Jan 9, 2007 8:23 pm US/Central
Minn. Printers Make 120-Foot NHL All-Star Banners
by Jason DeRusha
(WCCO)
-
-
Visual Impact has 20 employees, and some of the largest printers in the Midwest. The contract with the NHL is to print 105,000 square feet of signage, enough to stretch over five professional hockey rinks.
CBS
When the National Hockey League needed a company to print every banner and sign for its 2007 All-Star Game, they turned to the state of hockey -- Minnesota. Even though the Jan. 24 game is in Dallas, Texas -- a Blaine, Minn. company got the contract to print 1,100 signs.
"It's about the biggest job we've ever taken," said Mike Cofrin, the director of sales and marketing.
Visual Impact has 20 employees, and some of the largest printers in the Midwest. The contract with the NHL is to print 105,000 square feet of signage, enough to stretch over five professional hockey rinks.
"We've been in constant contact, probably 15 times a day with the NHL," said Brian Krumwiede, Visual Impact's project manager. "We started printing about a week ago and we've been printing non-stop every day."
The biggest graphic will be three, 120-foot wide by 70-foot tall archways that will cover the entrance points of the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Those monster banners are printed on a mesh material.
"When you're outside you want some of the wind to go through the banner, so it's not beating against the building. It lets 30 percent of the wind through," said Krumwiede.
Visual Impact won the contract to print signs for the last NHL All-Star game in 2004. That game was in St. Paul.
It is interesting that a group of Minnesotans is doing this work for an arena that hosts the Dallas Stars. Prior to 1993, the Stars were the Minnesota North Stars.
"I'm a Wild fan. We're going back to the North Stars. It's a great feeling," said Mike Flynn, a Visual Impact employee.
The company will ship the signage to Dallas on Friday, and they'll head to Texas to install all of their graphics in the coming weeks.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
