Saying Binghamton can be gloomy is obvious, but the BU athletic department has brought something to campus that will light up the night.
The ‘upcoming events’ sign sitting in front of the West Gym has been replaced. It has been transformed from a manually updated, space restricting sign to a brand new Daktronics electric sign that has brought some color and some life to the area around the Events Center.
Since the sign was originally discussed as part of the Events Center plan, the $60,000 to $70,000 was paid for with money fund-raised to complete projects around the Events Center. It was not the highest priority the last few years as it was superceded by various projects ‘ including completion of the coaches’ offices on the mezzanine level of the Events Center ‘ but the sign has been in the works for a while with Physical Facilities.
‘The old sign was just broken and considerably outdated in terms of being able to get up information in a timely manner,’ said assistant director of athletics John Hartrick. ‘It was definitely time to get an electronic version that you can update throughout the year.’
The old sign, while useful, had some drawbacks that were making utilizing it a huge hassle for the athletics department.
The sign was almost inaccessible during the cold weather and snow season, meaning keeping it up-to-date was no easy task. The glass frame became hard to open, and words had to be put up by hand, one letter at a time.
In addition, the sign, a gift to the University from the class of 1992, was limited in space to post messages. Since the messages had to be changed manually, once something was put up it was up for a while, with no quick updates possible.
The new sign will enable more consistent changing of the messages, posted in a more explosive and attention-grabbing fashion, and will also be much more visible at night.
‘It gives us the opportunity to have multiple messages coming and going, to preview some things coming up and to quickly change it,’ Hartrick said. ‘It gives us the kind of daily updating we wouldn’t have done before, because it took someone manually walking out there in the dead of winter.’
The idea for a Daktronics message system was put on the table for campus several years ago, and was originally to be put on the backside of the scoreboard behind the baseball field. The sign would have been visible from the drive onto campus and used to announce various events on campus.
But the University ultimately settled on the plan for a smaller sign outside the West Gym. Costs were reduced because the concrete that held up the old sign was kept in place; the new sign was put up without needing to install a new foundation.
The new sign has been well received, and the immediate and long-term benefits are a big step forward for BU athletics.
‘It’ll be very nice, that’s for sure,’ Hartrick concluded.