What's the economic impact of a video scoreboard?

Really interesting post from The Business of Sports about the economic impact of a video scoreboard. Every team that thinks about investing in a scoreboard upgrade does this kind of cost-benefit analysis, but this is the first time I've seen actual published figures. The article includes this table from the Florida Panthers, via the Miami Herald:

(click for full size)

"This chart clear shows that if the County grants our request it will get its funds returned in economic impact in less than 18 months time."

Essentially, the team is trying to say that the events listed here would only take place at their arena if they get the new scoreboard, and then shows a rough calculation of what the economic impact for the county would be. I am going to assume/hope there is more math going on behind the scenes in determining these numbers, as the methodology behind an accurate economic impact study is quite detailed. It’s an interesting angle, but I have to believe they’d be able to book some of these events even without a new scoreboard, and they are completely disregarding the potential loss that the team could get in both ticket sales and sponsorship assets if they don’t upgrade it themselves. 

I reached out to my friend Brian Connolly of Victus Advisors, who is an expert in this area of research. He said, “Just because a new scoreboard is used during an event doesn’t mean that a) it’s the sole reason that event came to town, and that b) that event is attracting new dollars into the town that wouldn’t have been spent there otherwise. You need to meet both of those criteria to assign economic impact to a scoreboard.” -

Read the entire article here...