Fair Play Scoreboards

Fair Play is a company that manufactures scoreboards, video boards, and electronic displays. Fair Play is a subsidiary of Trans-Lux electronic displays.

History

Fair Play was born in 1934 after the company founder Elmer Foster saw his basketball team lose in the final seconds of the game. He created a basic scoreboard with a watch in the center to keep time and numbers that he held on a nail.

Sports Fair Play Creates Scoreboards For

  • Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Tennis
  • Wrestling
  • Volleyball
  • Football
  • Hockey
  • "Multipurpose"
  • Portable Scoreboards
  • Rodeo
  • Soccer
  • Swimming
  • Track

Current Scoreboard Controllers

Fair Play introduced a new line of scoreboard controllers two years ago with a new technology. FP calls this "MP-70/50/30." " The MP-70 controller is used to controller larger scoreboards. This controller also has a handswitch on the back, and the ability to use Foul Memory (in basketball, that has the controller keep track of player fouls) and other little features.

The MP-50 controls smaller scoreboards and is most typically used for baseball since there is no need for a hand switch.

Both controllers run of using keypad inserts instead of having one control do one sport, key pad inserts let you have one control that does all sports. They also had a two line 16 character display.

Previous Controllers

Fair Play's older controller called the MP-69 was large and had a two line sixteen character display. This controller operated all sports, but there were 28 buttons with many of them serving multiple functions.

The SP-69 was FP's older controller to control basketball statistic panels--the player number, points and fouls.

This controller used "Scoreboard Positions" to display stats on the board. For example the top stat display on the panel was 1, bottom was 5...and in between. This was a lot harder for operators to use since it wasn't as easy as the IN/OUT syetem other controllers use like Daktronics. Fair Play now has an In/Out system but it is hard to use, many operators aren't happy With It because it takes a long time to edit a player. On The New SP 70 it takes more keystrokes than it did on the SP69. A survey was taken and operators didn't like the new IN/OUT System on Fair Play's scoreboards...they liked the ones on Daktronics' stat controllers better.

Message Centers

Fair Play manufactures message centers and uses ProLine to control them and ISE Write II to control smaller ones.

Slogans

Fair Play has many slogans, including:

"For style, performance and innovation, join the thousands of schools, colleges and municipalities that believe in Fair-Play. Fair-Play maintains a singular commitment to the schools, colleges, municipalities and recreational programs that made our company what it is today."

"The way we play the game keeps changing, but one standard doesn't...the need for a remarkable scoreboard that makes a game even better."

"Noting but Fair Play on your field or court .

Recent partnerships

Fair Play recently bought American Sign and Indicator scoreboards.

Misc. Equipment

Fair Play also offers a variety of other sports equipment like:

  • Possession indacators
  • Pitch Speed Indacators
  • Play Clocks

New Technology

AbOUT five years ago Fair Play re did their product lines to have all scoreboards to have LED's in them or Light Emitting Diodes. Now Fair Play's scoreboards on the indoor models have a bar LED and the outdoor scoreboards have an individual LED cluster look.

Features

Fair Play has many features on its scoreboards.

  • LED's
  • Horn
  • Covering over LED's
  • Free trim tape
  • Free customizable background color

On Fair Play's indoor scoreboards...they have three colors to separate game information.

In amber is the clock or time remaining. In red are the team scores and player fouls (basketball) In green are fouls (basketball)

On outdoor models only one color is used, amber.

Criticism

Many of Fair Play's customers suggested that they don't like the LED bar look and want the old look of their scoreboards back with the covering over the incandescent light bulbs. Players, parents, and fans said this made the scoreboard easier to read and looked nicer.

Over 50 scoreboard operators were surveyed on how they like the Fair Play MP 70 and SP 70 control console and the results were--

Problems

Have to turn console off to change sport/No menu button

(SP-70)

Suggestions with the use of the SP-70

Buy the results of this survey this concluded that operators wanting something to store the subs in the console so they wouldn't have the rush of doing it when officials called them in.

They also wanted a button to scroll all the players stats on the board for use at halftime or and the end of the game.

Finally, users of the SP-70 wanted a Mass. Substitution button so they could define the players that were in, instead of having to sub them out individually.

Suggestions when using MP-70

Users wanted a menu button like on the old MP-69 console Bigger buttons Not having to shift to blank something

Suggestions with operating a football scoreboard

An auto calculate feature so you could enter the "Ball On" and the control would automatically calculate the down, to go, etc.