Electronic Arenas

Like many other American cities in recent years, Cincinnati is currently building a new ballpark. At the same time, the city is experiencing stadium sticker-shock, as initial construction-cost estimates are surpassed by actual costs. This sticky situation reminds us that professional sports are subsidized, to a significant extent, by public money. In many cases, this public money also pays for state-of-the-art electronic signs and scoreboards.

Because public-sector budgets typically are much larger than the budgets of private sign users, the electronic-sign market reflects a wide range of customer resources. That’s why this column includes products that can be sold by medium-sized sign companies, as well as grandiose displays that only the largest sign companies might offer.

As shown by the development of more affordable LED sign products, however, technologies that are introduced at the high end seldom remain there forever. This month we offer some evidence that new technology trickles down to the rank and file who pay for sports arenas.

Play ball

New stadium construction and renovation of existing arenas are major forces behind the electronic-sign industry’s strong growth. Umpires and referees are on the spot today more than ever before, because full-color video scoreboards now beam instant replays to everyone in the ballpark. The real payoff, however, is a moving-message board’s ability to deliver an infinite variety of TV-quality ads to enormous captive audiences.

Saco SmartVision Inc. (White Plains, NY), well known for massive stadium displays, continues to be quite active in the sports market. The company recently manufactured four 7 x 9-ft. full-color LED boards for the octagonal, roof-suspended scoreboard installed at England’s London Arena (Fig. 1). These displays provide 360