Standing at the entrance to Rhodes Stadium there are many there can be a lot to take in. It’s the row of bleachers that cover the home side of the field or the Carl Woods Center Or it could be the grassy knolls that bookend McKinnon field. But now Elon University has added one more.

During this past summer Elon added one more feature to that landscape: a Jumbotron.

Now teamed up with the scoreboard on the western end of the stadium is massive Jumbotron, known as PhoenixVision, which will bring Elon into the pack with the rest of the Southern Conference, Athletic Director Dave Blank said.

“It gives us an advantage in facilities in the Southern Conference,” Blank said. “I don’t think every facility has a video board like this but that wasn’t the primary reason for installing.”

And while it gives the school a big improvement in facility it wasn’t the primary reason for installing the scoreboard, Blank said.

PhoenixVision will have all of the entities that students see at higher collegiate sporting events and even some professional events. Live game action, instant replay, player video introductions and multiple graphics packages will be added to not only improve the look of the stadium but also improving the experience of the athletes.

“(Improving our appearance in the conference) is not at the crux that we are trying to do this,” Blank said. It’s just to enhance the experience of the athletes.”

While both of those reasons are well and good, the core of the decision to add the PhoenixVision is to enhance the time spent at Rhodes Stadium of those sitting in those hundreds of rows of seats.

“The things we are going to be able to do with it are really going to enhance the experience of the fan,” Blank said. “We are trying to get all of our programs as engaged in the community as we can so we are providing a quality product to the Elon, Burlington area.”

But some may ask how the athletic department came across such an expensive piece of hardware. It’s through a relationship Action Sports Media.

Action Sports Media is a marking company, which mainly focuses on collegiate athletics. It has 11 colleges or universities for which it does the primary marketing for and now Elon can be added to that list which includes: University of Alabama, University of South Carolina and the University of Kentucky among others.

“Action Sports Media is a company that buys the rights for the entire marketing inventory at each institution, based on the dynamics between the institution and ASM,” said Trip Durham Associate Athletics Director for Marketing, Promotions and Home Game Management. “In our case ASM purchased all of the marketing rights.”

Like any business Action Sports Media will look to make money of its new partnership with the university. And one of the best ways to do that is to provide more marketing tools, Durham said.

“To create more inventory you have to add in video components,” Durham said. “By providing additional mediums Action Sports has a better opportunity of fulfilling their business mission.”

And their newest business mission is to make money with help from Elon University. Because of this Action Sports Media is putting the PhoenixVision into place.

The decision to put the PhoenixVision in place was a mutual one.

“We were face to face at the same time that the idea started being generated,” Durham said. “We were both mutual interested at the same time at the same window.”

Along with the new Jumbotron that Action Sports Media is putting to place will be 40 feet of scrolling sideline tables for Alumni Gym. The table will begin being used for the 2007-2008 basketball season and for 2008 volleyball season.

“Any corporate inventory that we have, radio, signage…you name it as big or as small as it is that can have a corporate mark on it or associated with it Action Sports Media has,” Durham said.

The switch to incorporate the new features was an easy one for Elon to make, with the scoreboard already in place there was already the structure needed and it is not difficult to make room for tables in Alumni Gym.

“We already had a lot of pieces of the puzzle that are in place,” Durham said. “It’s not like we had to readjust our world to make a board happen.”

While the behind-the-scenes work has taken the summer to complete the real results will be seen at the football home-opener, when West Virginia Wesleyan comes to town and the PhoenixVision turns on.

“It’s a big black screen when it’s off and we make it come to life every Saturday,” Blank said.

Managing Editor: Justin Hite - 08/24/07