Big House pride at stake, we need the largest HD in college football!
Hello,
I just wanted to get this out in the open and see if someone will be willing to donate the largest HD screen in college football. Texas currently has the largest one, which stretches about 2/3 of the end zone. They had the screen installed a few months after they won the national championship, and before renovations started.
I believe there are plans for a new HD screen at Michigan stadium, but will it be bigger? The big house deserves the biggest and best HD screen. From what I saw at Texas, they installed many a/c units to keep the screen cool, so this would be a another good way to keep the noise in the stadium, especially with the HDTV slanted slightly toward the field for better sight lines.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:46 PM ^
This couldn't just be rolled into the stadium improvements thread?
August 25th, 2009 at 11:53 PM ^
Obviously you're against the specialization of threads. This can be extrapolated to mean that you're against specialization in general. Further extrapolation from that point indicates that you're against capitalism since that requires specialization to work in the way that it does in America. Therefore you hate America.
Go away terrorist!
Who would've guessed that I could find a terrorist based on their posts on MGoBlog. I truly am a national here.
/sarcasm
Yeah, I thought that too.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:15 AM ^
We're talking about TV screens here.
Edit: I got the sarcasm part at the end... I was just trying to be a smartass.
Let the Gang-neg-Bang commence.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:50 PM ^
Um, where did you see "plans for a new HD screen at Michigan stadium"? As far as I know, there are no current plans to put in new screens. If I'm wrong I'd be happy to read about it.
As for "Big House pride", I'm pretty sure that our pride is derived more from our winning tradition and the size/capacity of the stadium itself rather than the size of our HD TVs.
Finally, unless I'm quite mistaken about the average profile of the people that visit and would visit this site, none of us have the millions of dollars necessary to "donate the largest HD screen in college football". Believe me, I'd love to have that kind of money. But since I don't own Nike and am currently looking for a job, I probably won't have that opportunity.
Besides, Texas has had those Godzillatrons for at least a little while now. Yet we've still had our pride in the Big House for the last few years. I think that we're fine for now. Although I'm fairly certain few people on this board would have a problem with acquiring our own Godzillatrons.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:20 AM ^
http://www.umich.edu/stadium/faq/
"Q: Will there be any changes to the scoreboards?
Yes. The scoreboards are eight years old and upgrades are necessary to keep up with the current technology. The electronic scoreboard upgrade will convert the current incandescent bulb components to light-emitting diode (LED) technology. As a result, the new scoreboards will provide a more reliable and clear display.
The upgrade also will include a new electronic LED message board at the bottom of the scoreboard. The message board will allow display of additional statistics, out-of-town scores and traditional messages such as “Go Blue.” The current policy of no advertising in the Stadium will be continued. "
August 26th, 2009 at 12:28 AM ^
They changed the lights to LED and changed the flip banner to LED as well.
I do think we need new videoboards, though. The current ones aren't all that great, and I noticed sometimes the picture was off on the one in the south end zone last season.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:55 PM ^
I have to say this sounds more like a pissing contest than a good idea. I read an article today about the new Cowboys stadium and its 70 or so yard long HDTV. The only thing I could think was how fricking gaudy it looked. There is such a thing as overkill.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:00 AM ^
At first I misread your post and I thought you said the new Cowboys stadium was only 70 yards long. That would be embarrassing (that may be the understatement of the year).
That possibility reminds me of a high school stadium that I heard about from some friends in the south. Apparently they built a beautiful high school stadium with concrete benches and concession stands and such. But they built it as a bowl around 100 yards. Thus, they didn't have any room for the endzones. It cost millions of dollars to repair and the football team had to play their home games on their bad practice field. Hard to believe but not impossible.
As to what you originally said, yes, this is most definitely more a pissing contest than I good idea.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:42 AM ^
Didn't something similar happen at Detroit's own Cass Tech a few years back?
August 26th, 2009 at 1:35 AM ^
Yep. The field was only 95 yards long.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:11 AM ^
Not only did that HD screen look gaudy as hell, but it also interferes with punts. How they didn't see that coming is beyond me.
Anyways, waste of money to do something like that for us. It would be better spent upgrading Crisler and building the new basketball practice facility.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:12 AM ^
That's already happening. We're looking for the next big upgrade.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:20 AM ^
Well, they definitely need a new jumbotron in Yost. The one in there now is old and has serious quality of picture issues.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:26 AM ^
I agree, the current one does not serve much purpose beyond showing the score/penalties/shots. It would be nice to have live video on it instead of the gaudy tvs that currently hang underneath the press box and club seats.
Personally, I don't think we need a huge HD screen. I agree that we do need an upgrade from the current screens. Michigan already has a pride/history attached to the scoreboards, being that the Big House was the first stadium to use an electronic scoreboard.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:38 PM ^
Take the old screens from the Big House and hang them in the middle of Yost! So what if they clothesline some players skating by... we'll be able to see all the action!
August 26th, 2009 at 10:03 AM ^
I live in Fort Worth and go to Arlington quite frequently and have been inside the stadium - I think the screen look freakin' fantastic. It's not a college atmosphere by any means but the professional sports have always been more about sponsorships and such than actual rabid fandom. I've also been to a UT game and got to see their screen - it's really not that bad and many times gives you a better view than when looking at the field.
Also, it wasn't the big screens that interfered with the punt - it was the ones on the end and looking at the reply it seems as tho Mr. Trapasso (yeah, the tOSU grad) was trying to hit it.
Either way it's bar none the best viewing experience of any stadium in the country and arguably the world (we're not talking about atmosphere - I'm talking about actually being able to have a great view of the game no matter where you're sitting and if you've ever sat in the nose bleeds you know what I mean).
August 26th, 2009 at 12:17 PM ^
Best viewing experience... excepting these 2 seats:
http://deadspin.com/5344216/cowboys-stadium-offers-valuable-seating-beh…
August 26th, 2009 at 12:51 AM ^
In Texas the gaudy and obnoxiously large are encouraged in all aspects of the culture. The rest of the South tends to think they are compensating for something.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:30 AM ^
everything's bigger in texas
August 26th, 2009 at 9:50 AM ^
Is that why my wife wants to move to Texas?
August 26th, 2009 at 12:17 AM ^
Why do you think Michigan stadium kept expanding, and then expanded a year after Tennessee beat us in attendance?
Competition is healthy, and there is nothing wrong with 1-upmanship..if there is such a word. I doubt Ohio st and Penn st would have expanded to 100k if Michigan didn't have 100k seats for 40 years.
The stadium is used as a recruiting tool, so having recruits come out of the tunnel to see what the place looks like minus 100k people plus the huge HD screen will help our recruiting efforts.
Texas and Texas A&M want to expand to 120k, which is more of a pissing contest with the Jerry Jones stadium for Texas supremacy. Texas has 10 of the 10 largest high school football stadiums as well. Believe it or not, there are already HD screens popping up in high school stadiums in Texas. (The one in the DFW area, they did that since they thought it would help in getting an Olympic bid.)
One huge advantage we will have over other large stadiums, we're pretty much built into the ground, so it won't be a problem building a steel support in the shape of an M and place the HD screen above it. LSU, Tenn, OSU and PSU are pretty much 20 floors above the ground, so they can't put up a huge HD screen.
Overkill is always good, but it's just a matter of updating viewing pleasures at the stadium all over the country.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:29 AM ^
I'm a grad student at A&M. Texas sized their video board to be both larger than A&M's and of a higher resolution, so as to have the best in Big 12 (they were then passed by Nebraska I believe). There was a debate for a while because Texas uses part of the screen, during the game, to show ads. The most diehard A&M fans claimed that the total square footage of their scoreboard used to show the game was larger than the same measure in Austin, and ours was therefore better. This "debate" has largely faded away.
Instead Texas is now renovating to have the largest college football stadium in the state (currently Kyle Field). A&M has drawn up the long term plans to regain this title, but can't fill the ~80,000 seats they have and don't have a desire to add 25,000 empty seats.
All that said, Michigan will never have one of the largest screens in the country. There are three ways to pay for an improvement like that:
1. Alumni donations. This will never happen. For what one of the Godzillatrons cost, you can get your name on a dorm or a stadium tower. Nobody wants to put their name on something that will be obsolete in 15 years.
2. Athletic department budget. Can you see Bill Martin spending millions of dollars on a scoreboard when we are already sacrificing competitive scheduling for financial reasons?
3. Advertising. This is how A&M has paid for their jumbotron and ribbon boards. A non-starter at Michigan Stadium and gawd-awful ugly everywhere else. Every single replay is sponsored by Croc's or Raisin' Cane's or some crappy brand. It's an abomination and you will never get the alumni behind it at Michigan (thank god).
And overkill is always good?!? Care to explain that one? Have you ever seen a Michigan State pregame hype video?
August 26th, 2009 at 1:35 AM ^
still has the largest HD screen in america, i stood next to it. it made me feel so insignificant
August 26th, 2009 at 1:38 AM ^
You're right that it is larger than Nebraska's (I should have done more research there) but it has been surpassed by Kauffman Stadium and the new stadium in Arlington:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzillatron
August 26th, 2009 at 4:06 AM ^
I've spent a lot of time in that Jumbotron (yes, literally "in" that thing) at DKR and I hope that the Big House will never have something as gaudy as that. It's really amazing technology, but I believe it detracts from what's going on on the field.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:53 AM ^
Texas has already had several games of 98,000 people, so it is officially the largest in Texas. I think the official capacity is actually 100,000 something. The Jerry Jones stadium can accommodate up to 100k, but that is because of the party section, where people can buy tickets to get in and stand around in the end zone, without any assigned seating.
The godzillatron "only" cost 8 million dollars. I would prefer an alum donate 8-10 million and specify what they want it for, much like what Ralph Englestad did for UND fighting Sioux hockey. (100 million for an hockey only arena, with thousands of Sioux logo plastered all over with the promise the "Fighting Sioux' nickname be retained.)
A TV is part of the college football viewing experience, we want to see the replays and "hype" videos for the crowd to get into it. I would often look at the replays on the Godzillatron and would never get annoyed because the quality is perfect. I notice players and coaches for both teams will look up at the HDTV too, so regardless of the gaudy factor, it is actually entertaining for everyone, except those sitting under the HDTV.
The Big House needs a big screen for the M on the back of it to be displayed more prominently.
August 26th, 2009 at 4:19 AM ^
Ralph Englstad was a lunatic who held massive parties to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday and commissioned paintings of himself as a Nazi officer with things like "To Raplhie from Adolf" written on the back. He held UND over a barrel and forced them to rent the arena from him to ensure they could never remove the Sioux logos... but just in case, he had the logo and nicknamed engraved in virtually every corner of the arena. Now that UND is dropping the nickname, the trust that runs the arena has made statements indicating they won't refer to the hockey teams as anything other than the Fighting Sioux in the arena. He'd previously forced the university to abandon plans for a new logo that was more modern and less potentially offensive.
I'd prefer Michigan never accept a donation with such heinous, racist conditions attatched. Or really any donation from a psychopath alum.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:12 AM ^
Well, when he said, "Much like Ralph Englstad did..." I don't think he meant, "Let's find someone to donate that will force us to put the n-word on every brick." I would think someone might be willing to donate a new board without any racist undertones.
August 26th, 2009 at 6:48 PM ^
Why do you think Michigan stadium kept expanding, and then expanded a year after Tennessee beat us in attendance?
We did it because in 1997, for the first time ever, student ticket demand exceeded supply and freshmen had to get split-season tickets (talk about bad timing). It actually was two years after Tennessee surpassed us.
August 26th, 2009 at 2:17 AM ^
I don't see the need.
August 26th, 2009 at 2:49 AM ^
We should build an HD tv that wraps around the entire stadium. Up over the new additions, too.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:20 AM ^
Everything is bigger in Texas!
August 26th, 2009 at 4:42 AM ^
I second maize and brew's idea: http://www.maizenbrew.com/2009/7/2/935551/godzillatron-your-time-has-co…
August 26th, 2009 at 8:47 AM ^
I'm thinking something like this would be good enough:
Then we'd have more cash for lights and speakers!
Then we'd have more cash for lights and speakers!August 26th, 2009 at 9:33 AM ^
I guess a jumbotron would be cool, but I don't think its necessary or care that much about it. When I am at the game, I am really more focused on the field. I also wouldn't want anything else at the University sacrificed for the sake of a big tv. I mean, we dropped again in the US News and World report for fucks sake. Let a rich alum put money into academics.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^
...the current scoreboards do look a bit out of place now. Something larger would be more appropriate (and may further help keep the sound in the stadium), but I can't see how the gaudy factor could be kept to a minimum. And it really is absolutely no fun being forced to watch commercials at a live sports event.....