When fans attend games there this season, though, they should definitely see that it’s improved.
Things will literally be brighter at night with the installation of LED lights, which debuted earlier this year for Amarillo ISD soccer games at Bivins. Updated scoreboards at each end of the stadium are the other most prominent features which should enhance the game experience for fans and participants alike.
AISD athletic director Brad Thiessen defines the improvements to Bivins as a much-needed update.
“They’re improvements,” Thiessen said. “They’re not really renovations because we’re improving what we’ve already got. We’ve replaced the lights with LEDs and what a difference that’s going to make with the ability to take pictures being much better. We can do a lot of things.”
That includes using special effects and different colors with the lights during moments which produce highlights for the home team. Such effects will make contests more entertaining to watch.
New lights aren’t the only addition at Bivins which fans should notice. The main scoreboard at the south end of the stadium which serves as the video board has also been enlarged and has a new graphic at the top reading “Amarillo ISD Dick Bivins Stadium.”
“We’ve turned the scoreboard virtual so it will be part of the video board,” Thiessen said. “We wanted to make sure we put a board on the other side just in case that big board doesn’t come on. Those two things have already made a big difference.”
Thiessen said that the price tag for the improvements at Bivins, which also include new play clocks at opposite corners of the field, added up to about $1.6 million, with the lights alone costing just under $1 million.
That might not seem cheap, but it could end up being cost-effective. Advertisers are expected to be displayed on the scoreboard for the season’s first game at Bivins on Aug. 29 between Tascosa and Palo Duro.
“The last video board paid for itself within seven years and we’ve had it for 10,” Thiessen said. “This one we’re anticipating probably paying for itself within six years.”
A little over two years ago, Amarillo voters rejected a bond measure which would have paid for many AISD improvements, including updating the facilities at Bivins. That didn’t discourage Thiessen from pursuing updates on the stadium which he and AISD coaches felt were necessary.
“The lights needed to be done,” Thiessen said. “The original poles went back to the 50s so they’re over 70 years old. They had to be replaced. The scoreboard is probably something which is going to be done every 10 years just due to technology.”
Because of dated technology, panels on the scoreboard couldn’t be replaced with modern equipment. That means out with the old, and in with the new when it comes to displaying the score and video.
“The coaches have talked about the fact that our lighting compared to most of the other stadiums we play, had the worst of any of them,” Thiessen said. “If you listen to photographers, they said this was the hardest place to shoot film. We just knew it was time to make the change.”
It’s actually been over seven months since the new lights have been installed at Bivins. They got their first exposure during competition for AISD home soccer games late last winter and benefits during and after games were immediately apparent to the coaching staffs.
“The coaches saw it immediately on the game film they were trying to watch,” Thiessen said. “Everything looked brighter, and everything was clean. They noticed it right away.”
Fans should be able to do so this fall as well. LED lights figure to bring a theatrical element which was missing at Bivins games.
Big plays and scores figure to light up the sky more than the Friday night lights normally would at Bivins.
“With the LEDs you can do different things,” Thiessen said. “You can flash the lights after a touchdown. You can really do more things than we’ll probably ever do with them but it makes the whole experience better. When you go to WT or Hodgetown and you see those lights flash, it’s just something which adds to the game experience.”
The new additions will be immediately apparent to fans and participants over the next few months, if they haven’t noticed them already. That doesn’t necessarily mean Bivins couldn’t see further improvements in the near future, especially considering that in sports other than football, the AISD schools will be in a nine-team district with four Lubbock schools and Plainview.
“We’ve always been talking about trying to enlarge to an eight lane track,” Thiessen said. “With a six lane track you can’t host any area meets. We really won’t even be able to host a district meet anymore now that we’re back in a larger district. Those are things we’ve had discussions about looking at renovating. It may be enough that we could pass a bond to do some of those things.”