時代廣場球是位於紐約市時報廣場的報時球。報時球位於時代廣場一號，其降球儀式是跨年夜重要的慶祝活動之一。降球儀式於美東時間 23：59：00 開始，降球的 60 秒中，報時球沿著特殊設計的旗杆下降，其完全下落標誌著新的一年的開始。近年來，降球儀式之前往往會有一些現場演出。 《紐約時報》的擁有者阿道夫奧克斯希望在跨年夜舉行一項吸引更多關注的活動，而 Walter F Palmer 則提出了設計一個報時球的建議。隨後奧克斯僱傭 Artkraft Strauss 設計出了第一個時代廣場球，並在 1907 年跨年夜舉行了第一個降球儀式，以迎接 1908 年新年。從此以後，降球儀式成為了一項年度特別活動，除了 1942 年和 1943 年因世界大戰的燈火管制而取消。另外 2020 年底 2021 年初因為 2019 冠狀病毒病疫情而空場舉行，不開放觀眾入場。 時代廣場球的設計也應燈光技術的進步不斷更新換代。最早的時代廣場球內部裝有 100 個電燈泡，球面由木頭和鐵構成。而今天，球的內部已經被數字化的 LED 照明系統取代，球的表面也變為由三角狀的水晶包裹。而現今看到的時代廣場球則從 2009 年開始使用，2008 年懸掛的球目前被移至時代廣場遊客中心展出。 降球儀式由時代廣場聯盟和倒數娛樂組織， 是全球最著名的新年慶祝活動之一，每年至少吸引 200 萬人參與，許多電視網路也直播儀式實況。而許多跨年降落儀式也正是受到本活動的啟發。 活動 活動組織 To facilitate the arrival of attendees Times Square is closed to traffic beginning in the late afternoon on New Years Eve The square is then divided into different viewing sections referred to as pens into which attendees are directed sequentially upon arrival Security is strictly enforced by the New York City Police Department NYPD even more so since the 200102 edition in the wake of the September 11 attacks Attendees are required to pass through security checkpoints before they are assigned a pen and are prohibited from bringing backpacks or alcohol to the event Security was increased further for its 201718 edition due to recent incidents such as the truck attack in New York on October 31 and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting these included additional patrols of Times Square hotels rooftop patrol squads and countersnipers and the installation of reflective markers on buildings to help officers identify the location of elevated shooters For 201819 the NYPD announced its intent to use a cameraequipped quadcopter to augment the over 1200 fixed cameras monitoring Times Square but it was left grounded due to inclement weather 慶祝活動 Festivities formally begin in the early evening with an opening ceremony featuring the raising of the ball at 600 pm ET Party favors are distributed to attendees which have historically included large balloons hats and other items branded with the events corporate sponsors The leadup to midnight features a program of entertainment including musical performances some of these performances are organized by and aired by New Years Eve television specials broadcasting from Times Square The climax of the festivities is the drop itself which begins at 115900 pm ET Officially the drop is activated using a button inside a special control room within One Times Square synchronized using an National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST time signal received via satellite Since 1996 the drop has been ceremonially activated onstage by one or more special guests joined by the current mayor of New York City by pressing a button on a smaller model of the ball The guests are selected annually to recognize their community involvement or significance and have included 199697 Oseola McCarty 199798 A group of five winners from a school essay contest honoring New York Citys centennial 199899 Sang Lan who was injured during the 1998 Goodwill Games and was being rehabilitated in New York City 19992000 Mary Ann Hopkins from Doctors Without Borders 200001 Muhammad Ali 200102 Rudy Giuliani and Judith Giuliani this was Giulianis final act as mayor Michael Bloomberg officially became the new Mayor of New York City upon the beginning of 2002 and took his oath of office shortly after midnight 200203 Christopher Reeve and Dana Reeve 200304 Cyndi Lauper joined by Shoshana Johnsonthe first black female prisoner of war in the military history of the United States 200405 United States Secretary of State Colin Powell 200506 Wynton Marsalis 200607 A group of ten United States Armed Forces members 200708 Karolina Wierzchowska an Iraq War veteran and New York City Police Academy valedictorian 200809 Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton 200910 Twelve students from New York City high schools on the US News World Report Americas Best High Schools Top 100 Gold Medal List 201011 Former Staff sergeant Salvatore Giunta 201112 Lady Gaga 201213 The Rockettes 201314 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sonia Sotomayor 201415 Jencarlos Canela joined by a group of refugees who emigrated to New York City in partnership with the International Rescue Committee 201516 Humanitarian Hugh Evans 201617 United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon this was Bans final act as UN SecretaryGeneral as António Guterres took office on January 1 2017 201718 Tarana Burke civil rights activist and founder of the MeToo movement 201819 Joel SimonExecutive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a group of eleven journalists Karen Attiah Rebecca Blumenstein Alisyn Camerota Vladimir Duthiers Edward Felsenthal Lester Holt Matt Murray Martha Raddatz Maria Ressa Jon Scott and Karen Toulon 201920 New York City high school teachers Jared Fox and Aida Rosenbaum recipients of the 11th annual Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics and four of their students 202021 Chirlane McCray wife of Mayor Bill de Blasio 202122 Michael James Scott Mary Claire King and Ben Crawford The guests did not press the button with the mayor The event was de Blasios final act as mayor of New York City Mayorelect Eric Adams took his oath of office shortly after midnight The conclusion of the drop is followed by fireworks shot from the roof of One Times Square along with the playing of the first verse of Auld Lang Syne by Guy Lombardo beginning in 200203 and with the first verse since 200405 Theme from New York New York by Frank Sinatra since 200001 America the Beautiful by Ray Charles since 200102 What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong since 200708 and Somewhere Over the RainbowWhat a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwoole since 200506 Since the 200506 edition of the event the drop has been directly preceded by the playing of John Lennons song Imagine at 1155 pm Until 20092010 the original recording was used since 20102011 the song has been performed by the headlining artist 201011 Taio Cruz 201112 CeeLo Green 201213 Train 201314 Melissa Etheridge 201415 OAR 201516 Jessie J 201617 Rachel Platten 201718 Andy Grammer 201819 Bebe Rexha 201920 X Ambassadors 202021 Andra Day 202122 KT Tunstall At least of confetti is dropped in Times Square directed by Treb Heining who has been well known for his involvement in designing balloon decorations for Disney Parks and balloon and confetti drops at other major US events and celebrations such as the presidential nominating conventions and thrown by a team of 100 volunteers referred to internally as confetti dispersal engineers lining the rooftops of eight Times Square buildings The individual pieces of confetti are meant to be larger than normal confetti in order to achieve an appropriate density for the environment Some of the pieces are inscribed with messages of hope for the new year which are submitted via a Wishing Wall put up in Times Square in December where visitors can write them directly on individual pieces of confetti and via online submissions 活動後清場 After the conclusion of the festivities and the dispersal of attendees cleanup is performed overnight to remove confetti and other debris from Times Square When it is reopened to the public the following morning few traces of the previous nights celebration remain following the 201314 drop the New York City Department of Sanitation estimated that it had cleared over 50 tons of refuse from Times Square in eight hours using 190 workers from their own crews and the Times Square Alliance 歷史 早期，第一、二代時代廣場球 19041955 The first New Years Eve celebration in Times Square was held on December 31 1904 The New York Times owner Adolph Ochs decided to celebrate the opening of the newspapers new headquarters One Times Square with a New Years fireworks show on the southern roof of the building to welcome 1905 Close to 200000 people attended the event displacing traditional celebrations that had normally been held at Trinity Church However following several years of fireworks shows Ochs wanted a bigger spectacle at the building to draw more attention to the area The newspapers chief electrician Walter F Palmer suggested using a time ball after seeing one used on the nearby Western Union Building Ochs hired sign designer Artkraft Strauss to construct a ball for the celebration it was built from iron and wood electrically lit with one hundred incandescent light bulbs weighed and measured in diameter The ball was hoisted on the buildings 70 foot flagpole with rope by a team of six men The ball would begin to drop at 10 seconds before midnight once it hit the roof of the building the ball was designed to complete an electric circuit to light a 5foottall sign to light up on all four sides of the building indicating the new year and trigger a fireworks show The first ever ball drop was held on December 31 1907 welcoming the year 1908 In 1913 only eight years after it moved to One Times Square the Times moved its corporate headquarters to 229 West 43rd Street The Times still maintained ownership of the tower however and Strauss continued to organize future editions of the drop The original ball was last used for the 191920 event in favor of a second design the second ball remained in diameter but was now constructed from iron weighing The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Years Eve 194243 and 194344 due to wartime lighting restrictions during World War II Instead a moment of silence was observed one minute before midnight in Times Square followed by the sound of church bells ringing being played from sound trucks 第三代時代廣場球 19551998 The second ball was last used for the 195455 event in favor of a third design which was now 6 feet in diameter constructed from aluminum and weighed The first countdown to midnight occurred in 1979 For the 198182 event the ball was modified to make it resemble an apple with red bulbs and a green stem alluding to New Yorks nickname the Big Apple For the 198788 event organizers acknowledged the addition of a leap second earlier that day leap seconds are appended at midnight UTC which is five hours before midnight in New York by extending the drop to 61 seconds and by including a special onesecond light show during the extra second The original white bulbs returned to the ball for the 198889 event but were replaced by red white and blue bulbs for the 199091 event to salute the troops of Operation Desert Shield The third ball was revamped again in 1995 for 1996 adding a computerized lighting system with 180 halogen bulbs and 144 strobe lights and over 12000 rhinestones Lighting designer Barry Arnold stated that the changes were something that had to be done to make this event more spectacular as we approach the millennium The drop itself became computerized through the use of an electric winch synchronized with the National Institute of Standards and Technologys time signal the first drop with the new system was not without issues however as a glitch caused the ball to pause for a short moment halfway through its descent The following year John Trowbridge was hired as the drops new technical director in 2021 Jeff Strauss told The Wall Street Journal that the drop has never had any technical issues since After its 44th use in 1999 the third ball was retired and placed on display at the Atlanta headquarters of Jamestown Group owners of One Times Square 進入新千年 19992007 On December 28 1998 during a press conference attended by New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani organizers announced that the third ball would be retired for the arrival of the new millennium and replaced by a new design constructed by Waterford Crystal The year 2000 celebrations introduced more prominent sponsorship to the event companies such as Discover Card Korbel Champagne and Panasonic were announced as official sponsors of the festivities in Times Square The city also announced that Ron Silver would lead a committee known as NYC 2000 which was in charge of organizing events across the city for year 2000 celebrations A full day of festivities was held at Times Square to celebrate the arrival of the year 2000 which included concerts and hourly cultural presentations with parades of puppets designed by Michael Curry representing countries entering the new year at that hour Organizers expected a total attendance exceeding two million spectators The fourth ball measuring in diameter and weighing incorporated a total of over 600 halogen bulbs 504 triangleshaped crystal panels provided by Waterford 96 strobe lights and spinning pyramidshaped mirrors The ball was constructed at Waterfords factory in Ireland and was then shipped to New York City where the lighting system and motorized mirrors were installed Many of the panels were inscribed with Hopethemed designs changing yearly which included Star of Hope Hope for Abundance Hope for Healing Hope for Courage Hope for Unity Hope for Wisdom Hope for Fellowship and Hope for Peace The 2002 theme Hope for Healing was in commemoration of the September 11 terrorist attacks which had occurred three and a half months earlier 195 of the balls panels were engraved with the names of countries and emergency organizations that had taken casualties during the attacks and the names of the World Trade Center The Pentagon and the four flights that were involved in the attacks In December 2011 the Hope for Healing panels were accepted into the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum 現在 2008 至今 To mark the centenary of the ball drop a brand new fifth design debuted on New Years Eve of 2008 Once again manufactured by Waterford Crystal with a diameter of and weighing it uses 9576 LED lamps provided by Philips which can produce 16777216 or 224 colors with computerized lighting patterns developed by the New York Citybased firm Focus Lighting Organizers stated that the new ball was also more energyefficient and consumed an equivalent amount of electricity to 10 toasters The 2008 ball was only used once and was placed on display at the Times Square Visitors Center following the event For 2009 a larger version of the fifth ball was introducedan icosahedral geodesic sphere lit by 32256 LED lamps Its diameter is twice as wide as the 2008 ball at and contains 2688 Waterford Crystal panels with a weight of It was designed to be weatherproof as the ball would now be displayed atop One Times Square nearly yearround following the celebrations Yearly themes for the balls crystal panels continued from 2008 to 2013 the ball contained crystal patterns that were part of a Waterford series known as World of Celebration which included Let There Be Light Let There Be Joy Let There Be Courage Let There Be Love Let There Be Friendship and Let There Be Peace For 2014 all the balls panels were replaced marking a new theme series known as Greatest Gifts beginning with Gift of Imagination The numerical sign indicating the year which remains atop the tower along with the ball itself uses Philips LED lamps The 14 digits for 2014 used Philips Hue multicolor LED lamps allowing them to have computerized lighting cues 因應 2019 冠狀病毒病疫情 Due to the COVID19 pandemic in New York City the 202021 festivities were closed to the general public Attendance was limited to the invited families of first responders and other essential workers from the New York City area the Heroes of 2020 performers and members of the media In accordance with New York state health orders face masks were mandatory and households were placed within pens with social distancing Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins stated that it feels most appropriate to shine a spotlight on the individuals who are tirelessly leading our nation through hard times with unshakable strength determination and poise as well as their families who deal with their own set of sacrifices Gloria Gaynor was announced as a special musical guest for the event where she was expected to perform her songI Will Survive The VNYE app was released as a digital companion to the event which featured a digital recreation of Times Square as a virtual world where users could play minigames view live streams of New Years festivities in New York City and elsewhere and witness a virtual version of the ball drop and augmented reality camera filters 202122 On November 16 2021 Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the event would be held as normal for 202122 but with all attendees required to present proof of vaccination and valid photo identification If covered by a specific exemption an unvaccinated attendee would alternatively be allowed to present proof of a recent negative PCR test from within the past 72 hours each unvaccinated attendee was required to wear a face mask Despite record numbers of cases in the city and state tied to Omicron variant which notably had led to suspension of several Broadway shows because of COVID19 issues within casts and crew and the reimplementation of a statewide mask mandate for indoor public spaces that did not require patrons to be vaccinated de Blasio stated on December 16 that if at any point we need to alter the plan we will but emphasized that this was an outdoor event with only vaccinated attendees On December 20 de Blasio stated that a final decision regarding any changes to the event would be made by Christmas explaining that we have what weve done historically for years and years we have the kind of model we used last year We are looking at anything that will make this work best On December 22 Mayor de Blasio stated to CNN that the city was looking to add additional measures to make it even safer the previous day Fox ownedandoperated station WNYW reported that organizers planned to mandate masks and cap the events capacity while the Fox network cancelled its planned New Years Eve special from Times Square citing COVID19 concerns On December 23 it was announced that the official capacity would be reduced to 15000 from the approximately 58000 present before and that masks would also be mandatory for all attendees For the first time the events technical director John Trowbridge did not operate the drop inperson due to a COVID19 infection and instead directed the event quarantined at a hotel in New Jersey 午夜天氣 According to National Weather Service records since 190708 the average temperature in nearby Central Park during the ball drop has been The warmest ball drops occurred in 196566 and 197273 when the temperature was The coldest ball drop occurred in 191718 when the temperature was and the wind chill was Affected by a continentwide cold wave the 201718 drop was the secondcoldest on record at and after wind chill The third coldest ball drop occurred during the 196263 event when the temperature was and the wind chill was Snow has fallen seven times with the earliest being the 192627 event and the most recent being the 200910 event and raindrizzle has fallen sixteen times with the earliest being the 191819 event and the most recent being the 201819 event The snowiest ball drop occurred during the 194849 event when four inches of snow fell and the rainiest occurred during the 201819 event when 102 inches of rain fell 轉播 As a public event the festivities and ball drop are often broadcast on television A host pool feed is provided to broadcasters for use in coverage which for 201617 consisted of 21 cameras Since 200809 an official webcast of the ball drop and its associated festivities has been produced streamed via Livestreamcom The event is covered as part of New Years Eve television specials on several major US television networks which usually intersperse onlocation coverage from Times Square with entertainment segments such as musical performances some of which held live in Times Square as part of the event By far the most notable of these is Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve created produced and originally hosted by the entertainer Dick Clark until his death in 2012 with Regis Philbin filling in for its 200405 broadcast and currently hosted by Ryan Seacrest the program first aired on NBC in 1972 before moving to ABC where it has been broadcast ever since New Years Rockin Eve has consistently been the mostwatched New Years Eve special in the US annually peaking at 256 million viewers for its 201718 edition Following the death of Dick Clark in April 2012 a crystal engraved with his name was added to the 2013 ball in tribute Across the remaining networks Fox has occasionally broadcast its New Years specials from Times Square Spanishlanguage network Univision broadcasts Feliz hosted by Raúl de Molina of El Gordo y La Flaca On cable CNN carries coverage of the festivities known as New Years Eve Live currently hosted by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen the latter first replacing Kathy Griffin for 2018 Fox News carries AllAmerican New Year which was most recently hosted by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Bill Hemmer from Times Square 過去轉播 Beginning in the 1940s NBC broadcast coverage from Times Square anchored by Ben Grauer on both radio and television Its coverage was later incorporated into special episodes of The Tonight Show continuing through Johnny Carson and Jay Lenos tenures on the program NBC would later introduce a dedicated special New Years Eve with Carson Daly later renamed NBCs New Years Eve hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly which first began midnight coverage in 2006 and was discontinued in 2022 in favor of a new special hosted from Miami by Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson From 1956 to 1976 CBS televised Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians annual New Years Eve concert most frequently from the WaldorfAstorias ballroom It featured coverage from Times Square and the bands signature rendition of Auld Lang Syne at midnight After Lombardos death in 1977 the special continued with Guys younger brother Victor Lombardo as host and bandleader but increasing competition from ABCs New Years Rockin Eve prompted CBS to replace it for 197980 with Happy New Year America The new special ran in various formats with different hosts such as Paul Anka Donny Osmond Andy Williams Paul Shaffer and Montel Williams until it was discontinued after 1996 Besides coverage during a special episode of Late Show with David Letterman for 1999 and Americas Millennium for 2000 CBS did not air any national New Years Eve programming until 2021 when it announced that it will carry a country musicthemed special from Nashville for 2022 For 2000 in lieu of New Years Rockin Eve ABC News covered the festivities as part of its daylong telecast ABC 2000 Today Hosted by thenchief correspondent Peter Jennings the broadcast featured coverage of New Years festivities from around the world as part of an international consortium Dick Clark would join Jennings to coanchor coverage from Times Square MTV had broadcast coverage originating from the networks Times Square studios at One Astor Plaza For 2011 MTV also held its own ball drop in Seaside Heights New Jersey the setting of its popular reality series Jersey Shore featuring cast member Snooki lowered inside a giant hamster ball Originally MTV planned to hold the drop within its studio in Times Square but the network was asked by city officials to conduct the drop elsewhere For 2019 prominent video game streamer Ninja hosted a 12hour New Years Eve stream on Twitch from Times Square featuring matches of Fortnite Battle Royale with himself and special guests from a studio in the Paramount Building Ninja made an onstage appearance in Times Square during the festivities outside which included a failed attempt to lead the crowd in a floss dance a routine made popular by Fortnite 參見 註釋 參考來源 外部連結 New Years Eve on the Times Square Alliance website Category 紐約市文化 Category 新年 Category 美國元旦