The Leafs continued to sell out every game through the Ballard era, even as the team's performance went into steep decline. The rink-side red seats were replaced with gold seats in 1974. In August 1979, to make room for private boxes, Ballard had his staff tear down the 48-year-old gondola from which Foster Hewitt regularly broadcast games across Canada and threw it into an incinerator. In an editorial, the "Toronto Star" called Ballard's actions the "barbaric destruction of one of Canada's great cultural monuments." Then in 1982, the centre-hung scoreboard that had been in use since 1966 was replaced by a new centre-hung scoreboard with a colour matrix message/animation screen on each side, which remained in use for the rest of the Maple Leafs' stay at the Gardens. Originally an American Sign and Indicator scoreboard, it was upgraded by Daktronics in the 1990s.