Soccer is a small part of what this company ships, and that is worth saying at the start of a buying guide rather than hiding: the sport accounts for about two percent of sales. What follows is therefore built on a narrow record read honestly, not on a market survey.

Start With the Stands, Not the Catalogue

Digit height decides whether the scoreboard works, and it follows one rule of thumb: roughly 25 feet of viewing distance per inch of digit height. An 11 in. digit reads to about 275 feet, a 15 in. digit to about 375, an 18 in. digit to about 450, and a 24 in. digit to about 600. Measure to the farthest seat you care about, not to the touchline.

Soccer complicates that in one specific way: the scoreboard usually stands behind a goal or beyond a touchline, and a pitch is wider than a gym and longer than a baseball infield. A scoreboard that reads perfectly from the centre of the stand can be unreadable from the corner flag end of the same stand. Take the measurement from the seat that is actually farthest, and if the number lands between two digit heights, take the taller one - the cabinet grows a little, and nobody has ever complained that the clock was too easy to read.

Cabinet width follows from what the face carries, which is the next decision.

What a Soccer Scoreboard Shows

The core of any soccer scoreboard is Points for each team, the Period, and the Clock. What separates a 5 ft. portable from a 26 ft. stadium sign is everything a club decides to add beyond that.

• Points, Time and Period. The basic set. The portable models carry it with 11 in. digits, and the 10 ft. x 5 ft. and larger cabinets carry it with 15 in. and 18 in. digits.
• A 5-digit Period Clock. Minutes, Seconds and Tenths of Seconds. On the LX6655 the clock digits are a full 18 in. tall while Points and Period sit at 15 in. On the LX6545 the same clock continuously shows tenths, which also makes it a practical display for posting times at track events.
• Shots on Goal. The first statistic most programs add. The LX6430 carries Shots on Goal in 15 in. digits with Points and Time at 18 in.
• Corner Kicks and Saves. The 26 ft. cabinets add these for each team. The LX6740 series was built around exactly that set: Shots on Goal, Corner Kicks, Saves and Points for both sides.
• Penalty and Foul counts. At the top of the line the LX6945 tracks Points, Shots on Goal, Corner Kicks, Saves and Penalty/Foul counts for GUEST and HOME, with a 5-digit Period Clock that counts up or down depending on the rules your league plays.

Two of these deserve a note. A clock that counts up matters more in soccer than in any other sport this company builds for, because leagues differ on it and a scoreboard that cannot do both is wrong half the time - the larger models handle either direction from the console. And the horn is built in on the 26 ft. cabinets, which is a small convenience that gets noticed when a hand-held horn goes missing on a Saturday morning.

Portable or Permanent

This is the decision that changes the project most, and in the soccer record it is not a minority choice. Of the 252 soccer orders in Electro-Mech's record, 118 are portable models - the LX6324, the LX1320 and the LX6320 - which is nearly half of everything shipped for the sport.

A portable scoreboard is a 40 to 50 lb. cabinet on a T-Cart leg kit. It rolls to whichever pitch is being used, indoors or outdoors, and it goes back into storage after the match. There is no concrete, no crane, no trench and no permit. For a club that plays across several fields, or a school whose soccer pitch is also the practice field for something else, that is frequently the right answer rather than the cheap one.

The trade is readability and information. A portable carries 11 in. digits, which is about 275 feet of viewing distance, and it shows the basics rather than Corner Kicks and Saves. The LX6324 is the most flexible of them: the MP-Series console shipped with it is the same one that goes with the larger combination scoreboards, so the sport is selected with a few buttons, and the captions are reversible panels held by thumb screws.

A permanent scoreboard is posts, concrete and a lift, and it earns that in size: 265 lbs. at 16 ft. x 5 ft., 500 lbs. at 22 ft. x 8 ft., 600 lbs. at 26 ft. x 8 ft. It is also the only way to get the full statistic set on the face. If the pitch has stands and a fixed home, this is the side of the line to look at.

The Size Ladder, From a Cart to a Stadium Sign

Every specification below is from the product pages on this site.

The jump that matters is from 50 lbs. to 265 lbs. Below it the scoreboard is a piece of equipment that lives in a storeroom; above it, it is a structure with footings. Everything else on the ladder is a question of how many figures the face carries and how far they have to be read.

What the Record Shows Schools and Clubs Buy

Two honest caveats before the numbers. The sales record has no field for soccer, so these entries were identified by model, using the soccer models published on this site. And the record counts orders, one per organization, model and city - it says what was shipped and where, not what is standing today.

With that stated: 252 orders, 249 organizations, 38 states, shipped between 2004 and 2025. Read by the name of the buying organization, 115 are schools, 34 colleges and universities, 25 parks and recreation departments and 16 clubs, with 62 whose names do not say. The geography follows the company rather than the sport: Georgia 37, North Carolina 24, Florida 22, Tennessee 17, South Carolina 14, Alabama 12.

The shape of that list is the useful part. One permanent model, the LX6430, outsells everything else - a 16 ft. x 5 ft. cabinet with Shots on Goal and nothing more exotic. Then three portables. Then one stadium cabinet. The full-statistic 26 ft. scoreboards, which is what a buying guide would normally spend its length on, barely appear.

Power, Consoles and Control

Every soccer scoreboard in the line runs on ordinary 120 VAC service. The portables draw 0.8 to 0.9 amps, the 16 ft. LX6430 draws 2.2, and the largest 26 ft. cabinet draws 4.2. That is a smaller electrical picture than most first-time buyers expect, and it is worth knowing before a project grows a budget line it does not need.

Two things raise it. Electronic team names - lit characters for GUEST and HOME changed from the console instead of painted lettering - very nearly double the draw of the model they are added to, and they are available on the stadium cabinets. And the console needs its own circuit. A figure quoted for a base model does not carry over to its variants, so plan the circuit from the spec sheet for the exact model and variant on your quote. Electro-Mech recommends a dedicated breaker for the display.

Which Console You Get

There are two: the full-featured 37-key MP-Series and the simplified 15-key MM-Series. Every model is already matched to the console that suits it, both are configured for the sport with no codes to enter, and both support wired or wireless data. An MM-Series can be upgraded to an MP-Series; an MP-Series cannot be downgraded.

What the MP-Series adds that matters on a soccer pitch: it is the console that supports electronic team names, it carries 50 levels of brightness control, it holds game data in internal memory through a power cut, and it can sound the horn automatically at the end of a period. It is also the console shipped with the LX6324, which is why that small portable can be switched between sports at the press of a few buttons.

Wired or Wireless

ScoreLink is the wireless option, available on every model, with a working range of about 750 feet. It is a radio link between console and scoreboard - not a control system, and not a scoreboard model. Roughly four out of five orders now go this way, and on a soccer pitch the reason is obvious: the alternative is a trench from the press box or the clubhouse to a scoreboard standing behind a goal.

The wired alternative is a shielded two-conductor cable with a drain line, purchased separately. The outdoor cable carries a burial quality jacket, so the buried portion of the run does not need conduit; 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. Control cable and power never share a conduit.

For a portable scoreboard the question mostly disappears: the cart rolls out, the scoreboard plugs into a nearby outlet, and the console sits at the touchline on the wireless link.

What Ships With the Scoreboard, and What Does Not

• Included: the console. Already matched to the model and configured for the sport.
• Ordered with the scoreboard: ScoreLink. The wireless link, available across the line.
• Ordered with a portable: the T-Cart leg kit. It is what makes the small cabinets roll, and it is how the portables are meant to be used.
• Ordered separately: the control cable. Only if you are not going wireless.
• A different model, not an add-on: ID panels. A model with a built-in identification panel on the left, right or both carries an -L, -R or -LR designation. That adds cabinet, weight and mounting hardware, so it is quoted as its own model.
• Not on the quote at all: everything structural. Posts, concrete, the lift, trenching and the electrical work are local. For a permanent scoreboard this is frequently the larger half of the project; for a portable it does not exist.

What the Specification Does Not Say

A buying guide is more useful when it names what a specification does not cover, because those are the claims that get repeated in a purchasing conversation and then cannot be supported. In the company's own words, about its own scoreboards:

• There is no weatherproof rating and no IP rating. The cabinets carry no official rating of that kind. If one were assigned it would be on the order of IP24 at most.
• The cabinets are not sealed. They have drainage holes so that water which gets inside can escape - not drainage channels directing it. A cabinet cannot be both sealed and drained.
• There are no temperature ratings. No operating range is published for these scoreboards, in either direction.
• There are no 100,000-hour LED modules. Electro-Mech does not make LED modules and makes no lifetime claim about any component or assembly other than individual LEDs, where the statement is that the majority will keep working while holding at least half their original brightness over that span.
• There are no construction grades. The cabinets are aluminum across the line, indoor and outdoor alike. There is no premium tier costing more for the same size, so a quote should never carry one.
• Sport selection is a property of specific models, not of the line. The LX6324 is switched between sports at its MP-Series console because that is what that model and console do together. It is not a feature to assume on a permanent soccer scoreboard.

What the company does state about durability is narrow and specific: outdoor scoreboards are claimed to last 15 years outdoors. That is the sentence to carry into a board meeting, rather than a rating that was never issued.

Installation and Site Work

For a portable scoreboard there is no installation section: the cart is assembled once, and the rest is storage. Everything below applies to a permanently mounted scoreboard.

The method is simple and old: the installer digs holes, sets the posts so they stand up out of the ground like poles, pours the concrete footings, waits for them to cure, and then clamps the cabinets to the posts - two clamps per post, assembled loosely while the cabinet is still on the ground, then tightened after the lift. There are no anchor bolts holding the cabinet and 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.

Three things decide what this costs at your pitch:

• Access. A crane or hoist is required for anything but the smallest cabinets, and a scoreboard behind a goal is often the least reachable point on the site. A truck that cannot get there turns a straightforward lift into a long day.
• Footings. Their size follows the surface area of the sign and the local wind load requirement - not the weight of the cabinet and not how cold the winters are. Coastal wind ratings drive deeper footings far more often than freezing does.
• Permits, and occasionally an engineer. Whether a building permit is required depends entirely on the jurisdiction, and in many places a scoreboard goes up without one. Where a permit is required, the code may also call for a locally licensed Professional Engineer to review the mounting structure and footings, provide wind load calculations and stamp the drawings. A licensed PE is brought in on fewer than one hundred Electro-Mech projects a year. Confirming the local requirement is the customer's responsibility; Electro-Mech can work with the PE directly, but it does not issue the stamped drawings.

For power, the usual arrangement outdoors is a disconnect switch mounted on one of the support posts, branching from an externally mounted panel that also serves field lighting. The terminal block where the alternating current lands is inside the scoreboard cabinet itself. A locally licensed electrician normally terminates the power at the panel, and before that electrician leaves, run a full operational test from the console: every digit, the clock in both directions if your league uses both, and the horn.

Two unglamorous points that save time. Have a clean, dry, secure place to store the scoreboard until installation day, because shipments frequently arrive before a site is ready, and 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 beyond their reach a local sign company is generally the right resource.

What to Bring to a Quote

Electro-Mech quotes each project individually rather than publishing a price list, because the site work varies more than the equipment does. A request carrying these comes back faster and closer to final:

• The distance to the farthest seat. This sets digit height, and digit height sets the cabinet.
• Portable or permanent. The single largest fork in the project, and the one that decides whether there is site work at all.
• The figures the face must show. Points, Time and Period, or Shots on Goal, or the full set with Corner Kicks, Saves and Penalty counts.
• Whether your league counts the clock up or down. The larger models do either, and it is worth confirming on the quote.
• Wireless or cable. If cable, the distance from the console to the scoreboard and whether a trench can run 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 pitch and the level of play, and let the sales representative work back to a model from that.

A soccer scoreboard is one of the few purchases at a club where the smaller answer is often the better one. The record says so: the models that move are a mid-size permanent cabinet with Shots on Goal and a handful of portables that roll out for whichever pitch is in use. Decide the distance, decide the figures, decide whether it stays put, and the specification follows.

Ready to size one for your pitch? Request a quote from Electro-Mech and include your viewing distance, whether the scoreboard is portable or permanent, and what the face needs to show.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far away can a soccer scoreboard be read from the stands?

Plan roughly 25 feet of viewing distance per inch of digit height. An 11 in. digit, which is what the portable models carry, reads to about 275 feet; 15 in. reads to about 375; 18 in. to about 450; and the 24 in. digits on the stadium cabinets to about 600. Measure to the farthest seat, not to the touchline.

Are portable soccer scoreboards worth it for tournament play?

In Electro-Mech's record they are the most common soccer purchase after the LX6430: 118 of 252 soccer orders are portable models. A 40 to 50 lb. cabinet on a T-Cart leg kit rolls to whichever pitch is in use and goes back into storage afterwards, with no concrete, crane, trench or permit involved. The trade is 11 in. digits and the basic figures rather than Corner Kicks and Saves.

Can one scoreboard handle both halves and periods?

The larger soccer models carry a Period Clock that counts up or down depending on the rules your league plays, and the console selects the direction. Confirm it on the quote, because it is the detail most often assumed rather than specified.

Which soccer scoreboards show Shots on Goal?

The LX6430 at 16 ft. x 5 ft. shows Shots on Goal in 15 in. digits with Points and Time at 18 in., and it is the most ordered permanent soccer model in the record. The 26 ft. cabinets in the LX674x and LX694x series add Corner Kicks, Saves and, at the top of the line, Penalty and Foul counts.

What electrical service does a soccer scoreboard need?

Ordinary 120 VAC. The portables draw 0.8 to 0.9 amps, the 16 ft. LX6430 draws 2.2, and the largest 26 ft. cabinet draws 4.2. Electronic team names very nearly double the draw of the model they are added to, and the control console needs its own circuit. Electro-Mech recommends a dedicated breaker for the display.

How far can the console be from the scoreboard?

About 750 feet with the ScoreLink wireless option, and up to 1,000 feet with cable. The cable is a shielded two-conductor cable with a drain line, purchased separately; 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.

Does a soccer scoreboard carry a weatherproof rating?

No. Electro-Mech cabinets carry no official weatherproof or IP rating, and if one were assigned it would be on the order of IP24 at most. The cabinets are not sealed: they have drainage holes so that water which gets inside can escape. What the company does claim is that its outdoor scoreboards last 15 years outdoors.

How long does a permanent soccer scoreboard installation take?

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

Do I need a permit to install a soccer scoreboard?

It depends on the jurisdiction, and in many places no permit is required. Where one is, the 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, and confirming the local requirement is the customer's responsibility.