High-tech screens get initial approval

A plan to install a high-tech video scoreboard at Legends Stadium took a step forward Tuesday night.

The Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees approved an initial contract with Virtu Consulting to install a 16- by 24-foot LED screen and scoreboard at the stadium.

In addition to providing more close-up views of action on the field, the scoreboard will have the same scrolling advertisements seen at collegiate and professional stadiums.

The agreement approved at Tuesday’s regular meeting allows Virtu Consulting to secure financing for the scoreboard — and for similar scoreboards inside the Glacier and Flathead high school gymnasiums. The consulting group will return to the board with financial information after the new year, when the board will be asked to give the project a final green light.

The deal won’t cost the school district a dime and will bring in advertising dollars. Virtu Consulting will share the profits; in 15 years, the scoreboards and their revenue will belong to the district.

Terry Pugh and Jordan Lister, both of Virtu Consulting and both Flathead High alumni, approached Kalispell schools a few months ago about installing a scoreboard at Legends. Pugh has a long history of involvement in the Flathead, including being a major financial contributor to Legends Stadium and funding Little Guy football fields and parking lots at Kidsports.

Professionally, Pugh has done work at college and professional stadiums across the United States, including installing a video scoreboard at Washington Grizzly Stadium at the University of Montana.

The Kalispell school board had planned to vote Pugh’s proposal in November but the contract details had not been hammered out.

“We’ve kind of slowed this train down a little bit,” Assistant Superintendent Dan Zorn said.

The district also removed a proposal from the contract to install artificial turf on Rawson Field at Legends Stadium. Pugh estimated the turf could save the district $45,000 a year in maintenance costs.

“We felt it was best to just focus for now on the scoreboard piece of it,” he said. If the district later wants to get rid of sod, “turf is something we can move toward very quickly.”

There have been some concerns about the scoreboard project.

Some advertisers who already have contracts with the district worried they might also be asked to buy advertising for the scoreboards. That won’t be an issue, Zorn said.

“Any contract we presently have in place will be honored until its completion,” he said.

A blank space in the contract worried some trustees, but Lister and attorney Jeff Hindoien, who has been working on the contract on the district’s behalf, explained its purpose.

The space was in the interest rate Virtu Consulting can secure on the financing. Lister said Pugh hopes a local bank will want to finance the scoreboards, and he wants the interest rate capped at 10 percent.

“It’s to our benefit, too, to have the percent as low as possible because we’re profit sharing,” Lister said. “So there’s no funny business going on here.”

When word got out about Pugh’s proposal, other organizations approached the district with proposals of their own. Daktronics, which makes and markets scoreboards, wanted to sell the district a scoreboard and help with fundraising to help the district earn back the money. 

Buying three scoreboards outright from a company such as Daktronics likely would cost the district between $500,000 and $600,000, Lister said. Pugh’s proposal is free to Kalispell schools.

“We’re not purchasing something. ... We’re moving toward partnership,” Zorn said.

But trustee Tom Clark worried about a different potential cost. He posed a not-impossible scenario to the board. What if, after breaking up, a boy managed to hack into the scoreboard’s video feed and post inappropriate photos of his ex-girlfriend on the screen?

“What kind of liability is that to the district?” he asked.

Zorn pointed out that with daily announcements projected onto flat-screen TVs in both high schools, “it’s a liability that we bear right now.”

“There may not be any way to ensure it never occurs,” Hindoien said. But “if we have reasonable protocols in place from [information technology] to prevent” such a scenario, Hindoien said he was comfortable moving forward with the project.

Clark voted against the proposal Tuesday because of his liability concerns and because of hesitation about entering into a 15-year agreement with any company.

Trustee Brad Eldredge also voted against approving the contract. His concerns stemmed in part from the tight budget the district faces in 2011-12.

Even though the project will not affect the budget, except to add revenue in the future, “I worry about the perception of a big screen,” he said.

Lister said the scoreboards would add value to classrooms, which might help public perception. Producing video for the scoreboards will be incorporated into the multimedia program curriculum, he said.

“These students are getting real-life experiences in a content area that is booming in the United States and the world,” he said.

There’s another positive that could bolster perception, according to Zorn.

“We are maximizing alternative sources of revenue into our district, trying to relieve pressure on the local taxpayer,” he said. “I think it can send a positive message from a financial standpoint.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.