The old 220-inch projector screen (at left) and the newly-installed 326-inch projection screen. Photo by Ryan ZumMallen.

After more than thirty years of pioneering the concept of a sports bar, Legend’s on 2nd Street in Belmont Shore can add another first to their long list. The popular restaurant recently installed what they say is the largest television projection screen in North America, a 24-foot by 13-foot, 326-inch screen that drapes a crystal-clear 1080p display over nearly the entire east wall.

It even dwarfs the 220-inch screen on the north wall, not to mention the several 58-inch plasma televisions hanging right next to it.

“What we’ve tried to do is maintain that tradition and raise the bar,” owner Gene Rotundo said, looking up at the Monday Night Football game. “It’s costly but I think that’s what we’re known for. That and the buffalo wings.”

The screen apparently took three months of planning and one week of installation, and its bracket had to be mounted to the frame of the building to support its 1,000-lb. weight. The massive screen is done justice by an LCD projector that runs in the neighborhood of $85,000, according to M2All Home Theaters, which performed the installation.