Danville Stadium, Danville, IL

Danville Stadium, in Danville, Ill., was built in 1946 to host the Danville Dodgers, a farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Danville Stadium today is owned by the city of Danville and hosts five baseball teams from area schools and organizations, as well as the Danville Dans, a collegiate summer team in the Prospect League.

In 1996, the city purchased a light-bulb scoreboard board. Over the years, the scoreboard was beginning to show its age.

“The manufactory stopped supporting the product, so we had to search for replacement parts. We replaced wires, connectors, controllers – it was becoming expensive to keep the scoreboard limping along,” said Jeanie Cooke, Danville Dans general manager and stadium board director.

Cooke continued, “Three days before our season opener, we fired up the scoreboard to see what lightbulbs needed replaced. By the time we walked to centerfield, the scoreboard went blank. That was it. The scoreboard was beyond repair.” The team resorted to a homemade paper scoreboard.

“Players and fans were disappointed with the makeshift scoreboard,” said Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer. “We had to do something and do it quick, so we reached out to Watchfire.”

Watchfire replaced the scoreboard with 10' x 36' fixed-digit scoreboard. The city also chose to upgrade the existing Watchfire LED video board that was paired with the fixed-digit scoreboard for more than a decade. They selected a larger, higher-resolution 8'4" x 36' 16mm video display. The Watchfire fixed digit scoreboard retained the classic feel of the historic Danville Stadium while the video display offers the digital experience that fans and players expect at modern sports venues.

“While we are very proud of this historic stadium with many original features remaining, this new scoreboard and its intricate design enhances our ballpark and now stands out as the gem of this grand facility,” added Eisenhauer.

Scoreboard Pays for Itself

Read this guide to learn about revenue-generating opportunities that will self-fund your video scoreboard.