Staples Center changes from basketball to hockey in time-lapse video (2024)

FAQs

How do they change basketball court to hockey rink? ›

Then large pieces of insulated plywood are laid out over the top of the ice. Finally the basketball court is pieced together like a puzzle on top of the plywood. The special plywood keeps the ice cool and the court warm. After the game, the process is reversed to get the arena ready for the next ice hockey game.

By Crypto.com reportedly to have agreed to pay $700 million for a 20-year period, the Lakers surpassed their rival city NBA team in the Los Angeles Clippers, and their NFL brothers in the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, as the current richest U.S venue naming rights deal. The name change was announced in Nov. 2021.

The technology used in indoor ice rinks is the same type found in refrigerators and air conditioners. Brine water, which is a salt and water solution, is pumped through a system of pipes under the ice. Those pipes are built into the concrete that makes up the arena floor.

Ice Hockey Rink Thickness

The NHL has specific rules about hockey rink dimensions and ice thickness. Each rink is 200 feet by 85 feet and uses ice that typically is 3/4 of an inch or 0.75" thick, which equates to 19.05 millimeters or 1.905 centimeters.

Generally speaking, the ice will be about 25° and the air, for an inside game, will be somewhere between 50 and 60°. That's not bad considering outdoor games must be played in freezing or below-freezing temperatures.

The Clippers-to-Lakers swap takes about 90 minutes and involves more than just the playing surface. The Lakers and Clippers have their own scorers tables and basketball hoops. 35 Changeover Crew members work on the event level. More than 120 workers clean the rest of Staples Center between games.

As players left the court, a group of 60 Crypto.com Arena workers set in motion a two-hour transformation of the playing surfaces, from Clippers hardwood to Kings ice, and for only a handful of times, back to hardwood for a Lakers game the following day.

Wachtel confirmed that the NHL made two changes to the technology during the 2022-23 season: tweaking the brightness of the ads and applying some motion-blurring to them so they would better blend in during play. He said the system uses artificial intelligence rendering to improve the look of the ads from game to game.

On November 16, 2021, it was announced that the naming rights to the Staples Center had been acquired by Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, renaming it Crypto.com Arena effective December 25, 2021 (with the changeover coinciding with the Lakers' nationally televised Christmas Day game).

Under the multi-year agreement, the Staples Center was renamed the “Crypto.com Arena” starting Christmas Day 2021. This was a landmark moment for the cryptocurrency industry, as it marked the first time a cryptocurrency company secured naming rights for a major sports arena.

Do the Lakers and Clippers share the same arena? ›

In July 2020, the team received city approval for the Intuit Dome; as part of the deal, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer purchased The Forum (the Lakers' home arena from 1967 to 1999) from Madison Square Garden Sports. The Clippers moved to the Intuit Dome starting in the 2024–25 season.

Insulation & Heated Concrete

Underneath there is a layer of insulation and a heated concrete layer. This keeps the ground below the ice from freezing, which could expand and ultimately crack the rink structure.

The NHL does not use synthetic ice for its games. The league uses natural ice for all matches, made by freezing water on a rink surface.

The heated water, according to Tharaldson, is about 140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit (60-63 centigrade); "the hotter the water," he says, "the more even a surface you'll get--it melts that top layer when you cut across [the ice]."

Switch the seats

The seats collapse and are rotated with one side for hockey and one side for basketball. The collapsed seat sections are very heavy and are moved and rotated with a pneumatic platform that floats on a thin film of air, similar to a hovercraft.

Once the replacement costs for all materials exceed 50% of the value of the facility, it's time to move on. As a result, planning and design guidelines and facilities estimation resources state that 25-35 years is the best range for a “design life” of an arena, with 30-year bonds being the most typical funding source.

It took approximately 21 months to finish the arena which had an estimated budget of $180 million. It finally opened on October 1, 1999, which was celebrated by a Celine Dion concert. It has a seating capacity of 18,007 for basketball games, and 20,000 for concerts, and special events.