Climate Pledge Arena
Making a Splash With Unforgettable Fan Experience as Kraken Is Released for the First Time at New Arena
After the announcement that Seattle would be home to the newest club in the NHL, Climate Pledge Arena teamed up with Diversified to deliver arena sports and entertainment technologies, including ice projection technology, that amplify the excitement and fan experience as the Kraken was released to a city of new fans. “This was an extremely fun project to work on because they truly had a clean slate,” Mike Meglathery, Diversified project manager, commented. “There was a lot of brainstorming and throwing ideas around, but it got down to building as much flexibility as possible to leave room for future growth.”
Determined to bring their ambitions to fruition, Kraken production staff and Diversified teamed up to immerse fans in the on-ice action—delivering not only the production control room, audio and AV throughout the arena but also the engaging and fan-favorite ice-projection technologies.
The entire experience is driven by the production control room, which is based on 1080p 60-fps workflows—its core a Ross Acuity 3M/E switcher with XPression graphics and XPression Clips server. Adder’s Infinity Series enables KVM anywhere in the facility on the production team’s converged network. Productions are anchored by a total of twenty in-venue cameras to deliver excitement from every angle. Outside the control room, Diversified delivered all of the facility’s sound and audio technology, cloud-based IPTV systems throughout the arena and exterior plaza and outdoor displays to keep fans engaged as they move about the venue.
Still, the undisputed fan favorite is the pregame ice projection technology that builds excitement and anticipation before puck drop. While systems integrations present their typical challenges including working around other trades, supply chain delays and condensed timelines, finishing the ice-projection system added a new layer of complexity since the testing had to be completed with the arena in total darkness.
Using Barco’s 45,000-ANSI-lumen projectors and the two dual-sided, triangular-shaped videoboards, fans are immersed in an ominous and electrifying pregame intro, bringing them from the depths of the ocean to the heights of the Seattle skyline before revealing a larger-than-life Kraken wall projection via the 16’x9’ projectors as the players take the ice and the game begins.
IN THE MEDIA
