Beginning Monday, workers will start assembling and then installing a new video scoreboard that Bruce Ashley promises will be a crowd-pleaser.

”It’s going to reach out and grab them,” says the Civic Center’s operations director.

The $850,000 scoreboard by TransLux Corp. will hang in the center of the arena, as the current one does, but it will have four sides of high-resolution, full-color video, capable of showing live shots.

That was written by Jenni Davis and appeared in the Journal Star just five years ago, on August 20, 2002. What’s in the Civic Center budget for FY2008? A new scoreboard to the tune of $700,000.

Why? Does an $850,000 scoreboard only have a lifespan of 5-6 years? Is it even paid off yet? I notice one of the entries on the Statement of Cash Flows is “Long Term Liabilities,” which includes “principal amount of scoreboard debt, land acquisition debt, and club room / suites debt.” And according to their financial statement from 2004, “The Peoria Civic Center has a note payable with final payment due November 2007 for the scoreboard purchase.”

In looking up information on the Civic Center scoreboard, I found pretty wide-ranging opinions. Bradley’s website praises it in this statement from 4/21/2007: “In recent years, the arena has undergone some major renovations benefiting Bradley Basketball. A multi-million dollar scoreboard with a four-sided jumbo video panel was hung in 2002 and the Braves are playing on a court that is only three years old.” They obviously exaggerated the price, but seem to be happy with it nonetheless.

On the other hand, the Rivermen hate it. The Rivermen Fan Advisory Board had this stinging criticism in January 2007: “The video scoreboard quality is very poor, and the images and voice are out of sync. (The Civic Center is looking at the possibility of purchasing a rear-projection system.)” In fact, their dissatisfaction goes back at least until July 2006. That was less than four years after the $850,000 scoreboard was installed.

If the scoreboard is that terrible, then I think it’s fair to ask why the Civic Center spent so much money on such a poor product. That’s a lot of money to flush down the toilet. Also, what steps are being taken to make a better purchase this time?

It’s probably just coincidental, but I did happen to discover that former Rivermen Vice President of Sales/Marketing Mike Nelson, who worked for the Rivermen in 2003, “served two years as the Midwestern Regional Manager for the Trans-Lux Scoreboard Co.” before he worked for the Rivermen. The current scoreboard was purchased from Trans-Lux.

Update: Some commentators over at the Peoria Pundit are saying the Civic Center purchased the scoreboard used and got it for a bargain. I have no way of verifying that information at this time. But if they did, then I would have to assume the “new” $7 million scoreboard they want to get is used, too. And is this really better than buying new and getting more life out of the scoreboard? Is buying a used scoreboard more analogous to buying a used car or a used computer?