SC Bern

Background

Rich in history, the PostFinance Arena was first opened in 1967. Now home to top tier ice hockey team, SC Bern, the arena attracts an average of 16,000 spectators per game – with a maximum capacity of just over 17,000. The stadium itself also pulls fans from a wide world of sports, including figure skating, tennis and gymnastics. It’s also used for concerts, exhibitions and an assortment of other events throughout the year.

Challenge

As the European Ice Hockey Club with the most spectator attendance each season, both SC Bern and PostFinance Arena are internationally known as leaders in their field. A combination of old equipment and a rapidly changing technological landscape, however, meant that the stadium was in need of a major upgrade. This upgrade would need to serve both the current stadium usage as well as future events with quick content updates and unrestricted flexibility to add more screens if required.

Solution

Connecting SC Bern and PostFinance Arena, the team at PPDS worked together with Kilchenmann AG and Ocilion to create a state-of-the-art entertainment set up. All public sectors within the stadium were fitted with D-Line 49- inch, 55-inch and 65-inch screens. The installation included 110 screens in total. The screens are used to broadcast live games, as well as to advertise in-stadium promotions and sponsored promotions. The new entertainment solution was specifically designed to work in collaboration with the pyro, light and audio upgrade for a completely immersive sporting experience.

Benefits

Easy content updates: Content can be easily updated by the stadium staff. Promotions and sponsored content can be added at any time, allowing for upselling and cross selling opportunities internally or in collaboration with team sponsorship arrangements.

Quality assurance: D-Line products are robust enough to be always on – 7 days per week, 24 hours per day. Displays are backed by a Philips five year warranty.

Remote upgrades: Ocilion CEC Set Top Boxes work seamlessly with the Philips set-up for remote Control from a central Point in the Stadium. The Control can be done for the whole Stadium or for each zone separately. Control commands and reactions are instant, and can be directed to the entire fleet or selected sectors.

Fast processing: Major improvements to the stadium include significantly faster processing times of live videos, cutting lag to just one second latency.

SmartPower energy efficiency: With screens always on, their backlight intensity can be controlled and pre-set to reduce energy consumption by up to 50% to save on running costs.

Ultra-quick and easy deployment: The new set up was devised and installed within a very short timeframe.