Minneapolis, MN; April 19, 2001 - How do you turn the Minneapolis Metrodome, a sports arena in America's heartland, into the visual center of attention for a national television audience? How do you help the city of Minneapolis project its upscale, larger than life image to thousands of event attendees and to the organizers of the recent NCAA Final Four basketball tournament? The abundant use of attention grabbing large-scale graphics, banners, and murals, employing a single, unifying visual theme, was the solution proposed by Visual Impact, of Blaine, MN. The company is one of the premier producers of digital panoramic prints for sporting and other events in the Midwest. The kind of graphic treatment Visual Impact proposed for the NCAA Final Four is finding increasing use to transform cityscapes and sporting venues across the country. The large-scale color graphics are made possible using the latest high tech wide-format and superwide digital printing systems that can print in vibrant color on virtually any medium. The main visual theme, a giant basketball juxtaposed against the blue sky (intended to visually mimic the dome of the Metrodome against the sky), was implemented in a variety of ways. It appeared on large format graphics in the area surrounding the Metrodome, hundreds of banners on the streets leading to the venue, large scale banners on the outside of the building, which was to be literally "wrapped" in graphics, and liberal use of graphics inside the stadium. According to Dave Hood, the plan was both creative and ambitious. The company had only 3.5 weeks to produce hundreds of graphics and get them installed in time for the event. Says Sahulka, "It's really amazing what technology can do these days. The NUR Fresco 1800 wide-format and NUR Blueboard superwide printers at Visual Impact did a really incredible job - they're very impressive." The fans weren't the only ones who liked the graphical treatment. According to Verdick, the NCAA was thrilled with the look of the graphics, the design treatment inside the stadium and the all out graphic display the dome projected. His direct customer, Dennis Alfton from the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission of Minneapolis, was also very happy with the result. Minneapolis last hosted the NCAA Final Four competition in 1992 and Alfton hopes the effort puts the facility in a good position to host the 2008 event.