Digital Signage Gets Spooky at Nation’s Largest Indoor Sports Complex

ConnectedSign installs 60 HD displays, including 12 interactive digital signage kiosks and a video wall, throughout 14-acre sports facility.

Emily Long
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Walking into the country’s largest indoor sports complex for the first time could be a daunting experience.

The hustle and bustle that comes with a facility more than 700,000 square feet in size may sound overwhelming, especially when you consider that it can simultaneously host soccer tournaments, volleyball games, tennis matches, field hockey championships and more.

How will you know where your team needs to be for their 3:30 game? Where are the restrooms? How much does it cost to use the rock wall for a day? And what is available for lunch? These are all common questions swirling around large fitness and entertainment venues like Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster County, PA.

Anytime you build a multi-acre entertainment facility with various offerings, you face communication obstacles, opening the door to quite a bit of chaos.

Thankfully, disorder and confusion are not words that describe an experience at Spooky Nook. But that was no happy accident. Visitors to the larger-than-life complex are able to enjoy each facet of the Spooky Nook experience thanks to a site-wide, digital signage system created by ConnectedSign.

An Innovative Digital Signage Solution

ConnectedSign’s system deployment included a video wall, self-standing menus, way-finding kiosks, digital food service and dining menu boards, interactive information kiosks, and more.

The project consisted of 60, high-resolution industrial screens spread throughout the 14-acre building. While 80 percent of the screens are non-interactive, 20 percent are fully interactive digital displays, providing visitors with a convenient way to access a wide range of facility and event information.

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An interactive kiosk at Spooky Nook Sports displays six category tiles, representing “events,” “attractions,” “places to stay,” “places to eat,” “Spooky Nook news and information,” and “weather.” With a user-friendly interface and the capability to show real-time updates, an interactive kiosk at the sports facility has assumed functionality similar to a smartphone or tablet.

The digital signage software and content systems created by ConnectedSign make updating the facility’s displays fast and easy. Spooky Nook is also able to utilize their signage to team up with local advertisers.

Lancaster restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, etc. are able to purchase ad space throughout the popular venue, thanks to ConnectedSign’s site-wide deployment. In fact, ConnectedSign’s project execution was so impressive that it received the 2014 DIGI Award for “Best Deployment, Entertainment (cinema, sports venue, etc.).”

Digital Signage and the Spooky Nook Experience

So how does this innovative digital signage system translate into a benefit for Spooky Nook visitors? Well, in a complex that spans 700,000 square feet and is 36 feet high, it can be a bit difficult for people to navigate or to hear audio announcements being made. ConnectedSign’s system provides a simple solution for Spooky Nook to communicate important information to all of its visitors.

The complex is plugged into the local emergency management system, which disseminates weather alerts or security information in emergency situations. Additionally, if a child gets lost somewhere in the venue, that information can be posted immediately on the screen to help locate the child and designate a location for the child’s return when found.

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Stephanie Jordan, Spooky Nook’s Marketing Manager, explains, “ConnectedSign’s digital displays enhance the customer’s experience when they enter our facility. The displays help with overall internal branding to make this vast business come together as a whole. These high quality screens look extremely professional and help organize and control large crowds of people.”

Jordan goes on to say “the screen’s content is easily updatable by our marketing team … [the displays] also have the capability to be linked with our Twitter feed for quick announcements.”

As the demand for streamlined, interactive communication increases with venues like Spooky Nook Sports, the benefits of digital signage are becoming more and more apparent. It’s the “Swiss army knife of visual communications,” states ConnectedSign Vice President, Loren Bucklin. And we are seeing new applications for the technology every day.

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