Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.ONLY IN THE WORLD-HERALD
A high-tech gadget from Omaha's Diamond on the Hill will find a new home in a high school football stadium this fall.
The Omaha school district plans to disassemble Rosenblatt Stadium's scoreboard and video board, transport them to Omaha Burke High School and put them back together again in time for this fall's high school football season.
Omaha Public Schools officials hope Rosenblatt's scoreboard and the 27-foot-high, 56-foot-wide video board will keep the Nebraska state track and field championships at Burke for many years to come.
It's all part of a big scoreboard swap, which may be coming to a school near you.
At its conclusion, the City of Omaha will have donated Rosenblatt's scoreboard and giant video screen to Burke, near 120th Street and West Dodge Road.
Burke's current scoreboard will go to downtown Omaha, to Central High School, which will give its scoreboard to Norris Middle School.
Norris, 2235 S. 46th St., currently lacks a scoreboard. High wind gusts knocked down its board in the winter of 2009, said Bob Danenhauer, OPS athletic director.
Rosenblatt's video screen was bought in 2006 at a cost of $1.3 million. The video board can show instant replays.
But with the College World Series moving to the new TD Ameritrade Park in north downtown this summer, Rosenblatt eventually will be torn down.
This year's state track meet, May 20 and 21, will be the 40th hosted by Burke.
“It enhances our ability to retain that state track meet,” said Assistant Superintendent Jerry Bartee.
In recent years the Nebraska School Activities Association has not solicited other bids to host the meet, said Steve Shanahan, NSAA interim executive director.
About 27,000 people attended last year's two-day meet, he said.
“There are very few venues in the state, if any, that can hold an event that size,” Shanahan said.
Burke's current two-year contract ends after the 2012 state meet, Danenhauer said.
OPS hopes to receive private donations to cover the cost of disassembling the scoreboards, then hauling and installing them in their new homes. The Omaha Schools Foundation has committed half of the $400,000 needed.
“We're looking forward to it,” Shanahan said. “It makes it a lot more fan-friendly atmosphere.”
Correction: In an earlier version of this story, the Omaha Schools Foundation was misidentified.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1074, jonathon.braden@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
