Seward High introduced a new video board for the final few home games of the 2022-23 season, and officials are looking forward to showing what it can do in the 2023-24 volleyball and basketball seasons.
The entire system, including two boards and the related iPads, shot clocks, light strips and more, cost $118,000, SHS Activities Director John Moody said.
The Seward Booster Club raised about $50,000 at its Booster Bash to help pay for the equipment.
“We are very grateful for that and for the generous community,” Moody said.
Tom Vajgrt and his crew pulled all the required wiring for the electrical and dedicated circuits, Moody said. That made the actual installation go more quickly.
“They installed it in a day and a half because it was ready to go,” Moody said.
After the boards were installed, about two-thirds of a day was spent training SHS staff how to use them. They were installed on a Thursday, training was on Friday and they were in use Saturday for the Central Conference wrestling tournament.
Moody said the system is more user-friendly than the previous one.
“It can be a two-person job,” he said.
One person can run the scoreboard, clock and other items. The other is the producer who is in charge of the ads, video and other special effects.
Moody said there are options for layout, and Seward High used the leaderboard set-up for its basketball games.
“It provides the information people want to see,” he said.
Eventually, he said, the school districts hopes to add businesses and vendors to help defray the overall cost.
