The NMU athletic department completed an installation of a new Daktronics video board system on the west wall of the Superior Dome.  Athletic director Forrest Karr said there was a need to replace both scoreboards in the dome when he came into the position at the beginning of the last academic year.

“We started working on replacing the scoreboards in the summer of 2012, realizing we had a need not just for  a video board, but the east scoreboard was failing and had failed on us,” Karr said. “That scoreboard was more critical just in case it happened during the middle of a football game. Daktronics had stopped servicing the flip panel screen for the west scoreboard, so that was our priority at the time.”

Associate director of facilities Carl Bammert said the installation of the new video board wasn’t as difficult as first thought.

“The screen is much taller than the previous one; however, the width of it is much smaller, so it fits a bit easier,” Bammert said. “The nice part was that the weight was almost the exact same, so there wasn’t a whole lot more effort in the installation side of things.”

Bammert said the installation of the screen will provide a much more exciting game day atmosphere.

“The ability for us to use the board to improve game day experience, video replays and university announcements will be exciting,” Bammert said.According to Karr, the department was able to fully fund the video board with no general education money, but rather through private sponsors.

“The corporate sponsors that are displayed have signed a five-year contract with us,” Karr said. “We have one blank opening, but we really appreciate their support. It’s a big deal for a great game day atmosphere.” Karr said the video board will not only be used for football games but for non-university sponsored events such as the boat and RV show and car show.

“We’re going to have the ability to provide coverage at other outside events that come into the Dome for shows and tournaments,” Karr said. “We’re going to have to figure out options that would be available for outside groups that want to use it, and how to budget it.”

Karr said most video content produced from the student-run BC 310 Sports and Special Events programing class in the communication and performance studies department will be used.

“It’s a unique experience for students to dive into new technology and high-end technology in their field,” Karr said. “Our students here on campus have shown that they can do a full quality high-definition TV broadcast. We saw that with the Northern vs. Michigan Tech hockey game several weeks ago. I think that once everything is in place, there’ll be some unique opportunities for all parties.”

Karr said separate people who will run the video board outside of the current webcast.

“We’ll have people in place that will help coordinate graphics and commercials for the video board on its own outside of the Internet broadcast,” Karr said. “To what extent will still need to be worked out.”

Overall, Karr said this will be a unique opportunity for the university as a whole.

“When you can find ways to get these projects done, it’s a win-win for everyone,” Karr said. “It’s not in our operating budget to install these things generally but it’s the cost of doing business. The technology gets better and better.”

The athletic department will be doing a small test run of the video board system the weekend of Friday, April 12 for the spring football matchup.

“It’ll be a fun new project for everyone involved,” Karr said.