The Butte Civic Center expects to make a scoreboard overhaul soon with higher-tech displays in each of the arena’s four corners that can be tailored to most any sport or event, from wrestling and rodeos to shout-outs at weddings.
If those plans pan out, a longer, fifth scoreboard primarily for hockey would be placed at one end of the arena where there are no set stands. The upgrades could cost up to $70,000.
“They are blank screens and you have a laptop and you type in whatever sport it is, and you can tap into stats and put stats up there,” Civic Center Manager Bill Melvin said Monday.
“You could do wrestling, you could do any sport you want off of those,” he said. “The screens are configured through the computer. We are a multi-use arena so we want that ability.”
The current scoreboards, which hang from the rafters, were installed in 2000 but have limited uses. They were primarily meant for hockey, are difficult to find parts for and have been locking up, Melvin said.
The new county budget enacted Aug. 25 sets aside up to $70,000 for the new scoreboards, but about $50,000 of that was made possible through extra revenue the center took in this past year. The center’s proceeds flow into the county’s general fund.
About $20,000 could be paid back over the next year through advertising sold on the new scoreboards, Melvin said, and that could pay for everything over four years or so.