Video scoreboards increase community engagement, advertising revenues

{Sponsored} Coaches and athletic directors across the country are responsible for all aspects of athletics — athlete participation, community perception, funding and more. The goal is to improve the program from one year to the next.

It’s all in the scoreboard.

“When I met with Formetco and told them our vision, they wanted to help,” said Keith Maloof, head football coach at Norcross High School in Georgia. “We wanted to have the biggest and the best.”

Maloof’s vision came true in the summer of 2015 — Norcross High School is home to the largest high school football video scoreboard in the country. But it’s much more than a 30-by-50-foot LED screen. It’s also an educational tool.

“Students from our Video Broadcasting Class run the scoreboard on Friday nights,” he said. “The run the cameras and handle all aspects of the game from start to finish with teacher supervision.

“I wanted the community to know that this scoreboard is preparing students for future careers in broadcasting, filmmaking and more. I wanted students to be able to have it on their resume.”

High schools and universities across the country are following suit.

Rob Brown, superintendent of Lumpkin County Schools in Dahlonega, Georgia, had a Formetco video scoreboard installed in October 2016.

“The feedback has been great,” he said. “It has served a source of pride for our community and gives the locals something to brag about.

“The scoreboard created a buzz of envy from our visitors.”

Aside from holding a Veteran’s Day ceremony, planning community movie nights this spring and hosting upcoming video game challenges, Brown plans to use the 22-by-39-foot LED video scoreboard to generate more revenue for the district.

“We are developing an advertising plan, which will definitely increase revenue,” Brown said. “We anticipate revenues increasing $25,000-$30,000 in the first full year of advertisements.”

Lee Fowler, athletic director at University of South Carolina Upstate, has similar revenue plans in mind for the University’s new soccer and softball LED video scoreboards. They were installed in August 2016 and February 2017, respectively.

“There’s no question that we will see increased revenues,” he said. “We plan to add 10-20 percent to each corporate sponsorship now that they are able to include advertisements on the video boards.”

The scoreboards have also improved the school’s recruiting efforts.

Very few universities in Atlantic Sun Conference have video scoreboards at their soccer and softball facilities, so prospective athletes are intrigued when they visit USC Upstate.

The boards bring “pizzazz” to their ball games.

“It’s definitely added to the perception of our program,” Fowler said. The university plans to add a video scoreboard to their baseball field within the next year.

“User-friendly is very important to programs like ours,” he added. “We have a small staff, so we appreciate that Formetco’s video boards can be run by one person.

“They’re in a price point and quality point that’s going to do really well around the country.”

For more information about the digital scoreboards offered by Formetco, visit www.formetco.com or contact your regional sales manager.

c. 2017 Formetco

You Might Also Like

Trae Young’s athletic center in Norman, OK opens

Univ. of Washington football using coach-to-player communication tech

Pennsylvania referee dies after collapsing during JV basketball game