New $1M scoreboard to greet Windy City Bulls at Sears Centre

Nearly $1 million of upgrades to Hoffman Estates' Sears Centre Arena were approved by village trustees Monday, all of which will be in place when the 10-year-old venue becomes home to the NBA Development League's Windy City Bulls in November.

But while the timing of the $63,200 basketball court replacement was influenced by the arrival of the prominent minor league team, the new $934,185 scoreboard system is a coincidental improvement necessary to keep the arena capable of attracting a wide variety of sports events, General Manager Ben Gibbs said.

"It's not just about attracting business, it's about retaining business," Gibbs told trustees. "We have to be able to say our scoreboard is as good as anything in the city. It is really the beating heart of the building."

The new purchase will include a main digital scoreboard approximately 24 by 43 feet, two digital ribbon boards of approximately 2 by 183 feet each, and an advertising board of about 13.5 by 7.5 feet from Mitsubishi Electric of Warrandale, Pennsylvania.

Gibbs said the Sears Centre's original scoreboard and ribbon board have already surpassed their useful lives and required $20,000 in repairs last year alone.

He added that the organizers of sporting events the arena has hosted in the past - including Big Ten Basketball and USA Gymnastics - are always shopping around for the best venues and equipment.

Replacing the scoreboard system this year is the only way the Sears Centre can truly compete with the McCormick Place Arena opening in Chicago next year, Gibbs said.

But the replacement of the original basketball court with one on which only four games were played during the NBA World Games in Shanghai is a rethink of an earlier plan.

The first plan to repair the current court for two more years and then replace it would have caused, among other things, a costly repaint of the Bulls' logo which the team is paying for this year only.