RALEIGH, N.C. — The energy inside Lenovo Center is known far beyond Raleigh. Often called one of the loudest buildings in hockey, Lenovo Center has earned a reputation as one of the NHL’s toughest road environments.
“The folks in Raleigh, they bring it and it is raw and it is rowdy. And there is no environment in the NHL that compares to this in terms of just raw human audible power,” said VP of Carolina Hurricanes Entertainment and Presentation Jason Danby.
Vice president of the Carolina Hurricanes entertainment and presentation, Jason Danby says his team takes measuring the noise level inside Lenovo Center seriously.
“We like to be honest with our fans and let them know exactly how loud they’re being. So we have two monitors that record the decibel levels,” Danby said.
One monitor is in the audio suite of Lenovo Center and the other monitor hangs from the ceiling, too small to capture on camera. These two small devices capture some of the loudest hockey fans in the world.
“I think that’s the best part about Lenovo Center is every single person who comes to a Canes game is willing to do what they can to create a willing, winning environment,” Danby said.
Beyond creating an energetic atmosphere, the high-volume levels at Lenovo Center can significantly affect players’ psychological states.
“When the arena gets really loud, the loud sound is going to attract the player’s attention. And we only have very limited cognitive resources,” said North Carolina State University psychology professor Yingchen He.
He says brains can only process so much information at once. When crowd noise intensifies, it can pull a player’s attention away from the game..
“When our attention is not distributed to the thing that we want to focus on, then our processing of the information will be affected,” said He.
The arena’s curved ceiling hard ice surface and reflective materials allow noise from fans to reverberate throughout the building, contributing to the arena’s noise levels.
Steve Levy from ESPN posted on X, saying, “Forever, I’ve said the loudest sports arena I’ve ever been in was the old Chicago Stadium. After these first two Stanley cup games in Raleigh, I might have to rethink that. My ears still hurt.”
“I suspect our crowd will continue to be the loudest fans in the NHL. The players pick up on it. They’ve said so. It’s the truth and I don’t think our team is going to be down in game five. I think they’re going to have a pretty powerful showing,” said Danby.
Experts add that playoff crowds can reach noise levels high enough to pose hearing risks, so fans may want to consider ear protection during games. If you’re heading to game five at Lenovo Center, you may want to bring a pair of earplugs. The crowd could be just as big a factor as the action on the ice.
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Kennedy Chase
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