Redbird Arena to get new scoreboard

Redbird Arena
The ISU Board of Trustees approved a $950,000 scoreboard system for Redbird Arena Friday. (WJBC file photo)

By Joe Ragusa

NORMAL – Basketball games will be a different experience next season at Redbird Arena.

The Illinois State University Board of Trustees agreed to purchase a new scoreboard system at Friday’s meeting. It costs $950,000 and is funded by corporate sponsorships.

Peyton Deterding, ISU Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations, said there are weight restrictions because of the roof structure, putting limits on the new system.

“It’s not going to be substantially bigger, but it will have some added features to it,” Deterding said. “The clarity will be better and the auxilliary boards will be much improved.”

The current video board was retrofitted in 2007.

“We’ve been fortunate, to be honest, to even get eight years out of the existing board,” Deterding said.

Deterding said the new system will likely be installed by the start of basketball season.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…