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.

The Lakers faithful received a gift on Dec. 25, 2021, as the team played their first game inside the newly-named arena Crypto.Com Arena. The Singapore-based crypto-currency company made history by embarking on what is believed to be the largest naming rights agreement in sports history.

Bring a good jacket for Kings games

If you go for a Kings game, the stadium will be pretty cold. Bring a good jacket or sweater!

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.

The whole process of swapping the courts and changing the hoops, plus all the other little details (even the scorer tables are different), typically takes just around 90 minutes.

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.

Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street, and has since been considered a part of L.A. Live.

Sitting in the heart of downtown Los Angeles adjacent to LA Live, Staples Center – now known as Crypto.com Arena – is a fixture of sports and entertainment. While it hosts year-round concerts, and is home to the Los Angeles Clippers, Kings and Sparks, easily their most famous tenants are the Los Angeles Lakers.

Since its opening, STAPLES Center has been the site of Lakers and Sparks championships, the Kings Stanley Cup, and thousands of memorable concerts and special events.

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.

How cold is it inside a hockey stadium? ›

It's going to be cooler the closer to the ice you are. 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.

At the beginning of the hockey season, the arena uses an advanced refrigeration system that pumps freezing "brinewater" (salt water) through a system of pipes that run through a large piece of concrete known as the "ice slab." When the "ice slab" gets cold enough, layers of water are applied to it.

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.

Most ice rinks will keep the air temperature at a brisk 55-65 degrees and the on-ice temperature between 17 and 29 degrees.

The floor panels fit together with a wood and steel tongue-in-groove system, using metal pins in the steel to anchor each panel to its neighbor, allowing the removal and installation of floors before and after NBA games to make room for other events. Or other courts.

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.

To create the skating surface the ice is built in layers. Water is carefully sprayed directly onto the concrete slab at around 1/32 of an inch thick. This layer freezes almost immediately when it hits the concrete and forms the base of the ice rinks skating surface.