After successfully illuminating more than two dozen sports venues across North America with its revolutionary LED arena lights, Ephesus Lighting in partnership with Durham, N.C.-based Cree, Inc. and Duke University, is taking its innovative stadium lighting solution outdoors. Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium, a multi-purpose outdoor facility that serves as home of the women’s field hockey team and is also used for campus recreation and club sports, will become the first NCAA Division I outdoor college sports venue to be lit with LED lighting. The ground-breaking announcement was made Tuesday by Amy Casper, CEO of Ephesus Lighting and Mike Cragg, Deputy Director of Athletics for Operations of Duke University.

“Sports facility operators now understand that LED lights are the natural evolution of arena and stadium lighting as it provides an optimal stage for events in person and on high definition television”

“Sports facility operators now understand that LED lights are the natural evolution of arena and stadium lighting as it provides an optimal stage for events in person and on high definition television,” explained Casper. “The success of our lighting solutions and the glowing testimonials from fans, players, television broadcasters and facility operators reinforce and prove without a shadow of a doubt that LED is ready for primetime in all sports venues.”

Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium, located on Duke’s East Campus was built in 1996 and renovated in 2011, will host the 2014 ACC Field Hockey Championships in November.

Ephesus Lighting will provide its new Stadium Series lights, powered by the industry’s highest-quality LEDs from Durham, N.C.-based Cree, Inc., to replace the 1500 watt metal halide fixtures currently installed. The new system will also utilize Ephesus’ integrated wireless controls to operate the lighting and maintain constant light output for 25 years. Despite reducing the number of fixtures by more than one-third, the Ephesus lighting solution will dramatically increase light to 75 foot candles and yield a projected energy savings of more than 70%. The Ephesus LED lights have undergone comprehensive luminaire testing at Cree’s testing and certification facility.