Patent ID: 8307597

Claim:
A modular sports floor for installation in an event center, the modular sports floor comprising: multiple modular floor panels, each modular floor panel comprising: a substantially planar floor surface including tongue and groove planks pre-sanded and pre-sealed before the modular floor panel is installed in the sports event center, the multiple modular floor panels defining a substantially planar floor surface having a longitudinal dimension and a latitudinal dimension; and a set of staggered planar fingers extending distally from the substantially planar floor surface in a staggered pattern, the modular floor panels being disposed adjacent to each other in the longitudinal and latitudinal dimensions and defining a gap in the substantially planar floor surface between adjacent modular floor panels in the longitudinal dimension; and multiple zippers disposed in and spanning the gap in the substantially planar floor surface between adjacent modular floor panels in the longitudinal direction, wherein each zipper comprises a set of pre-fabricated zipper pieces comprising: an individual tongue and groove plank shorter than another individual tongue and groove plank, the tongue and groove plank and the other tongue and groove plank each spanning the distance between modular floor panels in the longitudinal dimension and in the staggered pattern defined by the set of staggered planar fingers; and a unit of pre-assembled tongue and groove planks spanning the distance between modular floor panels in the longitudinal dimension and in the staggered pattern defined by the set of staggered planar fingers.