The A’s invited media to the Coliseum on Friday, in order to showcase the fancy new scoreboards, ribbon boards, and a slew of additional improvements at the Coliseum. Fought over by the team and the City for more than two years, the change marks the first significant improvement at the old venue since Mt. Davis was erected 20 years ago. Karl Buscheck of Bleacher Report got a few pictures.
A before and after of the video board at the http://t.co/9IjoveqXoR. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/G5H0fT34aF
— Karl Buscheck (@KarlBuscheck) April 3, 2015
Apparently when the media was brought in, they saw what appeared to be the old scoreboard. It was actually a reproduction of the layout and ads on the original scoreboard, auxiliary fascia board, and DiamondVision, right down to “broken” lamps in some places. That was transformed into the modern design, which can accommodate significantly more information and even dual HD video feeds side-by-side.
The video board split into two screens. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/THEn9n6I4p
— Karl Buscheck (@KarlBuscheck) April 3, 2015
The equipment took several weeks to install and test, not to mention the construction of a two-story control room inside the press box. On game days the video control room will have up to 18 people in it, managing everything from replay feeds to ads to in-game score and that new between-innings clock.
As we discussed a couple months ago, each screen on its own would place in the middle of the pack as far as displays in MLB ballparks go. The difference between the boards at the Coliseum and those at other ballparks is that the Coli’s displays are much further above and behind the seats than comparable displays elsewhere. Knowing this, graphic designers for the new system worked on font sizing to ensure that everything was crisp and legible even from far away. Some elements are similar to those at Hohokam Stadium, such as the 90-degree tilt for stat types. Tweaking is likely as more games bring in more fans to provide feedback.
Other improvements to the Coliseum were announced:
- A 30-person President’s Suite on the Club level, created out of two suites
- Interactive team shop on lower concourse behind Section 105, including jersey press and bat engraving stand
- Weight room for visiting club
- New press conference room for media availability (the old one was the size of a master bedroom)
- Renovated press lounge
I won’t be there in person for the first homestand, but I’ll be there soon enough. In the meantime, send in feedback when you get your first look.
newballpark.org 
I must have looked at that video of the board about 20 times, cannot wait to see these things in person! I’ll be there for two games of the first homestand. This has been a long time coming, and if there is no new park on the immediate horizon, I am reserved to getting excited about stuff like this.
For purely aesthetic reasons, if they do much with that dual-video design, I’d like to see them either split it up so that ad at the right is centered, or the two videos are centered under the Coliseum signage with ads at the corners. It just looks odd to me from a design standpoint, but that’s very low on the totem pole of important things.
ML, you saw it from me yesterday, but that recreation of the old scoreboard style was so good it fooled me into thinking it was an old photo before you RT’d the top image here. They even more or less recreated the old ads and game info on the ribbon boards before the change into the current stuff. Pretty neat, really.
I just saw a little featurette on KTVU about the game today and they showed the scoreboards before and after. Holy crap what a change.
For a long time I have thought/expressed that making upgrades to the Coliseum was a waste of money. I am really glad I was wrong 🙂
Nice work Lew, real nice.
supposedly they won’t “unveil” the new video boards until opening day vs tex.
As a way of saving costs, I just wonder if the Raiders would be able to work out a deal with the A’s to purchase and re-utilize these new scoreboards in a new or rebuilt Coliseum.
or the a’s could be using these new scoreboards in their new stadium wherever it is be it in oakland or san jose.
There’s no real point in that. Whenever the A’s get a new stadium, they’re going to build it to their desires, and while they could probably reuse the what they just put in for a new configuration (if that’s what you mean, I get it now), I’d say it’s guaranteed the shape and size of what they end up doing will be different. In other words, no dual scoreboard setup just like these two.
really who do own the scoreboard if the raiders and a’s somehow were to get new venues here locally in the bay area?
lets say the raiders stay in oakland and somehow the a’s were to be allowed to move to sj? who gets the “rights” to the scoreboards?
the a’s or the city of oakland?
The lease was written so that if the A’s were forced out of the Coliseum early they’d be reimbursed for the unamortized part of the project cost. The boards belong to the JPA, but the A’s have to pay for maintenance under the deal.
Did anyone at the game yesterday get a good look at whatever change was made to the bullpens?