By Patrick Bohn

Installing video scoreboards brings a new level of excitement to home contests. It can also provide a great revenue source.

For many high school athletic departments, the battle to generate funds is never-ending. But with the economy still struggling, it’s imperative for schools to come up with new ways to bring in revenue. Two high schools are using video scoreboards to do just that, with great success.

David Coates, Athletic Director at Middletown (N.Y.) High School, is handcuffed a bit by the state when it comes to fundraising. Because schools in New York are not allowed to put up permanent signage around athletic fields, he needed an alternative method for bringing in corporate dollars. He found a solution in the Eversan video board his school has, on which he puts up advertisers’ logos and airs commercials. And the move has been beneficial in multiple ways.

“There are a lot of dead periods before, after, and even during a game where you can get fans’ attention by putting something on the video board.” Coates says. “Texas Roadhouse restaurant, for example, paid for pre-game meals for our varsity football and boys’ basketball teams. In exchange, we show one of their commercial multiple times a game, and put a ‘Thank you’ message on the board several other times.”

Coates says since the school ramped up use of the video board for advertisements two years ago, it has generated just under $8,000 dollars a year, although, in many instances, companies don’t give Middletown money directly. Instead, they often take a page from Texas Roadhouse and cover the costs of team meals, a team trip, or equipment. “That’s critical for us,” he says. “We’ve got over 70 percent of our students on free or reduced lunch, so finding someone to help out with these costs is important.”

“We give companies a lot more flexibility when using a video than an old-fashioned sign. If a company wants to change an ad in the middle of the season, they can send us something digitally and we can get it up on the board in less than a day. That’s much easier than going out, taking down old signs, and putting up something new.”

Coates sees numerous advantages in using the Eversan board as opposed to traditional methods most schools employ. “We give companies a lot more flexibility when using a video than an old-fashioned sign,” he says. “If a company wants to change an ad in the middle of the season, they can send us something digitally and we can get it up on the board in less than a day. That’s much easier than going out, taking down old signs, and putting up something new.

“Additionally, rather than thanking certain sponsors in certain seasons due to space limitations in programs, I can thank the football sponsors all year long, instead of just football season,” Coates continues. “This makes the companies happy, which makes for a better and hopefully more profitable relationship.”

Coates says he thinks there’s no limit to the amount of money the video board can bring in, and that he’s just scratched the surface of what he’d like to do. “We’ve got about 20 companies who advertise on the board with us, but really, there’s plenty of room to add many more and increase our revenue,” he says. “The video board is useful for showing replays or live game feeds, naturally. But the ability to use it to attract advertisers is really great.”

Unlike Coates, Washington (Mo.) High School Athletic Director Bill Deckelman is allowed to put up permanent signs around his athletic fields. But, for some potential sponsors, the cost of doing that can be prohibitive. “Companies have to commit to a three-year deal, and pay between $3,000 and $6,000 each year for a sign,” Deckelman says. “For a lot of them, that’s a significant expense.”

So Washington, with the help of some enterprising students from a marketing class and a scoreboard from Daktronics, has come up with an easy, low-cost way for sponsors to get their company logo out there. “The kids had this idea that we could put a company’s logo on the video board of our scoreboard a few times during football games and charge around $100 per game,” he says. “This past year, we had three sponsors do that, and we brought in about $4,500 that way.”

“The kids had this idea that we could put a company’s logo on the video board of our scoreboard a few times during football games and charge around $100 per game. This past year, we had three sponsors do that, and we brought in about $4,500.”

Another benefit to using the video board is the ability to give companies the flexibility to put their logo up for a specific game that’s scheduled to draw a big crowd. While Deckelman hasn’t had the chance to do that at Washington, he sees it as a logical next step if the opportunity presents itself. “If we’re hosting a big playoff game, and a company wants to put their logo on the board for just that one game, not only can we do that quickly, we could charge a premium for it,” he says. “That’s more difficult to do with traditional signage because of the time delay associated with producing it and putting it up.”

Overall, Deckelman is excited about the potential of the scoreboard. “Video boards are just so much more engaging than traditional signage,” he says. “Those signs get lost in the weeds. People’s eyes will gravitate towards a video board naturally.”

Patrick Bohn is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.

By Mike Phelps

SUNYIT Athletic Director and Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin Grimmer talks about the school’s new multi-purpose athletics field house.

For the past decade, the campus of SUNYIT, located near Utica, N.Y., has been undergoing a transformation. The school was once a two-year upper-division (only juniors and seniors) school, but is now a four-year university and becoming a much more residential campus. SUNYIT added another new piece to its offerings this past fall, when the Wildcat Field House officially opened. The facility will not only improve life for students already on campus, but also attract prospective students and help the school host large events.

The field house features a running track, space for two full basketball courts, four volleyball courts, or four tennis courts–or a combination of the three–in addition to offices for coaches and administrators, a fitness and weight training facility, and numerous other amenities. Outside the field house, a new lighted turf field with bleacher seating and a new baseball field have helped to give SUNYIT some of the best athletic facilities in the area.

“It’s a highly versatile, very spacious facility,” says SUNYIT Athletic Director and Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin Grimmer. “Volleyball can be on one end and a full basketball court can still be utilized. Then behind another screen, we can have batting cages set up for baseball and softball. People can also be running on the track at the same time. The field house has been a wonderful new home for our student-athletes, many of whom were training off campus previously.”

SUNYIT has also already begun holding outside sporting events that it previously never would have had the opportunity to host–to rave reviews. “The turf field was finished just in time for our men’s soccer team to host the North Eastern Athletic Conference championships, and we also co-hosted the NJCAA national men’s soccer tournament with a local community college,” Grimmer says. “We had teams from across the country here for the NJCAA tournament and the administrators from those schools were just marveling at the complex we have. Everyone was very impressed with the new facility, which should help give us a chance to host other events in the future.

“We also hosted a 36-team AAU basketball tournament,” he continues. “With the two full courts we have in the field house, plus the full court in our original facility, we have a unique ability to host large, multi-team tournaments.”

The field house has also hosted local adult volleyball leagues and this summer, the new baseball field will host a nearby American Legion team. The Legion team will play each of its home games at the field this summer and could also bring in tournaments.

Grimmer hopes to add even more events to the schedule in the future. He says the university involved the community in the planning process for the facility, so they could be sure they included the amenities that community members thought were important. Since opening the field house, he has also opened the fitness center to community members, who can purchase memberships to use the space. By allowing the community access to the field house, they are able to see what is available and might be more inclined to use the space for other reasons in the future–or even send their kids to the university.

“We designed this, certainly focused on our own teams’ needs, but also to make sure we provided wonderful facilities for the community and other colleges and high schools in the area,” Grimmer says. “At most places, the turf fields are somewhat detached from a major building. That’s not the case here, and that’s something that was repeated time and time again as something that was important for outside groups. Having things like locker rooms, restrooms, concessions, a media center, and things like that essentially attached to the field was very important. The inside and outside spaces of our facility are very connected.”

The final piece of the puzzle for Grimmer and SUNYIT will be the addition of a large video scoreboard outdoors for the turf field. The school is currently working with Eversan Scoreboards to determine which type of scoreboard will work best for its needs.

“That’s another thing that will not only benefit our own student-athletes, but also be very attractive to community members, as well as other colleges and groups that want to host their events here,” Grimmer says.

For other administrators looking to build new facilities, Grimmer suggests touring buildings at other schools to get an idea of what you do and don’t like. “I would invite them to come here and walk through our facility,” he says. “When we were in the planning stages here, we visited several schools where we picked up bits and pieces. I really think with all the different venues we’ve encountered and places we’ve visited, we’ve sort of pieced together our dream facility.”

Mike Phelps is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.