The center ice archive has gone through many changes over the last year, and we have one more big announcement regarding the site. We are bringing one of the most requested features to the archive. Authentic rink advertisements will now appear on ice.
I have fought it for years, but since so many visitors ask for this, we have decided it is worth the extra effort.
This will take a while to implement. We will add a section on our homepage letting you know what teams have authentic advertisements. Now on to how we will handle this in a way that is authentic but also keeps the center ice archive organized and focused on the center ice design above all else.
Authentic Ads will only be placed on NHL rinks. There are just too many ad placements in other leagues, and not nearly enough reference photos/videos to accurately recreate them.
Some teams have been known to change out their in-ice ads in the middle of the season, and this is now commonly done for the playoffs when the league puts in their league wide ads. We will only cover one set of advertisements per season and they will be based on regular season action.
With some older ices, the advertisements sometimes got pretty close to the center ice circle. This means that some ads might fall within our square thumbnail images that focus solely on the center ice area. To keep browsing the archive clean and efficient, we do not plan to include those ads in our thumbnails. They will only show up on the full rink images.
We have already begun working on this project. You can find advertisements on the NHL All Star ice rinks. For an updates on what teams we are upgraded to the new authentic rinks, please follow this thread in the community. Also here is a quick preview of some other rinks.