by Andrew Lippe

The HSBC Arena, home to the Buffalo Sabres are of the NHL’s elite teams this season. Led by a potent offense and strong goaltending they had three representatives at Wednesday’s All Star Game, in Dallas. Their video production team takes pride in their stars. “We have three guys in the All Star Game,” said Marty McCreary, Director of Game Presentation at HSBC Arena. “We produced special videos for each of them.”

The arena is equipped with a Sony center-hung scoreboard that has four 9’ x 12’ video screens .  Four Ikegami cameras are currently used for their in-game productions.  An LED Ribbon Board also illuminates the arena. The 360 circle can be found between the Suite Levels. Their main speaker is manufactured by Electrovoice, and runs from the Press Level Sound and Lighting booth. A Grass Valley production switcher brings it all together. All 3D graphics are completed in-house using numerous Avid graphic systems. 

“We recently added an avid adrenaline system,” said McCreary. HSBC Arena does not have an EVS system but instead uses Digibeta for replay.

One interesting dynamic of the arena was that they were the first arena to install the Ice Projection System. The Ice Projection System turns the 200 by 85 foot ice surface into a movie screen. The digitized system can project images like the Sabres logo, videos and computer-generated graphics anywhere on the ice.

“It is important to create excitement,” McCreary said. They produce an array of videos from players to fan shots but none are produced in HD.