STAPLES CENTER: TECHNOLOGY : QUICK TURNAROUND; ARENA CAN GO FROM HOCKEY RINK TO BASKETBALL COURT IN 2 1/2 HOURS.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck

The big day at the Staples Center - the really big day - is not at the gala opening or when Bruce starts to strum or when the Kings first take the ice.

The date to circle is Nov. 27.

Now that will be an interesting day in the young life of the Staples Center. By then the arena will have been operating for more than a month, but that's when it gets a serious test.

That afternoon the Kings will play host to the Sharks at 12:30 p.m. Then a little more than four hours after the game ends, the Clippers will host the Trail Blazers.

``Just wish me luck,'' said Lee Zeidman, the arena's vice president of operations.

The Staples Center is scheduled to have seven doubleheaders in its first season of operation, most involving the Kings and either the Lakers or Clippers, though on Martin Luther King Jr. Day next January, the two NBA teams will each play home games at the arena.

This calls for a slightly amazing changeover. On that first conversion next month, the arena will have to be cleared of the public and press, the ice covered, the hardwood floor and baskets put in place, the press areas revamped and the seating configuration changed from that of a hockey rink to a basketball arena.

The Staples Center comes with more than plush luxury boxes, upscale food courts, wide aisles and splashy locker rooms. It also offers the latest technology beneath all that fancy exterior.

``The way the the building is designed, you can turn it around in 2-1/2 hours,'' said Ed Roski Jr., co-owner of the arena, Kings and Lakers.

Ultimately - cross those fingers - that should prove true. Certainly that is the plan. But initially, as a new crew adapts to a new arena, new setup, new technology, it should prove interesting.

``We will be able to do it here in 2-1/2 hours, once we're trained and we figure out where everything goes,'' Zeidman said. ``And provided everything works the way it's supposed to work.''

There are several elements that will enable the arena to make these quick conversions, which of course will also enable it to bring in that much more revenue. The most significant element is being able to use the same seats for both sports by simply changing the sight-lines.

``We have what's called multi-sight lines, rising seat sections that retract behind each goal,'' Zeidman said. ``They sit behind the dasher boards. We can retract these in and out with a push of a button. And they articulate. They go up for basketball to give you a better view, and down for hockey to put you closer to the ice.

``So instead of having to bring in different sections for each sport, we use the same system.''

And the seats for basketball - the ones that extend beyond the dasher boards - no longer have to be built almost from scratch for each game.

``In front of the dasher boards are what we call the manual retractable seating sections,'' Zeidman said. ``There are five on each end. Those are the seats at the Forum that are on the risers, going right down to the baskets. All we do is forklift them in, retract them out and put folding chairs on there.

``At the Forum, they were all their own separate sections made up of some heavy steal. It took about eight guys to move one piece.''

Another timesaver is that, unlike the Forum where all dasher boards had to be removed, 75 percent of the boards will remain in place at the Staples Center. The first two rows of seats for a basketball game will be in front of the dasher boards. Only some of the corners and aisles will have to be removed.

Helping to make all this work more effectively is the increased storage area. And also unlike the Forum and most older arenas where all the storage of equipment was jammed into one section, Staples Center has an area at each end of the arena.

``So while we're pulling hockey out of one end, we'll be (pushing in the equipment for) basketball at the other end,'' Zeidman said. ``At the Forum everything was in one area and you had to unload everything before you could get to what you needed. Then it all came in through one entrance.''

Once everyone becomes familiar with their jobs and the building, he said a crew of 25 should be able to make the conversion. Come Nov. 27, however, Zeidman plans to have several extra bodies at work.

``Our first doubleheader, I plan on running anywhere from 65 to 80 people down there,'' he said. ``It will look like a Chinese fire drill.''

Conversions are not limited to going from hockey to basketball, or the reverse. The Lakers and Clippers each play on their own floor, with a different a shade of wood. There are different logos, baskets and press seating. Even for two NBA games on the same day, there will be a serious conversion.

None of the technology that will be utilized to change seating or aid the changeover is unique to Staples. Other recent arenas have already adopted the same approach.

``We've just refined things, that's all,'' Zeidman said.

Zeidman, previously the Forum's operations manager, said he has hired the best of the crews from the Forum and Sports Arena. Still, nothing is certain.

``In Portland, their first few changeovers took 17 hours,'' he said.

Roski said during hockey season the ice remains in place for all events except the circus, and is simply covered before it's adapted to the next event.

``You can play tennis on it or anything,'' Roski said. ``You just can't put any animals on top of it. They're too smart.''

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Photo

Photo: Final touches are put on the scoreboard and floor at the Staples Center.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer