Celebrate Life Field received a makeover this past summer following a 10-year sponsorship contract renewal that the Cancer Treatments of America declined to accept.

As a result, Barrington bought in new sponsors for the field. These sponsors are local Barrington businesses that want to advertise their brand on the field. These businesses include Motor Werks Auto Group, Long and Company Jewelers, Lake-Cook Orthopedics and Wickstrom Auto Group. The school board members approved 10-year deals to all of the business.

The sponsorship deals brought $500,000 to fund enhancements to the field. There are also over $650,000 of private funds from the school board that will be used for the new enhancements around the field.   There have been talks about a new pavilion and even a new paint job, and the administration is looking forward to exploring all of the possibilities that accompany these funds.

“We’ll take a look at this as a little bit of a refresh,” Superintendent Brian Harris said.

While the administration is looking at other areas to apply the funds, a large portion of them was put into the new scoreboard. Daktronics built a new 373-square-foot, high-definition screen for game video and information. The HD screen is three times larger than the previous screen.

News of this decision to use the funding for a new scoreboard has created a lot of buzz. Some community members love the new scoreboard and fully support the funding decision.

“It’s a cool upgrade, it makes everything look updated and modern,” junior RJ Nowicki said. “As a fan, it’s cool to see a play you may have missed get replayed.”

However, there are some students who don’t think the scoreboard was the best move. Junior Ryan Dykes, who runs track in the spring, is one of them.

“I feel the money for the scoreboard could have been used to upgrade other facilities in the school,” he said.

The new scoreboard doesn’t just benefit sports, it also benefits school activities. The new HD screen will allow fans to be more interactive with sporting events. BHS-TV can interview on the sideline and project it to screen by connecting their van to the scoreboard.

The scoreboard can also be used in school assemblies, the staff can put information up on the screen to inform the students about upcoming events and other information. The stadium also got new speakers which are loud and don’t echo through the stadium. This will help assemblies as well, the beginning of the year school assembly had problems with hearing and the speakers. With new speakers that will grab the students’ attention, assemblies will be able to go along a lot smoother.

Many people feel that the new scoreboard gives the school stadium a modern and clean feel, and was a much-needed upgrade.

“I think it’s great that we’re getting a new scoreboard,” junior Dayven Shinhoster said. “The last one was really old and didn’t seem to work all of the time.”

Overall, Barrington’s additions will create a more vibrant feel during sports events and the new scoreboard will last the Broncos and Fillies a long time.