Table Of Contents
- What Is Stadium Digital Signage?
- Where Screens Work Best in a Stadium
- What to Show on Stadium Screens
- How Much Does Stadium Signage Cost?
- Stadium Signage vs the Giant Scoreboard
- Sponsorship Revenue From Screens
- How to Set Up Stadium Screens
- Match Day Content Scheduling
- Common Mistakes Clubs Make
- Hardware Checklist for Stadiums
- Frequently Asked Questions
Stadium digital signage is the network of screens in sports grounds and arenas that shows menus, wayfinding, sponsor ads, live scores and safety messages to fans. From the concourse to the club bar, screens help fans find their way, order faster and see more of your sponsors.
This guide covers where to place screens, what to show, typical costs and how clubs of any size can run them with simple cloud software.
What Is Stadium Digital Signage?
Stadium digital signage covers every screen in a venue apart from the giant scoreboard: concourse TVs, food and drink menu boards, entrance and exit wayfinding, hospitality lounge displays and ticket office screens. All of them are managed from one dashboard, so a message can reach every screen in seconds. For the giant screens themselves, see our guide to what a Jumbotron is.
It is worth separating this from the main scoreboard early, since the two systems usually run on completely different technology and budgets, and confusing them in a planning meeting is a classic way to double your estimated costs by accident.
Where Screens Work Best in a Stadium
Concourses. Fans gather here before kick off and at half time, the ideal moment for sponsor ads and replays.
Food and drink kiosks. Digital menu boards speed up ordering and let you change prices or remove sold out items instantly.
Entrances and exits. Wayfinding screens point fans to gates, seating blocks, toilets and first aid.
Hospitality suites. Premium areas show live match feeds, menus and partner branding.
Club shops. Promote new kits and match day offers.
Ticket offices and box offices. Show availability, upcoming fixtures and upgrade offers while fans queue.
What to Show on Stadium Screens
Live scores and fixtures. Show the score, upcoming fixtures and league tables.
Sponsor advertising. Rotating sponsor slots create a new revenue stream on every screen.
Menus and offers. Half time deals and combo prices drive faster queues and higher spend.
Safety and emergency messages. Push evacuation routes and important notices to every screen at once.
Social media walls. Fan photos and posts build atmosphere.
Player and club history content. Quiet moments before kick off are a good time for nostalgia and trivia.
How Much Does Stadium Signage Cost?
Costs depend mostly on screen size and count. Indoor commercial TVs for concourses and kiosks cost a few hundred dollars each, and a low cost player such as a Fire TV Stick or Android box can drive each screen. Software ranges from free to a monthly fee per screen. With PosterBooking, your first 10 screens are free, and you can see all plans on our pricing page. Large LED scoreboards and ribbon boards are a separate, much larger investment.
A realistic budget breakdown for a mid-sized venue with twenty concourse and kiosk screens might look like this:
| Item | Typical cost range |
|---|---|
| Commercial TVs (x20) | A few thousand dollars total |
| Player devices (x20) | A few hundred dollars total |
| Mounting and cabling | Several hundred dollars |
| Signage software | Free for first 10 screens, modest monthly fee beyond that |
| Content design | Often done in-house with free tools like Canva |
Compare that with a single large LED scoreboard, which can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it becomes clear why most clubs treat concourse signage and the main screen as entirely separate budget lines.
Stadium Signage vs the Giant Scoreboard
It is easy to assume all stadium screens belong to the same category, but the giant scoreboard and the concourse network solve very different problems:
| Giant scoreboard | Concourse digital signage | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Live match footage and replays | Menus, wayfinding, ads, safety |
| Typical cost | Very high, specialist installation | Moderate, off the shelf hardware |
| Content source | Broadcast feed, in-house production | CMS dashboard, uploaded content |
| Who manages it | Broadcast or production team | Marketing, operations or front of house staff |
Treating them as separate systems with separate owners tends to produce far smoother match days than trying to run everything through one team.
Sponsorship Revenue From Screens
Concourse screens are an underused sponsorship asset at a surprising number of grounds. A rotating ad slot across a network of screens can be sold the same way a programme ad or a perimeter board is sold, except it updates instantly and can be swapped for a different sponsor the following week without reprinting anything. Clubs that package screen ad slots alongside existing sponsorship tiers often find it an easy addition, since the production cost per slide is close to zero.
How to Set Up Stadium Screens
- Choose your screens. Use commercial grade TVs rated for long hours in busy areas.
- Add a player. Plug a Fire TV Stick, Android box or Windows PC into each screen. See our downloads page.
- Install PosterBooking. Install the app and pair each screen with a code.
- Create playlists. Upload menus, sponsor ads and videos, and group screens by zone.
- Schedule match day content. Set different content for pre match, half time and full time.
- Test before kick off. Walk the concourse an hour before doors open to confirm every screen is showing the right playlist.
Match Day Content Scheduling
A simple way to plan the day is to think in four windows:
- Doors open to kick off: welcome messages, sponsor ads, menu boards, wayfinding.
- First half: scores from other grounds, sponsor rotation, light entertainment content.
- Half time: the busiest kiosk period, so prioritise fast, clear menu boards and queue-reducing offers.
- Full time and post match: results, next fixture, safe travel messaging as fans head home.
Set these as scheduled playlists once, and they repeat every match day without anyone touching a dashboard on the day itself. Which is handy, because match day staff rarely have a spare minute, let alone one to fiddle with a content calendar.
Common Mistakes Clubs Make
- Overloading one screen with too much information. A menu board trying to be a scoreboard and a sponsor wall all at once helps nobody.
- Forgetting to test screens before the gates open. A blank screen at kick off looks worse than no screen at all.
- Ignoring wayfinding until a fan gets lost. New stand layouts or temporary closures need updated signage immediately.
- Not updating sold-out items fast enough. Digital menu boards exist precisely to avoid queues forming around an item that ran out an hour ago.
Hardware Checklist for Stadiums
- Commercial grade TVs rated for extended daily use
- A player device per screen (Fire TV Stick, Android box or Windows PC)
- Secure mounting out of reach of crowds
- Reliable Wi-Fi or ethernet at each screen location
- A backup power plan for screens near emergency wayfinding
Frequently Asked Questions
Can small clubs afford stadium digital signage?
Yes, small clubs can afford stadium digital signage by using regular commercial TVs and free software for their first few screens. A small ground can run several screens for the cost of the hardware alone, since PosterBooking is free for up to 10 screens.
Can stadium digital signage screens be controlled from one place?
Yes, stadium digital signage screens can be controlled from one central dashboard accessible from a laptop or phone. This lets one person update every concourse screen, menu board and wayfinding sign in a stadium during a single session rather than visiting each screen individually.
Can stadium screens show sponsor ads on a schedule?
Yes, stadium screens can show sponsor ads on a schedule using playlists and time-based scheduling rules. This allows clubs to rotate between different sponsors and target specific time slots or stadium zones, such as showing different ads in hospitality suites than on the concourse.
How much does it cost to add digital signage to a stadium?
Adding digital signage to a stadium typically costs a few hundred dollars per screen for a commercial TV and player device, plus a software fee that starts free for the first 10 screens with PosterBooking. Costs scale mainly with the number of screens rather than the size of the venue.
What is the difference between a Jumbotron and stadium digital signage?
A Jumbotron is the large central scoreboard screen showing live match footage and replays, while stadium digital signage refers to the separate network of smaller screens showing menus, wayfinding and sponsor ads around the venue. The two systems typically have different costs, suppliers and management teams.
Do stadium digital signage screens need internet access?
Stadium digital signage screens need internet access to receive new content and updates from the dashboard, but most players continue showing their last downloaded playlist if the connection briefly drops. This makes cloud signage reliable even in areas of a stadium with patchy Wi-Fi.
What hardware is needed to run stadium digital signage?
Running stadium digital signage requires a TV or commercial display, a player device such as a Fire TV Stick or Android box, and signage software to manage content. PosterBooking supports Fire Stick, Android, Windows, Chrome and Raspberry Pi devices, keeping hardware costs low across a large venue.
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