The Troup County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday to accept grant funding and pursue financing for a new scoreboard for Callaway Stadium.

The scoreboard will cost a total of $373,193 for the scoreboard, installation and service, according to information released at the commission’s March 1 meeting. It will be funded by a combination of public and private funds, and it is expected to enhance viewer experiences at games, graduations and other events held at Callaway Stadium. However, none of the funding for the scoreboard is expected to come out of taxpayer funds to Troup County.

“The county will be the purchasing entity to get the scoreboard,” County Attorney Mark DeGennaro said. “However, the funding for it is coming from several public and private sponsors.”

The scoreboard will be purchased through Daktronics using funding donated by organizations. The Troup County School System, LaGrange College, WellStar West Georgia, Emory, LaGrange Toyota and All Pro Chevrolet all committed $50,000. The Callaway Foundation also provided $75,000 for the scoreboard.

“The beauty of this is that the county has no expense, and we are getting a brand-new scoreboard,” County Manager Tod Tentler said. “The private sector and the board of education and the college are chipping in to make the entire payment, not only for the scoreboard, but for a five-year maintenance contract to maintain the scoreboard. We are just the conduit of all of those groups.”

The scoreboard is expected to take four to six weeks to be installed after the paperwork is finalized and approved. As of Tuesday, it was unclear exactly when the scoreboard would be ready for use, but the possibility of using the display for graduations, summer movie nights and football games within the next year has been discussed. The scoreboard’s design allows sponsor names to be displayed. 

“Those sponsors have either provided up-front funds for the purchase or have pledged through sponsorship contracts the balance of the funds needed over a five-year period,” DeGennaro said. “Those funds will be paid to the county. The county will then be responsible for making the annual lease payments, and would be the responsible party under the lease.”

While some sponsors committed to donate funds over a five-year period, following the approval of the grant funding, the county already had a large portion of the funding ready to go.

Tentler said that the county used the same style of funding for the first scoreboard in Callaway Stadium as is being used for this scoreboard. It was also noted that while the county already has commitments for all the funding needed for the scoreboard, there are still two sponsorship spaces available on the scoreboard. The money donated for those spaces will go toward the parks and recreation sponsorship program to offset the cost of youth programing.