To get the most from MLSEL's new $3 million, 30x50 outdoor HD video board and public square, its owners need 6,000 people watching a late-spring hockey or basketball playoff game.
"At the end of the day, the engine that drives everything is our teams," executive vice-president for venues Bob Hunter said at yesterday's unveiling of $48 million in ACC improvements
"That's up to (respective general managers) Brian Burke and Bryan Colangelo. But when there's a big game here, say the Leafs in the second or third round, we think there would be an incredible atmosphere, like a mini-Times Square."
MLSEL claims the mixed-use concept, two years in the making and linked to its condo development by a glass walkway, is the biggest such project in town since the Eaton Centre in 1977. Inside the ACC corridors, 300 HD monitors will be tied into a central console capable of signalling a goal, three-pointer or even providing touch screen service to help navigate the seats, washrooms, concessions and retail shops in the building.
A crisp new sound system is in place, a wider atrium was created with a new TV studio, The Ice Box bar and a hydraulic seating conversion system to make Leafs-to-Raptors-to-concerts a snap.
LANCE.HORNBY@SUNMEDIA.CA
