A new video scoreboard will be installed at Huff-Mosley Memorial Stadium after passing by a 3-2 vote.
The Gilmer County Board of Education received details about the project last Monday, Dec. 13, from director of human resources and facilities Dana Berry.
Out of the six companies to formally submit a bid, Plainview LED emerged as the top candidate. Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley recommended the motion to accept Plainview LED’s bid of $440,103 at the board’s regular session Dec. 15.
Board member Michael Bramlett’s motion was seconded by vice chairman Doug Pritchett. No discussion followed, and chairman Ronald Watkins, Pritchett and Bramlett voted in favor of accepting the bid. Members Joe Pflueger and Michael Parks voted against.
The scoreboard will be funded by the 2015 special-purpose local-option sales tax allocated for “renovations and improvements at GHS athletic facilities.” These funds cannot be reallocated to other projects and must be used at Huff-Mosley Memorial Stadium, the baseball and softball fields, gym or Noah Harris Center.
The scoreboard comes with a 10-year warranty with lightning protection. The board can be integrated with Huff-Mosley’s Musco LED lighting system, which was installed prior to the 2021 football season.
“What this does for Gilmer High School is it puts it in the same league with all of our competition, if you will,” Berry said. “Our kids are going to other stadiums where they’re starting to see these, and we just wanted to make sure we had the same type of culture and excellence throughout.”
The video board dimensions are 21’x36.75’. That space is fully programmable and can be used to display video and advertisements, as well as scoreboard essentials such as time, quarter, score and timeouts.
One highlight of the board is the placement of the LED bulbs. They are separated by 10 millimeters compared to Pickens’ board with bulbs separated by 15mm. At 10mm, Gilmer’s board will display crisp images, which Berry referred to as “1080p or 4K television” quality.
Berry noted that Gilmer’s board “will use the exact same technology that is used at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”
The video board can be used for all GHS sports at the stadium including football, soccer and track, plus graduation. Because of the board’s high resolution, movie nights and gaming competitions can be hosted at the stadium, according to Berry.
The board is equipped with sound that will be output through Huff-Mosley’s speakers after some tweaks by an audio engineer.
Plans are to have the board operated by GHS students from its audio, video and technology class under the supervision of adults. Students will be able to create different templates, player profiles, stats and graphics.
On days when there is not a video operator present, the bottom analog scoreboard displaying time, quarter, score and timeouts can be controlled without the need of specialized software.
The school system hopes to have the board installed in time for Gilmer High’s 2022 graduation in May.
The school system is also looking to install video scoreboards at the GHS gym that will hang down in the center of the facility. They are still waiting on the engineer’s report to see if that is a viable option.