Conversion

American Airlines Center:

"American Airlines Center set a new record for floor conversion on Sunday April 22nd, 2007 with a changeover from Basketball to Hockey in 1 hour and 28 minutes. The Dallas Mavericks regular season game against rival San Antonio Spurs began at 2:30pm and ended at approximately 5:06pm. Over 60 changeover specialists working quickly to convert the basketball court to a hockey rink. The zamboni hit the ice at 6:28pm to prepare the ice for the 1st Dallas Stars Playoff game that began at 9:00pm. Both events were a sell-out and nationally televised."

Source: http://www.americanairlinescenter.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/page/PageID/253

This is a time-lapse video of the conversion of the AAC from basketball to hockey.  Very interesting to watch...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=135985

How the AAC is converted from Basketball to Hockey

240 4x8 and 4x4 maple wood pieces that make up the Dallas Mavericks Basketball Court.

120 Dasher Board pieces and 96 pieces of plexiglass that surround the ice in the Dallas Stars Hockey Rink.

The Hockey Ice Rink is covered with 475 pieces of compressed composite fiberglass called Polar Deck for each non-ice event.

Between 40 and 60 workers can complete a changeover in 2 hours.

We use 2 Forklifts and 40 to 60 people to complete a conversion.

There are four supervisors and 1 manager on staff during the changeover.

We use a system of color-coded shirts to assign tasks to each changeover specialist. There are 5 color groups and each group has 4-5 tasks that they work on over the 2-½ hour timeframe.

Our retractable seating is automated which allows major sections to be moved easily but we do have a variety of sections that are handset.

source:http://www.americanairlinescenter.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/page/PageID/253