By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Once Duluth-based Formetco Inc. got into electronic billboards, could electronic scoreboards be far behind?
The 100-person Duluth company got national attention recently when it installed at Norcross High what is touted as the largest football “videoboard” (their term) in the United States. Measuring 29×51 feet, the board is impressive for many reasons, among them that a group of high school students, not professional technicians, run all aspects of the board. And sponsored advertising helped offset the purchase cost.
The videoboard is configured so that it can operate for soccer, lacrosse and possibly other sports, not just be used during the football season. Movies can be shown on the board.
Formetco’s first videoboard was for the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta. A big installation was at the Lake Point Sporting Complex, near Cartersville. Here 11 boards were installed in May of 2014, at the main entrance, and on the playing fields.
Last year Formetco also put a videoboard at Jacksonville, Fla. University. Other boards have been put up at Johnson C. Smith University’s in Charlotte, at Charleston Southern University and a board will go up soon for basketball at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. And others are coming: South Forsyth High’s board goes up next week.
Formetco’s videoboards aren’t limited to the USA. The company is shipping videoboards to Peru and Egypt. All their billboards and videoboards are monitored 24/7 in Duluth. Usually these can often be repaired remotely from Duluth without sending a repairman to the site.
John Gibb, president of Formetco, says his firm’s Minneapolis research and development team came up with enhancements to configure LED bulbs to make the videoboard viable. LED bulbs do not have to be cooled by fans, lowering electrical cost. The thickness of the boards is less than six inches, also reducing the weight. Formetco offers a 10 year LED brightness warranty on the screen.
Since the Norcross videoboard will not be on 24/7, as are billboards, it should have a long life. Gibb adds: “The videoboard is easy to operate because of the software developed with it.”
Todd Heller, Formetco vice president for digital products, has been with the company since 2006 when Formetco bought out his previous firm, Ad-Tech. He found that Norcross High offered six audio-visual classes. Twelve students from these classes have learned how to run the videoboard, “….and by the first game they ran 90 percent of the system, and 100 percent the second game.” Heller, who himself once ran the scoreboard at Georgia Tech, calls such work “….a big deal, and exciting.”
He adds: “It’s quite simple to operate. A student can operate the board with an iPad. You have others on the field helping, such as a guy with a videocamera, and another on audio. You can switch to the video feed. And you have pre-programmable videos to show. It’s fun to see the kids do it. It feels like you are running a television station.”
The cost of the scoreboard was about $200,000, all paid without school funds. The installation price was reduced since Norcross had much of the steel already installed on the previous 15-year old scoreboard. Heller says: “The booster club got involved, and Coach Keith Maloof is a great sales guy. We had a luncheon at the factory for 30 potential sponsors, and that generated a lot of funding. The sponsors were excited to see their message on a 1,500 square foot board.”
As Formetco is finding, adapting technology can lead to new directions. Whoever imagined Formetco in the football video business?
Follow Us