How a Scoreboard Pays for Itself with Sponsors

An old static scoreboard can carry one or two sponsor signs. A full-color LED videoboard can carry dozens of sponsors, rotate them all game long, and change them every season without printing anything. That difference is what lets a board be paid for by the businesses in your community instead of the school.

What you can sell on a videoboard

• Sponsor panels beside the score and video window, visible the entire game.
• Full-screen spots during timeouts, between innings, and at halftime.
• Sponsored moments such as touchdowns, home runs, three-pointers, and strikeouts, each “brought to you by” a sponsor.
• A scrolling sponsor bar along the top or bottom of the board.
• A title or presenting sponsor whose name is on the board itself.

Because the board is digital, one sponsor package can cover several sports at the same school, which makes it worth more to the sponsor and easier to sell.

How to run the numbers

Before you sign anything, work through this with your booster club or athletic director:

1. Start with the board cost. Pick a size from our Display Packages and get an itemized quote that includes the structure and install.
2. List your sponsor tiers. For example, one presenting sponsor, a handful of panel sponsors, and several smaller game-day spots.
3. Price each tier for your market. Look at what local businesses already pay for fence banners, program ads, and radio spots. A videoboard placement is seen by every fan at every home game, so it usually commands more.
4. Multiply by the length of the agreements. Multi-year agreements give sponsors a better rate and give you a predictable number to put against the board.
5. Compare the total to the board. If sponsor revenue over the agreement term covers the cost, the board pays for itself, and everything after that is revenue for the program.

Sell before you build

The schools that do this best line up their anchor sponsors before the board is ordered. Signed commitments from a presenting sponsor and a few panel sponsors turn the project from a fundraising hope into a funded plan. We itemize every quote so you can show a sponsor, a booster board, or a school board exactly what they are paying for.

Keeping sponsors renewing

Sponsors renew when they can see they got what they paid for. Rotate their content on a fair schedule, mention them on game night, and send them photos of their placement on the board during a packed game. A board that looks good and runs every home game is the best renewal pitch there is.

Sponsor tools are built into our software

Our own scoreboard control software has sponsor panels, full-screen sponsor spots, and a scrolling sponsor bar built in, so your operator can run sponsor content during the game without a separate system. Our Fan Zone app carries sponsors onto fans’ phones too, with sponsored polls and deals. See our football, baseball and softball, and basketball pages, or browse our completed projects.

Phased projects

If sponsor commitments do not cover the full board this year, start with the display and structure and add sponsor panels, auxiliary displays, or a second field later. Tell us early and we will scope the quote that way from the start.