By Scott Pohl, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-980359.mp3
East Lansing, MI –
Fans at Michigan State University basketball games next season will see a new scoreboard at center court.
The visuals will be better for replays and game statistics. In addition, there will be a new "ribbon" board circling the arena, on the facing of the upper deck.
WKAR's Scott Pohl paid a visit to the Breslin Center this week to check on the installation with MSU Deputy Director of Athletics Greg Ianni.
Ianni says a new sponsorship agreement made the whole thing possible.
GREG IANNI: "A sponsor stepped up, said we'd like to help,' and then when you replace that, the scoreboard had been in here ten, 12 years, the technology had changed, so we just took the opportunity that if we were going to do it, we'd do it all at one time."
SCOTT POHL: "Can you compare this new scoreboard with what people are used to seeing from the old one?"
IANNI: "Well, there'll be no comparison. The video boards are larger. They're much clearer. In fact, the four boards that we're adding will be comparable to someone's HDTV in their living room. It's just going to provide us an opportunity to entertain the people in here a lot better. And really, it'll change the environment. As you look around, you can just see the colors, the energy, the excitement, and then, it'll allow us to do some things to generate revenue from sponsorships and so on, that will help our program."
POHL: "We should clarify, when you say four screens, it's four-sided, so that every part of the arena has a view of the scoreboard."
IANNI: "Yeah, that's right. Actually, on the center-hung, there's eight screens. There's four replay screens, if you will; there's four scoring screens, and then under the board, there's another ribbon board that your listeners, we would equate that with something you might see in Times Square, with the messages that would run around the bottom of the board. So, there's really three large components to the board."
POHL: "Now you mention the scrolling message at the bottom of the scoreboard; that's somewhat similar to what I'm seeing going up on the facing of the upper deck now, too."
IANNI: "Yeah, that's just a smaller iteration of what this facing is on the upper deck, and if any of your listeners have been to The Palace or been to Ford Field and have seen that ribbon board around those arenas, that's what you'll get here. It's going to change the whole environment in the building. It's pretty exciting."
POHL: "What becomes of the old scoreboard? Is it useful anywhere? Resellable?"
IANNI: "What we did was, we sent that to university surplus, and they sell what they can for us. The old video boards, they're old enough, they don't really have a lot of life left in them, but the old scoreboards do, and I'm sure there are local schools, clubs, that will have the opportunity to purchase those at a very reasonable price."
POHL: "Are you at liberty to talk about the budget for this project?"
IANNI: "Yeah, it's right around $2 million."
POHL: "And you say a sponsor covered a portion of that."
IANNI: "Covered a large portion of it, right."
POHL: "One final question: with football season approaching, everyone's going to want to know if and when there might be an upgrade to the scoreboard at the football stadium."
IANNI: "We're in the planning process now. We're about 60% complete with a design. There's still some things that we're trying to work through. Then once we get that, we'll go back and evaluate how we can pay for it. It's a priority for us. Same consideration there as here, that we need to provide our customers with a positive experience in our stadium, and upgrading those boards in there is important. So, we're hard at work at that, and I'm hoping that in a very short period of time, we'll be able to move forward with that."
POHL: "2012 season, maybe?"
IANNI: "Possibly, yes."