2009 Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball To Stay Up Year Round

On November 11, 2008, the “new” Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball was unveiled at a press conference in Yonkers, New York. The new Ball is completely redesigned, can display more than 16 million vibrant colors, and will now be on display year round, rather than just for New Year’s Eve. This is the 7th Ball in the 101 year history of the ball-drop at Times Square.

This year’s new Ball is double the diameter of previous Ball and is over 12 feet wide and weighs 11,875 pounds. The Ball uses 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which is more than triple the number of LEDs used when compared to the 2008 Ball. The four LED colors, red, green, blue and white, will produce a rich color palette, resulting in 4.3 billion possible color combinations.

The flag pole used for previous balls was not strong enough to support the new Ball, so it was replaced with a new one and additional steel bracing was added. The Ball is displayed on top of the One Times Square building.

“For one hundred years, the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball has attracted millions of revelers to Times Square on December 31st to celebrate the beginning of the New Year” said Jeff Straus, president of Countdown Entertainment and co-organizer of Times Square New Year’s Eve. “The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball will be a bright sparkling jewel atop One Times Square entertaining New Yorkers and tourists from around the world not only on December 31, but throughout the year.”

“The New Year’s Eve ball is bigger, better and brighter than ever, just like Times Square itself,” said Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins. “And like Times Square, it’s not afraid to show off. That’s why we’re proudly putting it on display year-round so visitors to the neighborhood can enjoy a true Crossroads of the World icon.”

Waterford Crystal created an exclusive “Let There Be Joy” design for the crystal triangles on the new Ball. Designed and crafted by Waterford artisans in Ireland, “Let There Be Joy” features the design of an angel with arms uplifted welcoming the New Year on each of the 1,728 new crystals. The remaining 960 triangles are last year’s “Let There Be Light” design of a stylized radiating starburst.

More information on the history of the Ball can be found below.

- About the New Year’s Eve Ball [Times Square Alliance]
- 2009 Times Square ball to stay up year-round [Newsday]
- Lighting Science Welcomes the New Year with a Bigger and Brighter Ball in 4.3 Billion Colors [Press Release]