From Bruno Mars to Bemidji State: One tool to get the most out of your scoreboards

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The following post is sponsored by The Famous Group. Headquartered in Los Angeles, The Famous Group is an award-winning creative technology company specializing in creating unforgettable moments for the biggest brands, venues, schools and events in the world. Want to bring those moments to your venue? Get the free guide on how The Famous Group engages fans between plays.

Almost everybody in college sports is dealing with two similar problems. Because of inflation, declining state support and the obligation to directly pay athletes, schools all over the country are trying to find new ways to drive revenue. But simply raising ticket prices isn’t enough, because those same schools are also worried about attendance and engaging future generations of fans.

So you need your events to be accessible and fun, and, oh yeah, if you can squeeze a few more sponsorship assets in there at the same time, that’d be ideal.

Corporate sponsorships are pretty common. Just about every school is already selling ads in and around its stadium, and recently, larger programs have looked to add new sponsorship assets on fields, uniforms and beyond.

But there’s one bit of real estate that can absolutely help on the rev-gen side and in engaging fans, and it seems so obvious that it gets taken for granted sometimes: the humble scoreboard.

The Famous Group has built a software package, called the Vixi Suite, which is meant to help athletic departments of all sizes run high-quality fan engagement platforms on their scoreboards and generate more revenue for the department. The Famous Group works with more than 600 clients across the world, from some of the biggest brands in live entertainment and professional sports (like the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves and Golden State Warriors) to mid-majors in college athletics.

Clients can run activations via the Vixi Suite at the most massive and technologically advanced stadiums in the world, sure, but they don’t have to have the latest whizbang infrastructure to get the system up and running. All schools need, according to Ryan Drobnich, a producer at The Famous Group, is “a standard gaming laptop, the sort of thing you could pick up at a Best Buy or order from Amazon,” along with connectivity to the arena video board and a hardwired internet connection “of at least 100 MPS.”

If that sounds intimidating, there’s a pretty good chance your local home internet connection is already clearing 100 MPS. As far as hardware is concerned, most colleges should be able to spring for a nice laptop and a few cables.

The majority of the clients that work with The Famous Group do have a dedicated operator during actual games, but that person doesn’t necessarily have to be a TV producer with 20 years of technical experience. Eric Burak, the executive vice president of production and client strategy at The Famous Group, told me, “I’d say at least 50 percent of [those operators] are part-time interns. I am so confident in our user interface and training that if I trained you on how to use the Vixi Suite today, you could run an event tomorrow.”

Among the more popular activations are versions of fan cams, especially those that allow for fan photo modification. For example, using Vixi Suite, a fan could snap a phone selfie and upload it after scanning a QR code; then the modified version of the photo could be shown on the stadium jumbotron. Think of something like this:

The suite makes it easy for fans to directly engage with any type of scoreboard-driven promotion or event, even without sharing photos. Fans can use their phones to vote in trivia contests, vote in polls or share messages directly with the scoreboard. Michigan, for example, uses the tool to allow fans to vote on which hat is covering a missing football.

It can also be used to pull off stadium-wide light shows at both indoor and outdoor arenas.

You’ve probably seen these type of games if you’ve ever been to a minor league baseball stadium, but now, operators can capture fan data (and connect with them on a deeper level) beyond trying to gauge who “won” a trivia contest by trying to estimate which section yelled the loudest.

The segments can be as complicated or high-production as the school wants. But Burak noted that they’re not just about getting laughs or encouraging fans to stay engaged during a timeout or break in the action. These activations also create new sponsorship inventory for brands (the stadium selfie cam, presented by Bob’s Pizza!), which means a better experience for advertisers and more revenue for the athletic department.

Arenas often host events that have nothing to do with live sports, from concerts to graduations. “Bruno Mars is using the Vixi Suite during his romantic tour, and he's taking romantic dedications via Vixi messages,” Burak told me. “So there are times when our team will be talking with a college partner, and they're retiring somebody's jersey, and [we’ve] said, ‘Hey, you know you can do Vixi messages and have a real special moment, a personal moment from a real fan directly to that player.’” It’s … just like at a Bruno Mars show. Adele also used Vixi during her most recent European tour.

But the company prides itself on being flexible. Since the software doesn’t require sophisticated hardware or massive staff to operate, Vixi is attainable for athletic departments of all sizes. A school can simply decide what specific features or activations fit its budget, stadium and event goals.

So, sure, The Famous Group may be providing scoreboard software for some of the biggest musicians on the planet, professional sports franchises and colleges like Michigan and Auburn. But it also serves schools like Bemidji State and High Point.

The most important part of the game, of course, is still the game. But in a world where just about everybody is trying to find more ways to get folks in the building, keep them there, and engage new sponsors, refreshing the ol’ scoreboard could be a great place to start. And if it’s good enough for Adele, well, it’ll probably work in the America East as well.

Want to see what’s possible at your venue? Get the free guide on how The Famous Group engages fans between plays.