The Athletic - Boston Bruins give thumbs up to new lighting in TD Garden as preseason action begins

Fenway

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The most noticeable change is no more glare on the ice from the lights

ice-1024x640.jpg

Bruins give thumbs up to new lighting in TD Garden as...

When playing conditions are below standard, players aren’t afraid to speak their minds, especially when it comes to the ice surface, or the brightness of the 31 arenas in the league. And the lights inside TD Garden used to be something opposing players said could be better.

And when the Bruins hosted the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon in the first preseason game of the season at TD Garden, it was evident how much brighter it was inside the arena.

Along with arenas in San Jose, Dallas, Tampa and Colorado, TD Garden added LED lighting in the offseason. In an era of advanced analytics, a brighter ice surface will make a huge difference for the players, fans watching in person and on television, and will help marketing and sponsorships.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said the changes were obvious as soon as the players took the ice.

“I noticed right away during the warmup,” he said. “It’s much brighter. It can definitely improve the quality of the overall environment, whether you look at it from a player’s perspective, or from a marketing standpoint. It also helps the team photographers to get higher quality pictures. The fans will get way better visuals. It was much brighter, much better.”

The Bruins’ parent company, Delaware North, along with Boston Properties, is in the midst of a massive development on the site of the former Boston Garden on Causeway Street, which is being called “The Hub on Causeway.” CEO Charlie Jacobs recently said the entire project should be completed in the next year, but the current goal is to have the new front entrance to TD Garden open for the first home game on Oct. 8.
 

Bruinaura

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I liked it on tv.

The China game almost looked blue by comparison.
 

neelynugs

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i didn't notice anything on TV, but had no idea they made any changes...i'll go back to
the DVR to see it again, but if chara says it's a big difference, then it is.
 

Fenway

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My understanding is that they took care of the lighting this year, and they'll take care of the ice next summer.

The ice plant is going to be moved to ice level where the old proshop was as that should reduce humidity.

TD Garden will be closed for 60 days next summer to replace all seats, install new scoreboard, and implement the additional seating and standing room. They are not doing this on the cheap.
 

Fenway

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Ron Poster sent me a text

Too bright. Bring shades. Adjust your irises.
Noticeable immediately


41841685_296195247860664_1097659088122150912_n.jpg
 
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talkinaway

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I agree with wintersej - for the first period, I sat up in the 300s. The area around me seemed MUCH darker, and the top rows looked like they were absolutely dark, but I'm willing to accept that as a possible optical illusion. The brighter ice was IMMEDIATELY noticeable - it was about as subtle as a Shawn Thornton hit. When I went down to the loge after first intermission to do my duty and fill a seat (so the Bruins wouldn't be embarrassed, of course!), the area around me seemed like it was just normal brightness.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm generally not a fan of the brighter arenas. Then again, I've always been a bit of a vampire when it comes to light - to this day, I hate getting my eyes dilated at the ophtho because it's just SO bright afterwards. People on my Twitter feed liked it, and if it reduces glare, gets better quality TV shots, and most importantly helps the players, I'm all for it.

BTW, the ice seemed god awful to my non-hockey-playing eyes. Can't wait for 2019-20. The other cool change at the Garden is a mysterious gap between Milt's number and Terry's number that should be filled in November...
 
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BruinsBtn

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Might seem like a small thing, but this will help Tuuka. He gets migraines (as a fellow sufferer I understand) and having far less glare on the ice from the bright lights should help significantly.

Tim Thomas always complained about dark arenas. Wish they'd done this years ago.
 

PrisonMike

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The ice plant is going to be moved to ice level where the old proshop was as that should reduce humidity.

TD Garden will be closed for 60 days next summer to replace all seats, install new scoreboard, and implement the additional seating and standing room. They are not doing this on the cheap.

Yesss!!! Finally replacing the seats and the scoreboard! Are they keeping the same seat color and checker pattern?
 

Alicat

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Ron Poster sent me a text

Too bright. Bring shades. Adjust your irises.
Noticeable immediately


View attachment 140255
I’ll be one of those people wearing sunglasses in there if it’s that bright.

Excessive light, especially led/fluorescent types, still triggers headaches 6 months post op.

It does look really nice in pictures tho
 
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CharasLazyWrister

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The ice plant is going to be moved to ice level where the old proshop was as that should reduce humidity.

TD Garden will be closed for 60 days next summer to replace all seats, install new scoreboard, and implement the additional seating and standing room. They are not doing this on the cheap.

Wooow.

Will be interesting. I’m not a big guy, but the seats up in the balcony can be pretty damn tight. Doubt they want to decrease overall capacity by any more than a percentage or two, but I am guessing any upgrade would not include seats that were any smaller.

Is there a link to any sort of concrete information on this renovation?
 

Fenway

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RussellmaniaKW

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I liked it on tv.

The China game almost looked blue by comparison.
I'm breaking in a new TV spent most of the China game messing with the picture trying to get it to not look blue only to realize after watching a NESN replay on NHL TV from last season that it was just really weird lighting in China.
 

GloryDaze4877

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I agree with wintersej - for the first period, I sat up in the 300s. The area around me seemed MUCH darker, and the top rows looked like they were absolutely dark, but I'm willing to accept that as a possible optical illusion. The brighter ice was IMMEDIATELY noticeable - it was about as subtle as a Shawn Thornton hit. When I went down to the loge after first intermission to do my duty and fill a seat (so the Bruins wouldn't be embarrassed, of course!), the area around me seemed like it was just normal brightness.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm generally not a fan of the brighter arenas. Then again, I've always been a bit of a vampire when it comes to light - to this day, I hate getting my eyes dilated at the ophtho because it's just SO bright afterwards. People on my Twitter feed liked it, and if it reduces glare, gets better quality TV shots, and most importantly helps the players, I'm all for it.

BTW, the ice seemed god awful to my non-hockey-playing eyes. Can't wait for 2019-20. The other cool change at the Garden is a mysterious gap between Milt's number and Terry's number that should be filled in November...

Not to get overly technical, but one of the inherent qualities of LED lighting is to put a lot of light on task. This is why you see much lower wattages when LED is used to replace traditional light sources. Because of that more focused light, areas outside the "task space" (in this case the ice) will often be darker because there is less ambient light. This can be fixed by installing some secondary lights to fill that in.

I don't know what LED system was installed, but Philips makes a "tunable" fixture that allows you to adjust the color of the LED's. This is significant because with LED lighting the amount of lumens given off is directly related to the color of the light. The whiter/bluer the color temperature, the more light you get. The practical application is that you can adjust the color temp of the fixture until you get the right amount of light for that setting. If the lighting at TD Garden is deemed to be "too bright" (although the players didn't seem to have an issue with it), it can always be adjusted by changing the color temp of the LED's.
 

Deleted

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It probably highlights the standard that you guys are used to over there but both myself and the missus were very impressed with the Garden when we were there last year. When we got our first glimpse inside we both looked at each other and were like "whoa". Then again I suppose we had never been in a hockey arena like that before.

Can't wait to get back in there next month! Just under 6 weeks to go.
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
 
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