Xfinity Arena at Everett Scoreboard Problem 3 Years in Making

“We’ve been dealing with this for three years,” said Gary Weikel, President of the Everett Public Facilities District Board during their monthly meeting today. “We do not have money in our budget to fund this and if it fails, it will be a disaster.” Weikel was speaking about the scoreboard inside Xfinity arena and the PFDs request for the City of Everett to spend somewhere between $650 – $700 thousand dollars to purchase a new scoreboard in time for the new Everett Silvertips hockey season in August. The current scoreboard is obsolete and the manufacturer no longer supports the hardware or software for it. For the past three years the arena has been buying surplus parts from other arenas around the country to keep Everett’s running but that is no longer an option. The Public Facilities District is looking at proposals from Daktronics and The Rock Group for a new scoreboard but the cheapest of the three bids on the table would be $732,466.00. The PFD had hoped to award a bid and move forward by April 1st and have installation in early August before Silvertip training camp.

The Everett City Council was going to look at a proposal tonight to use surplus budget money from 2014 amounting to about $675,000.00. A public hearing and vote on the appropriation would have been on April 29th but the city administration has pulled that item from tonight’s agenda. Meghan Pembroke, public information director for the City of Everett told MyEverettNews.com via email today that the administration wants more time to answer questions and gather information to provide to the city council.

Time is of the essence according to Weikel. If the scoreboard fails during Silvertips games they would not be able to play at Xfinity Arena. Also the Pacific Rim Gymnastics event set for 2016 has certain standards for video displays and additional equipment would have to be rented to meet their requirements if the current scoreboard is not replaced. The arena can’t move forward in getting a firm bid and agreement until they know the City of Everett has committed spending the money needed. “We can’t finance, lease or purchase without approval from the City of Everett,” said Weikel. We’re in a holding pattern.”