Close to $1 million in upgrades to Eastlink Centre currently underway or in the works

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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The City of Charlottetown is preparing to spend close to $1 million to add the latest in technology to its largest arena.

The most noticeable addition to Eastlink Centre is going to be a completely digital centre ice scoreboard that will show everything from the score and time remaining in the period to replays and advertisements.

“It will be a four-sided computer screen," said Wayne Long, events development officer with the city and a member of the Charlottetown Civic Centre Management Inc.’s board of directors, the governing body for the arena, in an interview with SaltWire Network on July 26.

“It will not only capture everything you see on the scoreboard now in terms of times, penalties or shots or time clocks for basketball, but you’ll also see video replay. It will be a fully digitized 360-degree video scoreboard. It will be a great asset for the fan experience for whatever activities are happening."

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The four video replay screens located in each of the four corners of Eastlink Centre now will be taken down and replaced with traditional advertising signage.

Long said Coles Associates, which is overseeing all the ongoing infrastructure projects inside the building, such as renovating the media box, will also oversee the request for proposals (RFP) for a new video scoreboard.

The cost of the actual new scoreboard, depending on whether it comes from a Canadian or U.S. supplier, could range between $200,000 and $400,000.

These expenditures were all included in the city’s 2022-23 capital budget.

It will be the first digital scoreboard featuring replay capability since the arena opened in 1991 for the Canada Winter Games.

Right now, staff at Eastlink Centre are running cables that will supply the extra power a digital scoreboard will require. Depending on which company wins the RFP, delivery will take a few months.

Long said the scoreboard could be in place as early as the season opener for the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders in October or it could take until December to arrive.

John Abbott, chair of the civic centre board, said it will take seven days to install when it arrives.

“We’ve got to try and install it when the Islanders are on a road trip," Abbott said.

The following upgrades are in the works for Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown:

Long said digitizing Eastlink Centre extends beyond the scoreboard at centre ice.

“There will be a large digital screen going in the lobby and there will be a large digital screen going into the trade centre side of the building,’’ Long said. “We’re also exploring plans to put up a digital screen (on the exterior of the building) that would advertise what is happening at the venue versus the manual board.’’

The new digital scoreboard and additional screens, as well as the work involved in supplying the new scoreboard with additional power and some other upgrades inside the building, will account for the nearly $1 million price tag.

A digital sign on the outside of the building would require the approval of the city’s planning board since the arena is located in a residential area.

Abbott said this work follows other significant infrastructure upgrades, including $500,000 on new rink boards and glass and $500,000 on a new lighting system.

All of the upgrades will be completed in time for events that will take place at Eastlink Centre during the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

Dave Stewart is a reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @DveStewart.

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