With high-definition displays fast-becoming the norm in the big leagues and on major sports television, it should come as no surprise that major college athletic programs are following suit and installing HD video boards in their stadiums and arenas.
 The University of South Dakota is installing Daktronics’ HD ProStar video board at the university’s DakotaDome football stadium. Oklahoma State University (pictured) has also installed the ProStar at its facility. |
Corporate donors are funding an upgrade to the video display board at the University of South Dakota’s (USD) DakotaDome outdoor stadium, home to the South Dakota High School Football Championships and the university’s football team. The new board comes from digital display vendor Daktronics and will cost $2 million. The university is also contracting Daktronics Sports Marketing (DSM) to assist in developing new stadium sponsors and obtaining additional revenue from existing sponsors to offset some of the costs.
DSM develops customized marketing platforms to assist universities, sports teams, schools and other organizations in generating greater sponsorship revenue by adding value to corporate sponsorships through increased visibility on scoreboards, digital displays and venue signage, as well as other media components. New partners that were instrumental in the project include CorTrust Bank, Avera Health and Dodge.
The system is expected to be up and running in time for the USD football home opener. The project is contingent upon the approval of the South Dakota Board of Regents.
The project calls for the latest scoring and video-display technologies from Daktronics. The focal point of the system will be a large ProStar video display, using light-emitting-diode (LED) technology and measuring about 17x29 feet. A dedicated scoring display will be mounted on each side of the video board. A game clock will be located below the video board. Sponsor panels, some illuminated with neon, are also incorporated in the main scoring and video display. Daktronics will provide play clocks for football, game/shot clocks for basketball and locker-room clocks.
Fans will also enjoy a large, auxiliary, full-color LED display mounted on the fascia inside the DakotaDome. This ProAd display will measure at about 4x80 feet and will provide information, statistics, graphics, animation and video clips for fans.
Outside the facility, a new monochrome LED display will inform students and others on campus of university news and events. This Galaxy display will measure at about 7x13 feet, and will be mounted in a unique structure that incorporates some of the new graphic elements recently introduced by the university.
Additional system components include two electronic displays in the concession areas, four ticket window displays, six television monitors, 12 custom-designed themed banners, wayfinding and directional signage, parking-lot banners, and exit signage.
Daktronics will also provide the integrated control system that operates the electronic displays. The control system includes Venus 7000 controllers, V-Link video processors, V-Play video server, two cameras and All Sport scoring consoles.