This January, the McHugh gymnasium will become home to a brand new, state-of-the-art video scoreboard.
In an interview with Prep Athletic Director Sam Reed, he noted Prep’s motivation for the project: “The current scoreboards are from 1991…they are failing…the circuits are failing.”
Reed points to what he calls “the scene of the crime,” a few of last year’s playoff basketball games held at Lake Washington High School where Prep first laid eyes on the marvel that is a video scoreboard.
Since then, Prep has been fortunate enough to gather enough support from donors to make the upgrade this winter. When asked about the installation timeline, Reed explained that “the hope is that when [students] come back from Christmas break, it will be up and running…It will be here for the bulk of basketball season.”
Unlike the current digital scoreboards, the video scoreboard will look and operate as a HD TV projector and a Jumbotron. Perhaps its most exciting feature is the opportunity for customization. Reed hinted at these exciting new possibilities: “You can add in the logos of the other team, a graphic when a three-pointer is made, or when a big spike is made…You can do starting lineups [and even] hype videos.”
Gone are the days of seeing “Panthers” vs. “Visitor” up on the screen. Now each game will bring a fully decked-out visual with endless potential for in-game graphics. Fans are going to have to be careful this winter or else no one will be watching the game.
The current east wall scoreboard will be replaced with this new video scoreboard, while the west wall scoreboard will carry a new, standard digital scoreboard. While both will serve basketball and volleyball games, Reed added that the video scoreboard now allows the school to display a variety of visuals in different settings: “When they do the big school auction in there, all the sponsors could have commercials…[when] we do Open House, you could have a slideshow running the whole time.”
On the west side of the gym, the standard scoreboard will be the one used for practices and HEX classes. Controllable by a mobile app, it is much more accessible to teachers and coaches than the current scoreboards.
No matter what they are used for, the new scoreboards are bound to leave fans, players, and coaches in awe this winter. Buckle up because Christmas break just got even better.
