Zachary Levine comments on one reason the Astros installed two new high definition video boards:

After that, the viewing experience minus the ticket cost had to outweigh the viewing of the game on television and now in many cases, high-definition television, and that’s where the new scoreboard comes in.

“It’s almost like we have to compete with home,” Astros senior vice president of communications Jay Lucas said. “People can stay at home now and watch HD, and now at the ballpark there are going to be two full HD boards — true HD — and the overall entertainment is going to be much improved here.”

I seriously doubt anyone is going to go to a ballgame because of HD at the ballpark. I suppose if someone goes and really likes it, they might have an extra reason to come back. Levine gets to the heart of the attendance drop later in the post when he recognizes that a lack of playoff teams over the last few seasons hurt attendance more than anything.

That said, it’s good that the Astros are installing the boards. No one wants to go to a stadium that is getting old. A bright, new, high-tech scoreboard shows that the team is willing to give the fans the best experience possible. That’s a positive people who attend the games take away.