As the structure for the new DJ Sokol Vision scoreboard rose just beyond the south end zone at Caniglia Field, UNO coach Pat Behrns said one thing crossed his mind.

“You wondered if it was going to fit into the stadium,” he said.

The massive structure is on schedule to be finished and operational in advance of the Mavericks’ Sept. 4 football season opener against the University of Nebraska at Kearney. It’s named for the late son of David and Peggy Sokol — their $1 million gift to the athletic department paid for video scoreboards both at the football stadium and inside Sapp Fieldhouse.

“Their donation has really created a lift for us,” UNO Athletic Director Trev Alberts said. “You can see a bounce in Pat’s footsteps. Our football players are excited about it.”

Original plans called for the video scoreboard to be located beyond the north end zone, but it has found its home on the south side, among other reasons, because it would have partially obscured a view of the campus from the stadium.

The structure supporting the scoreboard is 66 feet wide and 53 feet high. The video portion of the scoreboard will be 21 feet wide and 42 feet high and will be surrounded by sponsorship panels of various sizes as well as the traditional scoreboard elements. It will be one of the largest video scoreboards among Division II schools.

The video boards will be capable of showing instant replays and recorded messages. Alberts said all sponsorships would be lined up in time for the first game of the season. He also envisions other ways for the video board to be used by the campus in general.

Alberts said the video board installations are a primary reason that UNO’s corporate sponsorships are expected to approach $800,000 for the coming year. Before his arrival, Alberts said, corporate sponsorships for 2008-09 amounted to $410,000.

“We’re not where we need to be, but we’re pleased with the progress that has been made,” he said. “DJ Sokol Vision goes beyond corporate sponsorship. We’re searching for integration with the campus and the community. We want our corporate partners to have the opportunity to have first-class signage that creates value for them. When (marketing director) Matt Hansen goes out into the community, now he has more inventory to offer. We don’t want to be one-way partners where we just take ... we want everything we do to be win-win for everyone.”

A planned scoreboard control room, which would have been cut into the shared wall between the fieldhouse and the football press box, has been put on hold to keep the project on budget. Alberts said the control room remains in future plans, but until then the mobile equipment will be taken back and forth between the stadium and fieldhouse for various events.

Alberts said he would eventually like to see the north end of the stadium turn into a bowl configuration and to have a single entrance point to the stadium.

Alberts said he welcomes the opportunity to give UNO athletes a source of pride. He and Behrns said the new boards were well received by a group of football recruits on camps this week.

The video boards have infused energy into the UNO coaching staff, Alberts said.

“It’s created belief,” he said. “We’ve asked our coaches to make substantial changes in the way they do some things. We’re running the department more like a business than ever before. It becomes problematic if you can’t back it up with some positive changes.”

Behrns likes upgrade, even if he jokingly worries about All-America kicker Greg Zuerlein putting dents in the structure.

“Not much has been done around here, facility-wise, since we got the new turf seven years ago,” he said. “I think it’s a compliment to our administration that we’re putting some money into the program and making it look like it should look. For a while it seemed like our idea of upgrading was going from two port-a-potties to four, so this is a big deal.”

Contact the writer:

444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

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