An LED video scoreboard is far more than an electronic scoreboard: it is a full LED screen hung above the court showing the score and the time, but also replays, sponsor advertising, animations and municipal information. At LEDLEMON we manufacture and install LED video scoreboards for sports halls, pavilions, fields and courts across Spain, and we do it end to end: the screen, the structure, the scoreboard software and the technician who leaves it running on match day.
The difference from the classic seven-segment scoreboard —those red digits that only give the score and a stopwatch— is that an LED screen is a free canvas. The same panel that calls the score becomes, during half-time, an advertising space or the screen for a town council event. That versatility is what makes an LED video scoreboard pay for itself far faster than a traditional scoreboard.
What an LED video scoreboard is and what it is for
An LED video scoreboard is a large-format LED screen configured with sports software. Two layers coexist on it: the competition data (score, time, fouls, sets, periods) and free audiovisual content (video, graphics, logos). The operator switches from one layer to the other —or combines them— in real time from a computer. These are the uses we get out of it in a sports venue:
- Score and time: result, stopwatch, periods, fouls, sets and possession, with templates by sport (futsal, basketball, handball, volleyball, rhythmic gymnastics).
- Replays and live video: plays, team line-ups, club content and broadcasting with a high image refresh rate, without flicker on camera.
- Sponsor advertising: rotating slots and video spots that turn the screen into a source of income for the club (real monetisation).
- Animations and visual PA: countdowns, goal or basket celebrations, notices and messages to the crowd that reinforce the atmosphere in the stands.
- Municipal information outside the competition: schedules, town council notices and event content when the hall hosts non-sporting events.
Our experience: the Pabellón Municipal de Cunit
The best example of what we do is the Pabellón Municipal de Cunit, in Tarragona. There we supplied and installed a multipurpose LED screen measuring 3 x 2 metres, designed to work as a video scoreboard in official competitions —including rhythmic gymnastics— and, off the court, as an information display at municipal events.
We installed it with high brightness, calibrated to the conditions of a covered sports venue, and with a high image refresh rate so that no flicker is visible in television recordings or internet broadcasts. Thanks to our sports software, the hall records scores, displays game times, presents the local club's sponsors and streams live content. It is exactly the kind of versatile LED video scoreboard this article talks about: a single panel to compete, to earn income through advertising and to communicate with the town. You can see the full details of the installation at the Pabellón Municipal de Cunit.
Indoor or outdoor: it all comes down to brightness
The first decision for an LED video scoreboard is where it goes, because that sets the brightness requirement:
- Covered sports halls and pavilions: indoor LED screen, with brightness adjusted to the ambient light of the venue. The aim is a sharp image that is comfortable for the stands, without glare. This is the case with our indoor LED installations.
- Outdoor fields and courts: high-brightness outdoor LED screen, visible in full sunlight and protected against rain and humidity. Here the reference model is the P3.91 high-brightness outdoor LED screen, the same family we fit on football field scoreboards.
If your venue has a covered area and an uncovered one, we size each zone separately: there is no point paying for outdoor brightness for a covered court, nor falling short on an open field.
What size of video scoreboard you need
The size of the LED video scoreboard is set by the distance of the farthest spectator in the stands and the capacity: the farther away the audience sits, the bigger —and with taller digits— the screen has to be so that the score can be read comfortably:
- Small courts and halls: a screen of around 2 x 1 m is already enough for nearby stands, with the score perfectly legible.
- Municipal halls and mid-sized sports centres: formats such as 3 x 2 m, like the one in Cunit, which leave room for the score, the time and a simultaneous video or sponsor space.
- Football fields and large venues: larger surfaces, where the spectator is tens of metres away and more screen is needed so as not to lose detail.
The pixel pitch (the distance between pixels) is adjusted to that viewing distance: in sport, where the audience is far away, brightness and size take priority over ultra-fine pitch. We measure the real stands before quoting so we don't make you pay for a resolution that cannot be appreciated at that distance.
Control and software of the LED video scoreboard
An LED video scoreboard is worth as much as its control. The software with which we run our video scoreboards is that of ESPORTLED, our sister company specialised in LED sports scoreboards within the same group as LEDLEMON. It turns any LED screen into a professional video scoreboard: it integrates software, stopwatch, counter, horn and button panel synchronised in real time, and it is operated from a single console.
From that console the operator manages the score, the game times, possession, fouls, periods, replays and the sponsors' advertising carousel. It saves and recovers the match history, undoes actions instantly and switches home and away sides. It gives real support to six sports, each with its own rules:
- Football: goals, cards, extra time and added time.
- Basketball: +1/+2/+3, fouls, possession and four quarters.
- Volleyball: sets and automatic serve.
- Tennis: 0/15/30/40, deuce and tie-break.
- Padel: tennis rules with golden point.
- Rugby: try +5, conversion +2 and drop +3.
It is controlled with keyboard shortcuts, with an Elgato Stream Deck (hotkeys and WebSocket) or via MIDI, and it runs as a desktop application on Windows, macOS and Linux. It lets you customise names, abbreviations, team colours, logos, backgrounds and the sponsor carousel. On the technical side, it works without internet (everything local), delivers outputs with a transparent background for broadcasting with OBS, Resolume or NDI, keeps separate memory per sport and offers a count-up or count-down clock.
We deliver the video scoreboard with this software ready and we train the club or venue staff so that day-to-day use is simple: load the match, switch on the screen and operate the scoreboard without depending on anyone external. And if any issue comes up, we provide our own support.
Installation: hung or on a structure
How the video scoreboard is fixed depends on the venue, and we solve it with our own construction work. There are two main routes:
- Hung: suspended from the hall's structure or a beam, the most common solution in covered venues because it frees up the floor and places the scoreboard at the visual centre of the court.
- On its own structure: a metal frame anchored to a wall or founded in the ground, with rear braces, the typical option on outdoor fields and courts where there is nothing to hang it from.
In both cases we calculate loads, fixings and maintenance access, and we leave the cabling ready. If you need a configuration outside the standard, we solve it with our custom LED screens service.
From the sports hall to the football field
The LED video scoreboard shares technology with a football field scoreboard: the same screen, the same software and the same idea of turning the scoreboard into a sponsorship space. The environment changes —from the covered court to the open-air turf— and, with it, the brightness and the structure. If your project is about football, we cover it in detail in our article on LED screens for broadcasting football, with the indoor and outdoor models for that case.
Ask us for a quote for your LED video scoreboard
If your club, your town council or your sports facility wants an LED video scoreboard that serves to compete, to earn income through advertising and to communicate, tell us the sport, whether it is indoor or outdoor, the approximate dimensions of the screen and the distance of the stands. We propose a specific configuration —model, size, brightness, structure and software— with a fixed price and installation included. Request your no-obligation quote and we will build it for you.