The Huron Arena has received a technological face lift ahead of the post-season basketball slate. This upgrade comes with a new scoreboard, ribbon panels, a center-hung video board, and an updated scorer's table display.
Throughout the years, the Huron Arena has seen multiple renovations. Built in 1951, it still lives up as one of the top basketball venues in the state.
“We’re pretty proud of the facility in Huron, and obviously there’s a lot of history to it. We knew it was time to update some scoreboards and felt like with some other things going on in the district, and some growth in the community and district, that it was a good chance for us to take advantage of some of that and really modernize,” said Scott DeBoer, Huron athletic director. “It’s kind of an older building, so just bringing it into a modern experience for our kids, while still maintaining some of that nostalgia that people appreciate about the arena.
Today, the Huron Arena is most known as being the home of the Huron Tigers, but it was also the home to Huron College/University when that institute was open. The first ever basketball game played in the Huron Arena was an NBA game between the Minneapolis Lakers and the Syracuse Nationals on October 16th of 1952. Fast forward to present day, and it’s still a fan favorite to many schools, players, and parents around the state. The Class B girls have played many state tournaments in Huron, and this March, the seven-decade old venue will once again host the state ‘B’ girls' tourney.
“[The B tournament] was certainly a huge part of the planning and trying to make sure the timeline all fit to get it done before,” stated DeBoer. “So, there was a lot of urgency really on the process, working with Daktronics, working with Muth Electric on the install, and all those pieces fell into place.”
A committee was put in place to start the process months ago of exploring the potential of upgrading the scoreboard system at the Huron Arena. Eventually, the school board passed the request as part of a much bigger expansion within the Huron high school and middle school. This upgrade came in at around $1.5 million, but with aging equipment, and new technologies, an upgrade made sense. It’s all about keeping the history alive while upgrading the fan and player experience.
“When you walk into the building, it kind of opens up in front of you. It feels really big and yet people are right on top of you, so it is kind of intimate, and yet it’s kind of a grand opening when you come out onto the court,” explained DeBoer about the nostalgia that the Huron Arena has. “Somehow it holds its sound really well, so it doesn’t take a lot of people to make a lot of noise. So, the more you add, the more that compounds, it creates a lot of fun.”
Along with the upgrade of the in-house scoreboards, the concourses have also been upgraded to include TV screens, which can be used to display concession prices, a live feed of the game taking place on the court, and more advertising opportunities for the venue.
The Huron Arena is in the rotation for the SoDak 16 next month, depending on matchups, and it’ll host the 2025 SDHSAA state ‘B’ girls state tournament on March 13-15.
