Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

The only real addition the Jets could make for nosebleeds that may be worth the costs would be sky suites and sky club seats hung below the rafters opposite the pressbox.  You could get away with charging premium prices with premium seating.  Try to sell it as a unique bird's eye view of the game.

 

My guess is True North waits until those 7 - 10 year contracts for the current suites are finished and if those are all renewed and there still remains a waiting list (as I think there was back in 2011 for the suites), the organization decides to go ahead with this expansion.  Still 6 years away from those renewals so we shall see.

 

By the way, Chipman originally wanted to build an 11,000 or 12,000 seat arena, not 8000 seater.  It was both Doer and Murray who convinced him to build it slightly bigger with funding from the city and province (along with  funding from the feds).

Posted

Here is a concept picture of the new scoreclock.  You can see that Jets logo in the middle of it.  I guess with flat screen technology what it is today, you don't need the space inside the score clock.

 

mts-centre-enhancements.jpg

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I thought it looked smaller than I anticipated too.  But I guess its all screen whereas the old one was a big contraption that was only partially screen and the rest was frames and advertising.  It definitely has a cleaner look.  Someone said the power ring is larger and in a different spot too.  With the new in-house HD video command centre, I imagine it will look pretty cool with all the video, lights, smoke etc going.

Posted

I think the people thinking its small are seeing an optical illusion.  The screens on the new one appear to be about the same size as the entire side of the old one (including frame, advertising etc).  So the screens are much bigger.

 

I saw they used the entire screen for video package and then showed a mock of an in-game screen showing the action with the score etc on the bottom 1/4 or so of the screen.  I hope, unlike the Bombers, they make use of the entire screen for replays and things of that nature.

 

Also, it sounds like a second, very large LED ribbon above the old one but it appears to not be an entire circle around the arena, but the length of the press box.

Posted
 

Less than 11 years after its official opening, you can be excused if you don't recognize the MTS Centre.

 

True North Sports & Entertainment has poured many millions of dollars into upgrades of the downtown facility since that first AHL game between the Manitoba Moose and the St. John's Maple Leafs in November 2004.

150916MTSCENTREUPGRADES07JH.jpg

JASON HALSTEAD / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

The new scoreboard and LED video rings at the MTS Centre are part of $12 million in building enhancements. Photo Store

The improvements kicked into high gear once it was announced the NHL was returning to town in the spring of 2011 and the latest $12 million in enhancements was put on display for the first time Wednesday afternoon.

 

Arguably the biggest change is the addition of a new high-definition scoreboard. With four screens measuring 17 feet by 22 feet, compared to nine feet tall by 16 feet wide for the old scoreboard, and 10 times the resolution, fans will be able to see replays down to a couple of millimetres when the puck crosses the goal line.

 

Noah Baird, True North's manager of audio/video and broadcast services, said it makes the scoreboard from the old Winnipeg Arena, where players' pictures were virtually indistinguishable from one other, look like it came from the Stone Age.

 

"It's just much smaller light bulbs. The distance between the LEDs has gotten smaller and smaller and that's what brings the resolution higher and higher," he said.

 

There will also be additional camera angles from the penalty boxes, home and away team hallways, the Jets' bench and underneath the clock.

 

There will be 278 additional sets of eyeballs taking in the new scoreboard from the new row of loge seating that's been added on to the 300-level, bringing the building's capacity for hockey up to 15,294.

 

Ticket holders will enjoy swivel chairs and a counter-style ledge for food and drinks.

 

Kevin Donnelly, general manager of the MTS Centre and senior vice-president at True North, said that should be the last new batch of seats that fans will hear about for awhile.

 

"Never say never," he said. "But we won't be raising the roof."

 

Corporate messages will move around the larger power ring and be complemented by new LED screens on the front of the press box and above the Zamboni entrance.

 

Corporate suite holders will also notice their couches have been replaced by high-top tables and bar stools, which not only make it easier to see the game away from the arena seating but also more conducive to hosting social functions.

 

The changes are all part of True North's "TN 2020" initiative which will see nearly $30 million in enhancements throughout the building by 2020.

Geoff.Kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 17, 2015 D2

Posted

Actual size (and definition) of the screen itself is what matters most to me.  The "jumbotrons" at IGF really bother me, for a new stadium they seem real small and not that much bigger than Canad Inns.  

Posted

The boards at IGF were over hyped by the bombers. Some say that they have to be that way because they need revenue from sponsors. I've only seen them use the whole screen to show recorded images. A question for somebody that might know can these boards display live action and or replays using the whole board and if they can why are the bombers not using them properly. Ticats THF may not be as nice as ours but their video boards kicks our's ass.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...