Every athletic director asking this question wants a single number, and every honest answer starts by explaining why one number does not exist. A football scoreboard is not a catalogue item that ships in a box at a fixed price. It is a cabinet built to a size, filled with the digits a particular sport needs, wired to a control console, mounted on posts set in the ground at a particular field, and delivered to a particular address. Change any of those and the quote changes with it.

What follows is the useful version of the answer. Instead of a price table that would be wrong the moment you read it, this guide walks through the specific decisions that move a football scoreboard quote up or down, and shows what our own record says about the choices programs actually make. Every specification quoted here comes from the product pages on this site. Every count comes from Electro-Mech's sales and shipping records.

Why There Is No Price List on This Page

Electro-Mech has manufactured scoreboards in Wrightsville, Georgia since 1963, and in all that time the company has never published a price list. That is a deliberate choice, not an oversight, and it holds for a practical reason: the scoreboard is usually the predictable part of the project, and the parts that are not predictable are the ones that decide what a program actually pays.

Two schools can order the identical cabinet in the same week. One is replacing a scoreboard on posts that are already standing, on a field with power at the fence line, forty minutes from a sign company that does this work every month. The other is putting a scoreboard where none has ever been, on a field with no service nearby, in a jurisdiction that wants a permit and a review before anything goes in the ground. The equipment line on those two quotes matches. The projects do not.

A published price would therefore be right for almost nobody. What we can do instead is be exact about the variables, which is what the rest of this page is for.

What Actually Sets the Price of a Football Scoreboard

Across the football line, five variables account for nearly all of the spread between a modest order and a large one:

• The size of the cabinet. Electro-Mech football scoreboards run from 10 ft. x 3 ft. to 36 ft. x 10 ft. That is a range from roughly 30 square feet of face to 360 - a twelvefold difference in the object itself.
• The height of the digits. Football digits on our scoreboards range from 11 in. to 30 in. Taller digits mean a taller cabinet, more segments to drive, and more structure to hold it all.
• Electronic team name panels. Names that can be changed from the console, rather than painted, are the single most common upgrade on a football order, and the one that most changes the electrical picture.
• Everything else that ships with it. Play clocks come in pairs. Practice timers are separate units. Sound systems and video displays are quoted separately and are not scoreboards at all.
• The site work at your field. Posts, concrete, trenching, a crane or hoist for the lift, and the electrician who terminates the power. None of that is on the scoreboard quote, and at some fields it is the larger half of the project.

Notice what is not on that list. There is no good, better, best tier, and there is no premium construction grade that costs more for the same size. The cabinets are aluminum across the line, indoor and outdoor alike. What you are paying for is area, digit height, the panels you chose, and the work at your field.

How Cabinet Size and Digit Height Change the Number

Size is the first question a sales representative will ask, and it is the one that moves a quote the most. The table below is a ladder through the football line as published on this site, from the smallest cabinet to the largest. Weight is worth reading closely: it is the clearest single measure of how much scoreboard you are buying, and it is also what decides how the thing gets lifted into place on installation day.

Three things in that table are worth pausing on.

The largest football scoreboard Electro-Mech makes weighs 950 lbs. If you have read a figure in the low thousands of pounds somewhere, it was not describing a scoreboard from this line. Weight matters to your project because it decides the lift: a 215 lb. cabinet and a 950 lb. cabinet are different days of work, with different equipment on site.

Digit heights come in sets, not in one size. A scoreboard listed at 30 in., 24 in., 18 in. uses the tallest digits for the score, the next size for the clock, and the smallest for the secondary figures. That is why the bigger cabinets are also the taller ones: the extra height is going into digits a spectator can read from the far side of the stands.

The current draw barely moves. The largest scoreboard in the line draws 3.2 amps at 120 VAC - four times the smallest, on a scoreboard twelve times the area. Every scoreboard here runs on ordinary single-phase 120 volt service. A program budgeting for heavy electrical work because the scoreboard is large has usually misread where the electrical cost actually comes from, which is the next section.

What Electronic Team Name Panels Add

The most common upgrade on a football order is electronic team name panels, which put HOME and the visiting team's name on the scoreboard as lit characters that can be changed from the console instead of painted lettering that cannot. Ours are built from panels with seven-inch or eleven-inch characters, depending on the model, and on this line they carry the words GUEST and HOME.

They also change the electrical picture more than any other option on the scoreboard itself:

On the largest scoreboard in the line, the panels roughly triple the current the scoreboard draws. That figure - 10.1 amps at 120 VAC - is the ceiling for a standard football scoreboard from Electro-Mech, panels included. It is a useful number to carry into a conversation with an electrician, because it is considerably smaller than most people assume.

Sound systems and video displays are a different matter. They are separate products, they are quoted separately, and they are the reason a stadium project sometimes needs heavier service than anything on this page would suggest. If your project includes one, the electrical scope follows that product, not the scoreboard.

Wired or Wireless: What the Control Choice Changes

The console that runs the scoreboard reaches it one of two ways, and the choice shows up in the project cost mostly through the trenching it does or does not require.

ScoreLink is our wireless option. It is a radio link between the console and the scoreboard, available on all our models, with a working range of about 750 feet. It is not a control system and it is not a scoreboard model - it is the communication path. Roughly four out of five orders now go this way, which tells you how strongly buyers weigh not digging a trench across a field.

The wired alternative is a shielded two-conductor cable with a drain line, purchased separately from the scoreboard. Our outdoor cable carries a burial quality jacket, which is the part worth knowing: the buried portion of the run does not need conduit. You can trench it and lay the cable directly in the dirt, and use conduit only where the cable comes up and is exposed. Cable runs are supported to 1,000 feet, farther than the wireless link reaches.

One rule matters more than the rest here: control cable and power do not share a conduit. If your contractor proposes running both in one, that is a specification to correct before anything goes in the ground.

Play Clocks, Practice Timers, and the Rest of the Order

A football order is rarely one cabinet. Play clocks are sold as sets of two, because a field needs one at each end, and they are separate products with their own line on the quote. They are also small: the largest set in the line weighs 45 lbs. per cabinet and draws less than half an amp.

The reset switch is worth a sentence of its own. Play clocks are operated by an official on the field, not from the press box, and the standard package includes a handheld switch that resets the count to either of two values you program. A wireless version of that switch is available. If your officials have complained about being tethered to a cable at the sideline, that is the part of the order to ask about.

Separate from game day, the LX7520 practice segment timer is a small, 40 lb. cabinet with 11 in. digits that runs practice segment timing software, and it can sit on a T-Cart leg kit and roll to wherever practice is happening. It appears in the football record far more often than most people would guess, and it is the least expensive way a program puts an Electro-Mech scoreboard on a field.

What the Record Shows Football Programs Actually Buy

Most buying guides describe what a manufacturer would like to sell. This section describes what was actually ordered. Electro-Mech's sales and shipping records contain 4,774 football orders from 3,731 organizations across 49 states, shipped between 1999 and 2025. Counted the way the company counts them: one entry per organization, model and city.

Two patterns in that record are useful to a program building a budget.

First, the most frequently ordered football product is not a scoreboard at all. It is the LX3050 play clock set, with 570 entries - more than any main scoreboard in the line. Add the other play clock models and the practice timer, and nearly a third of everything shipped for football is a small cabinet weighing well under a hundred pounds. Programs buy the main scoreboard once in a generation and add to it in pieces afterwards, and the record shows that clearly. These counts are model families rather than single part numbers: the record spells the same display both with and without the LX prefix, and both spellings are counted together here.

Second, the main scoreboard that programs choose most often is not the largest one. The LX3680 leads the scoreboards at 24 ft. x 10 ft., comfortably below the 36 ft. x 10 ft. ceiling of the line. The second most common, the LX3150, is a 10 ft. x 5 ft. cabinet. If you had assumed that everyone buys as much scoreboard as they can afford, the record says otherwise: programs buy the size their field and their stands actually call for.

The geography is concentrated in the southeast, which reflects where the company has sold for six decades rather than where football is played: Georgia leads with 1,067 entries, followed by Alabama with 550, Florida with 534, North Carolina with 411, Tennessee with 339 and South Carolina with 335. Texas, with 143, sits well behind states a fraction of its size.

One caution about reading any of this too literally. These are sales and shipping records. They say what was ordered and where it was sent, not what is standing today, and a shipping address is sometimes a dealer rather than the field itself. The counts are reliable as a picture of demand. They are not a census of scoreboards in service.

What the Installation Adds to the Project

The scoreboard quote covers the scoreboard. The rest of the project - posts, concrete, the lift, the electrician - is arranged locally, and it is the part where two otherwise identical orders stop resembling each other. Knowing how the mounting actually works is the fastest way to have a useful conversation with whoever will do it.

In the overwhelming majority of outdoor projects, the method is simple and old: the installer digs holes, sets the posts in them so they stand up out of the ground like poles, pours the concrete footings, waits for them to set, and then clamps the scoreboard cabinets to the posts. There are no anchor bolts holding the cabinet, and there is no bolt pattern to match. Anchor bolts appear only in the uncommon case where the footings contain anchoring hardware and the posts sit entirely above ground.

Our outdoor manuals give the sequence, and the parts most often skipped are the ones that cost time when they go wrong:

1. Build temporary wooden framing to hold the posts plumb while the concrete cures. Posts that drift while setting are a problem no amount of care later will fix.
2. Start with the top cabinet and work down.
3. Stand the cabinet on the ground with the posts behind it before lifting anything.
4. While it is still on the ground, assemble the mounting clamps for that cabinet - two per post - and attach them loosely, with the rods and brackets wrapping around the backs of the posts.
5. Lift the cabinet to height with a crane or hoist.
6. Tighten the clamps.
7. Repeat for each cabinet below it.

Two practical notes follow from that sequence. A crane or hoist is required for anything but the smallest cabinets, so access to the site matters: a field a truck cannot reach is a more expensive field. And the physical installation itself is not a long job. Once the concrete has cured, it is common to handle the installation of a football scoreboard in a single day.

Footings, Permits, and When an Engineer Is Involved

What decides how substantial the footings need to be is the surface area of the sign and the local wind load requirement, not the weight of the cabinet and not the latitude of the field. Coastal wind ratings drive deeper footings far more often than cold winters do.

Whether you need a building permit depends entirely on the jurisdiction, and in many places a scoreboard goes up without one. Where a permit is required, the local code may or may not have anything to say about the structure or the electrical detail. What does come up occasionally is a requirement that a locally licensed Professional Engineer review the mounting structure and footings, provide wind load calculations, and stamp the drawings. To put the frequency in perspective, a licensed PE is brought in on fewer than one hundred Electro-Mech projects a year.

Determining whether a PE is required on your project is the customer's responsibility, not the manufacturer's. Where one is needed, Electro-Mech can usually help by working with the PE directly to keep the process moving. That is a service the company facilitates, not a document it issues.

Power, and Where It Comes From

For an outdoor scoreboard, the usual arrangement is a disconnect switch mounted on one of the support posts, branching from an externally mounted panel that also serves stadium lighting and other equipment. Power does not come from the press box; the press box holds the console, which is a different thing entirely. The terminal block where the alternating current is connected is inside the scoreboard cabinet itself, not in a separate enclosure on the ground.

A locally licensed electrician normally terminates the power at the panel. Before that electrician leaves the site, run a full operational test with the console: every digit, the clock, and the horn. Problems found while the truck is still in the parking lot are problems that get solved that day.

Before the Scoreboard Arrives

The single most useful thing to prepare before delivery is unglamorous: a clean, dry, secure place to store the scoreboard and its accessories until installation day. Shipments frequently arrive before the site is ready, and that is fine as long as somewhere sensible is waiting for them. Note any shipping damage on the delivery receipt before signing it.

As for who does the work: in some regions Electro-Mech has long-standing relationships with people who specialize in scoreboard installation and service, and a sales representative can point you to them. Beyond the reach of those partners, a local sign company is generally the right resource. Erecting a sign on posts is ordinary work for them.

How to Get a Real Number for Your Field

A quote comes back faster and closer to final when the request carries the specifics. Have these ready:

• The level of play and the field. What the scoreboard has to show for your sport, and how far the farthest seat sits from where it will stand.
• New posts or existing ones. Replacing a scoreboard on posts already in the ground is a different project from starting with an empty end zone.
• Team names lit or painted. Electronic team name panels are the option most likely to change your electrical planning.
• Play clocks, and permanent or portable. A permanently mounted set and a set on T-Cart leg kits are different products.
• Wireless or cable. If cable, the distance from the console to the scoreboard, and whether a trench can be dug along that path.
• Site access and storage. Whether a crane can reach the location, and where the shipment will wait if it arrives early.

Current models and their full specifications live on this site and are kept up to date there. Bring the model number you are considering, or the field dimensions and the level of play, and let the sales representative work back to a model from that.

A football scoreboard stays at a field for a long time, and the decisions that set its price are mostly decisions about the field rather than the product catalogue: how far the back row sits, whether the posts are already standing, whether team names need to change from the console, and whether a truck can get to the end zone. Answer those, and the number stops being mysterious.

Ready to get a real number for your facility? Request a quote from Electro-Mech and include your field dimensions, your mounting situation, and the options you are considering.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a high school football scoreboard cost?

Electro-Mech does not publish scoreboard prices and quotes each project individually. What sets the figure is the size of the cabinet, the height of the digits, whether electronic team name panels are included, how many additional timers ship with the order, and the site work at your field. A request that names those specifics comes back with a number quickly.

What is the smallest football scoreboard Electro-Mech makes?

The LX3130 is a 10 ft. x 3 ft. cabinet with 11 in. digits, weighing 130 lbs. and drawing 0.8 amps at 120 VAC. For practice fields rather than game day, the LX7520 practice segment timer is smaller still at 4 ft. x 3 ft. and 40 lbs., and it can roll on a T-Cart leg kit.

What is the largest football scoreboard Electro-Mech makes?

The LX3885 measures 36 ft. x 10 ft., carries digits of 30 in., 24 in. and 18 in., and weighs 950 lbs. It draws 3.2 amps at 120 VAC, or 10.1 amps with electronic team name panels.

Does a football scoreboard need special electrical service?

No. Every scoreboard in the football line runs on ordinary 120 VAC service, and the largest of them draws 10.1 amps with team name panels included. Heavier electrical requirements at a stadium come from accessories such as sound systems and video displays, which are separate products with their own specifications.

Do I need a permit to install a football scoreboard?

It depends on the jurisdiction, and in many places no permit is required. Where one is, the local building code may also call for a locally licensed Professional Engineer to review the mounting structure and footings and stamp the drawings. That happens on fewer than one hundred Electro-Mech projects a year. Confirming the local requirement is the customer's responsibility, and the building department is the place to ask first.

How far can the console be from the scoreboard?

With the ScoreLink wireless option, about 750 feet. With cable, runs are supported to 1,000 feet. The cable is a shielded two-conductor cable with a drain line, purchased separately, and its burial quality jacket means the buried portion of the run does not need conduit. Control cable and power are never run in the same conduit.

Are play clocks included with a football scoreboard?

No. Play clocks are separate products, ordered as a set of two, and they appear as their own line on a quote. They range from 30 lbs. to 45 lbs. per cabinet with digits of 18 in. to 30 in., in permanently mounted and portable versions. An official on the field operates them with a handheld reset switch, available wired or wireless.

How long does the installation take?

Once the concrete footings have cured, it is common to complete the installation of a football scoreboard in a single day. The waiting is in the concrete, and in any permit the jurisdiction requires before work starts.

Who should install a football scoreboard?

In some regions Electro-Mech works with people who specialize in scoreboard installation and service, and a sales representative can put you in touch with them. Elsewhere, a local sign company is usually the right choice: setting posts and hanging a sign is routine work for them. A locally licensed electrician handles the power connection at the panel.