The district’s board of trustees approved the $687,264 purchase Sept. 25.
Looking back
Ron Poe Stadium opened in 1962 and holds 7,000 seats. Its current scoreboard was installed in 2005 and has reached the end of its lifespan, MISD Chief Operations Officer Greg Suttle said. In September, the scoreboard needed to have a wireless receiver patched to work for a football game, he said.
The district has been standardizing equipment, specifically scoreboards, over the past few years, Suttle said. Equipment has been updated to Daktronics systems to simplify maintenance and repairs, according to district documents.
A closer look
Ron Poe Stadium is used frequently for track and field events as the McKinney ISD Stadium does not have a track, MISD Director of Athletics Jennifer Frazier said. The track meets are well attended, and the updated scoreboard will service this community, she said.
“This is going to explode our opportunities for our track meets,” Frazier said.
Installation of the scoreboard is estimated in January, she said, which would have it in place before the spring track season begins.
The scoreboard’s video format will be in 13HD, which is the same high-definition format as the districtwide stadium's board, Frazier said. The district's broadcast journalism student team will be able to cast a video feed on the board during events, she said.
“This is one more platform that they have the opportunity to display their talents,” Frazier said.
The cost
The total $687,264 price tag includes proposals from Daktronics and S&S Electric.
From Daktronics, this includes:
- $542,514 for the video scoreboard
- $50,660 for a five-year service warranty
- $11,297 for four video inputs
- $1,200 to cover the company’s quote for structural analysis
“We’re putting our money into technology because ... technology is what ages quickly,” Frazier said.
