Why are dasher board ads at NHL games different on TV from in-person?
ST. PAUL, Minn. — When NHL hockey players go crashing into the boards, advertisers enjoy some air time. But the logos fans see along the boards on TV are different from what is seen in the arena.
"What fans see at home is very different than what the fans see when they're sitting here at Xcel Energy Center," Bryan Bellows, Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Minnesota Wild, said. "Essentially the NHL has partnered with a company called Suppanor and what they do is implement a remote artificial intelligence technology that augments the dasher board advertising."
It starts with a worker beneath the stands who calibrates the center ice camera with the boards to make sure the ads will fit properly.
"They communicate with the TV truck as well," Bellows said. "That's the technology pushed out to our fans watching the game... The camera angles that have the digital dasher board advertising are the ones here at center ice."
That means if the broadcast switches to a different camera angle, like behind the glass, those watching on TV will see the same logos that fans see in the arena.
"Our deliverable to our corporate partners is so much more dynamic now versus just a logo which you would see here," Bellows said.
Unlike the normal dasher board ads that are stationary, the digital version can be animated or expanded to take over the entire viewing area.
"It allows the brands to do so much more and engage with our fans than they ever have," Bellows said.
That technology, which became available a few years ago, is used by every NHL team. That means even during road games, the Wild can project their corporate partners onto the boards.
"That's something that we've never had before. You would only see the logos of the team that you're playing against in their market," Bellows said. "So we have double the amount of games that we can feature our corporate brand here that's a partner of the Minnesota Wild."
Virtual logos are also projected onto the glass behind each goal and on the ice right next to the blue lines.
