At the end of the 2022-23 school year the scoreboard at Phelps Field was torn down to usher in a new era of Westside Athletics.
Being 30-feet high and 50-feet wide, the new board made by ScoreVision allows the athletic department to display a wide range of information to all spectators in the stands.
Assistant athletic director Brad Metzler said the board allows Westside to create a special gameday experience.
“The new board allows us to showcase the talents and abilities of our students throughout the district,” Metzler said. “We have the opportunity to create a unique game day experience for our students, coaches, fans, and community members.”
With football season already underway Metzler explained some of the content they have already displayed on the board.
“So far we have created hype videos, introduction videos, starting lineups, a welcome message, a thank you to our building staff video, a coach’s keys to victory video, live videos of the band, cheer, and dance teams, and an interactive live trumpet segment that engages the student section,” he said.
After fall athletics end the board will be back up in action for spring sports.
“The board will be used for track, soccer and club lacrosse games,” Metzler said.
The track team will be one of many teams to take advantage of the scoreboard. A common complaint with many track and field spectators was no live scoring or timing on the old board which will now be displayed on the video board.
With such a large board that comes with a pretty price tag Superintendent Dr. Mike Lucas is very grateful for this and is happy that advertising dollars will help offset the $500,000 scoreboard.
“We are very grateful to the Westside Foundation for the new video board,” Lucas said. “The video board will be paid for by advertising dollars, and not our school district budget, as different companies and businesses pay for annual packages to showcase their services.”
Fans can see the board in action at any home football games as well as at all of the spring athletic events.
