Anyone who has ever gone to a football or soccer game on a sunny day at Bernlohr Stadium knows that the scoreboard can be very hard to read.
“The old scoreboard was original to the Cap Center and has aged considerably,” said Beth Anne Carman, the director of facilities at Capital who was instrumental in erecting a brand new, state of the art, wide screen digital scoreboard in the southeast corner end zone.
“Ten years is a long time to have a scoreboard,” Carman said.
The addition of the new scoreboard is phase two of Capital’s grand renovation of Bernlohr. Phase one began with the re-turfing of the field last year, allowing the field to incorporate lacrosse in addition to football and soccer.
Phase two includes the scoreboard as well as new guard rails along the front of the stands, including transparent rails in front of the handicapped section to allow for improved visibility.
The idea for the scoreboard started a couple years ago with a master plan study of Bernlohr’s turf and track.
“We worked on the design all last year with athletics,” Carman said.
One issue facilities and the athletic department faced was where to put the gigantic new scoreboard.
“The location was very big because we wanted something that would be visible from all areas of the field, yet wouldn’t get in the way of flying balls or the goalposts,” Carman said.
However, the biggest factor was the sun, which often interfered with the current scoreboard so that anyone looking at it on a sunny day would not be able to read it.
“The scoreboard that we had previously was antiquated and during certain times of the day, very hard to see,” he said. “So we knew that we were going to soon need to purchase a new scoreboard. Fortunately, we had some very generous donors who assisted in funding the project.”
According to Carman, a lot of careful planning went into just the placement of the scoreboard.
“The architect did sun studies as we looked at various locations on the field so that we would see where the sun would be through the different seasons,” she said.
The next step in phase two is lights, depending on how much is still in the budget.
“We’re still totaling up the final project cost,” Carman said.
The campus community is very excited about the new scoreboard, including Nichole Johnson who is in charge of issuing the information on the new scoreboard to the students.
“I hope students will be excited about it,” Johnson said. “I saw it today during some testing… it looks amazing!”
A unique feature of the new scoreboard is that it is completely digital. The old scoreboard only allowed fixed numbers to appear, but now scoreboards are more dynamic and able to incorporate more sports than just football, as well as photos and videos that can be projected on the screen.
“The scoreboard will be able to do quite a bit,” Bruning said. “We will be able to show highlight videos, advertise events here on campus, and use the scoreboard as a way to showcase what happens here at Capital University. We eventually we will be able to show instant replay (although we probably will not be prepared to do that at the first game).”
The screen also boasts a much-improved 16:9 aspect ratio.
Maintenance has two full days of training ahead of them this week to be able to operate it before it goes through numerous rigorous tests.
What has gone incredibly well in the construction of the board is the amount of cooperation that has taken place between Capital and the surrounding Bexley Community
“It went very well; they were very supportive,” Carman said. “We had a neighborhood meeting last fall to talk about the different improvements that we wanted to make with the stadium.”
This was a concern for the planners because the scoreboard backs right up into the alley that connects Mound to Main behind Bernlohr and may have posed a slight aesthetic headache for some local residents.
The official unveiling is still in the distance, but hopes are high for its success. The old scoreboard is slated to be torn down upon the official completion of the new scoreboard, although not many will be saddened to see it go.
abutts@capital.edu
