
Adirondack Bank Center Is First North American Venue To Install Permanent Digital Dasherboards Finland's Vepe-Icepro provides 360-degree LED system for Utica Comets, Utica City FC games By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 - 12:20 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Utica, NY's Adirondack Bank Center, home to the American Hockey League's Utica Comets and the Major Arena Soccer League's Utica City FC, has earned the title of first North American sports venue to install permanent digital dasherboards. The affiliate of the NHL's New Jersey Devils put the 360-degree LED system to the test against the Rochester Americans on Dec. 28, but the new in-venue production tool is already paying off.
Along with the new LED dasherboards, Adirondack Bank Center has a 1,408- x 128-pixel halo board above a static stats centerhung and two videoboards.
For a small-market team, it's a huge honor to be the first to showcase this, says Eric Kowiatek, VP, creative services, Utica Comets. It's such a cool piece of technology, and we're excited to see what we can do with it.
Visit Abroad: Trip to Finland Connects Team President to Vepe-Icepro Near the end of the 2023-24 AHL season, Mohawk Valley Garden/Utica Comets President Robert Esche had an important plane to catch: he was headed to Finland and a meeting with Vepe-Icepro. Located in the town of Tuusula - which is about 45 minutes north of the Finnish capital of Helsinki - the developer of this engaging in-venue technology is heavily involved with professional-hockey venues and competitions across the continent of Europe, including at Nokia Arena and Kivikyl Arena in Finland and the 2021 IIHF World Championship at Arena Riga in Latvia, and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The long experience, technological innovation, and relationship with Vepe-Icepro CEO Riku Kallioniemi and Export Sales Representative Matti Karmala spurred Esche to fly to Finland to see the technology for himself.
The Utica Comets hosted the Toronto Marlies on Star Wars Night on Jan. 11.
He wanted [the digital dasherboards], says Michael Lehr, VP, marketing and content, Utica Comets, and it ended up creating a great partnership with Vepe-Icepro. [The company] wanted to get into the North American market, and Rob was innovative enough to say we could do it.
The only problem was that the time needed to install the massive fixture wouldn't line up with the offseason. To solve the logistics issue, the organization circled a block of time during the 2024-25 regular season when the team would be on a road trip. After hosting the Providence Bruins on Friday, Dec. 6, the team wouldn't return home until three days before New Year's Eve, playing one game in Syracuse, two in Cleveland, and one game in Rochester. While the team was away, the in-venue crew got to work
The LED fixture has full takeovers for Comets' goals.
We had to melt the ice and rebuild the whole arena in that short time, explains Lehr. It would've been a much different experience if these dasherboards came in June and we could play around with them.
With the help of Mohawk Valley Garden COO Rick Redmond and Adirondack Bank Center Facility and Event Manager Chris Burns, the dasherboards were installed and powered up on Dec. 21, a full week before the targeted first game on Dec. 28 and nine days before Utica City FC's home opener on Dec. 29 against the Harrisburg Heat. Given the time crunch, Kowiatek clocked hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to configure the boards.
Guess and Check: Downtime Allows Workflow, Durability Tests The video display also has full goal takeovers for the venue's other tenant, Utica City FC.
To make sure the boards - and the holidays - were merry and bright, the 27,840 128-pixel video display was put through its paces and stress-tested to ensure maximum efficiency. Its main driver is Chyron PRIME Click Effects, but, to deal with any system failure or connectivity issues, Vepe-Icepro built contingency plans into the load-in process.
We have another backup computer that's feeding [graphics] through HDMI. In case something goes wrong, we can flip that switch, Kowiatek notes. There's also a built-in redundancy in the system itself: it shows a default image that's loaded in and can be switched to if it's not getting a source from anything else.
Games during the holiday season were accented with lights.
Since the video display is right next to the field of play, experiments in trying to make the system break were important. In addition, the digital dasherboards are in the field of play. Although most LED displays can't be disturbed by brute force, these fixtures needed to be checked and doublechecked by the NHL's and AHL's player-safety departments.
They had to test curved glass, how the boards interacted with pucks and players, and how the glass gave when the boards shake, Lehr explains. One of the biggest players on the ice went into the boards during the first game, and [the LED] was no more than four frames [off] before it synced again. We haven't had any issues other than that. Whether it's adjusting brightness or resetting panels if we have to, the staff with Vepe-Icepro have been really good about any kind of troubleshooting.
It's Showtime: Crew Adapts Game-Day Script for New Tech Toy For the season's 10 games before the digital dasherboards were installed, Lehr and Director, Game Presentation, Matthew LaRochelle had to create a standard run of show with the knowledge that the video display would soon be ready. Not only has it helped in programming a show for the Comets, but the display's ability to swap to a Utica City FC match has been beneficial as well.
Fan pumpers are taken up a notch wit
Most recent headlines
13/03/2025
Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...
13/03/2025
Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...
13/03/2025
On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...
13/03/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...
13/03/2025
TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...
13/03/2025
DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...
13/03/2025
FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...
13/03/2025
CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...
13/03/2025
he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...
13/03/2025
MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...
13/03/2025
Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...
13/03/2025
Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025
Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...
13/03/2025
Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...
13/03/2025
A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...
13/03/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...
13/03/2025
This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...
13/03/2025
What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...
13/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....
12/03/2025
Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
High-capacity switch enhances existi...
12/03/2025
DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...
12/03/2025
SVT Leverages Ateliere Live to Pioneer 100% Software-Defined Production at Rally...
12/03/2025
Berklee Awards Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant to Four Organizations A total of $17,000 will be distributed among the Boston-based nonprofits.
By
Madd...
12/03/2025
TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a you...
12/03/2025
The new process has significantly enhanced operational efficiencies, with automation freeing up creators to concentrate on higher value tasks
By Matthew Corrig...
12/03/2025
Jellyfish Pictures, which has offices in London and Sheffield, said it has been battling hard in the face of strong headwinds over the last 12 months
By Jenny ...
12/03/2025
Visit Booth #W2213 to Experience the Latest in AI-Driven Content Discovery and Workflow Automation
Bitcentral, a leader in media workflow solutions, is set to ...
12/03/2025
CHICAGO Jeff Lilly has been named WGN-TV director of technology effective March 17, 2025, according to Ric Harris, WGN-TV vice president and general manager....
12/03/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. A new study from LG Ad Solutions indicates that consumers want more features that would allow them to shop for products on the connected T...
12/03/2025
BOTHELL, Wash. The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the Video Services Forum (VSF) will once again present...
12/03/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast announced that it has upgraded Xfinity Internet speeds for more than 20 million customers for no additional cost....
12/03/2025
Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop - March 12-14
Brie Clayton March 11, 2025
0 Comments
Makin' Waffles with Elly Wade
During Marc...
12/03/2025
Ottawa, Canada - March 12, 2025 - Ross Video is pleased to announce the appointment of Aaron Tunnell as Business Development Director, Cloud Solutions, reinforc...