Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is set for a notable upgrade, as funding has been approved for the installation of a new scoreboard.
Plans for a new Memorial Coliseum scoreboard are now moving forward, as Allen County commissioners gave their approval to the project on Friday. At a cost of nearly $1.6 million, the new display will affect the fan experience for events at the Memorial Coliseum, including home games for hockey’s Fort Wayne Komets (ECHL) and the NBA Gatorade League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
The current project schedules calls for the process of adding the new display to begin in June, with the installation complete by August 1. More from The Journal Gazette:
The three county lawmakers unanimously approved spending $1,598,500 from Memorial Coliseum’s capital fund on a new electronics package to update the four-sided board and accompanying signage.
The contractor will be Daktronics Inc., a South Dakota-based scoreboard specialist.
“It’s going to be a very impressive board,” said Randy Brown, Coliseum vice president and general manager.
The new board will be in a high-definition format, wider than it is tall, and use 6-millimeter pixel spaces, which sets more pixels in a smaller space. The result is images that are “not as grainy,” Brown said. “It’s a very crisp picture.”
Aside from affecting the experience for both ECHL and G League games, the new Memorial Coliseum scoreboard will be a key amenity for some upcoming events at the arena. The NCAA Division III men’s basketball national championship will be played there from 2019-2022, while the arena is set to host a NCAA Division I women’s regional in 2020.
