Ice Rink Digital Advertising

Ice hockey dynamic signage is now proving to be a winner for several installations in the USA and Canada; digital signage equipment is now being installed in several ice rinks due to the low-cost as well as their speedy return on investment.

First let us look at the design of the ice rink so we can fully grasp what the dynamic marketing hardware has to cope with.

Ice Rink.
The term link transposes in Scottish to “course”, this is an area that was and still is to this day used for the Scottish classic winter sport of curling

An inside ice rink.
These indoor ice rinks are built in layers, a concrete base is laid, with a series of pipes that has a chilled fluid inside, the chilled fluid can either be brine or a water mixture including antifreeze and this is embedded in the concrete. When water is sprayed on top of the concrete it freezes due to the ultra low temperatures.

Due to the rink being built of layers a few inches thick, it is required to resurface the rink with more ice during games, as the ice rink heats up and with the wear of skaters and ice hockey teams sawing into the ice.

A siton machine identified as a Zamboni is used to resurface the ice and usually comes out and does its job in the breaks.

With most ice hockey rinks being a continuous 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius this can cause some issues with the electronics used. Picture using a domestic TV in this extreme setting what would take place? Well over a small time period you would find that the monitor would fail due to the heat in the screen causing condensation to form on internal parts and then rusting them.

Digital signage in a skating rink.
Now here the investment in the electronic signage systems is essential, as you don’t want the investors pondering on their decision to install a digital signage system that fails.

One positive way to shield the hardware is to install a LCD enclosure, these are a steel LCD enclosure that the electronics will fit into and can be attached from ceiling mounts and from the walls, ideal for promoting drinks and fast food for the break.

The LCD enclosure is fitted with a special cooling and heating system that is thermostatically controlled and can be tweaked, so when the temperature falls to below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, the heater starts to work and heats the internal equipment in the casing, then when the heat increases past the preset temperature the heater switches off, this constant monitoring of the internal heat is crucial to main the condition of the internal computer hardware.

Without any protective housing the digital signage solution will have to be able to cope in an environment that almost none of the normal devices can work in.

Once the devices is in a safe environment the rink can gain from broadcasting news mixed with advertising, these ads can include the rink shop, the next high-profile match or even the meal deal at the fast food restaurant.