oct. 14. That's when "Monday Night Football" returns to Seattle for the first time in 10 years. The game will provide the nation with a view of the new stadium and will be a test for the lighting system. Two rows of lights are attached to the stadium roof, parallel to the roof trusses. There are 672 Musco sport lights that run goal line to goal line along the high perimeter. Each light is between 1,500 and 2,000 watts and within easy reach of the catwalks that run along each side.

Aiming the lights began two months ago. Once the turf was put down, markers were placed on the field to replicate where the various lines — sidelines, goal lines, end lines — would be. Then the lights were directed to those spots to make sure there is proper coverage.

Lighting engineers even went outside the stadium to see how the lighting rows lined up.

Once the field had sufficient lighting, the crews began the process of "burning in" the lights. Each bulb needs to be on for at least 100 hours for maximum effectiveness.

To get through 100 hours, they needed to be turned on for 10 hours, allowed to cool down, then switched on for another 10 hours. That was repeated until every light had at least 100 hours.