OT: Scoreboards, Speakers and Signage
There are a few items I have heard some rumblings on through my limited UofM contacts that I wanted to throw out for discussion. I'd certainly be interested in any of you have any insight or perspective (I'll even take humorous perspective) on the following:
Scoreboards - Aside from one using a strategically-hidden dwarf that manually changes the score, clock, down, and yardage I think Michigan has one of the most basic and outdated scoreboards for a school of our size and stature. And while it's probably not a top priority in light of the obvious upgrades to The Big House, I'm a little surprised that some rich alum or foundation hasn't kicked in the dough to bring us from the stone ages here. Anyone know the story here or where this falls in regard to priority?
Speakers - First off, I know there are very mixed feelings about piped-in music at the games (I won't touch that one). However, it seems that our speaker system is barely adequate for even the standard game announcing to be heard clearly...especially if we are really into the game. Does anyone know if that upgrade will be taking place as part of the stadium renovations? And perhaps it is just the nature of my seats, but it's really tough to get involved when the band is playing at the North end from the stands due to the delayed echo we hear at the South end. I've actually noticed the echo a lot more with the addition of the boxes on the East side of the field. Would a mic in front of the band (and the improved speaker system) help this or would the echo still occur?
Signage - I know the actual "Michigan Stadium" lettering that was over the old press box is very sacred. It was my understanding that there were many people who were opposed to removing it altogether, so any ideas on what will be done with it? I've heard one suggestion of using the same font/style, making the letters larger,and putting them across the top of the new press box (seems rather obvious to me). To kill two birds with one stone, I am a fan of the previous suggestion plus auctioning off the old letters (together, of course) and putting the funds towards replacing the scoreboard.
I know this isn't as exciting as another Spring Practice update, but I am needing to discuss Michigan Football as much as possible right now...even if it is just the stadium itself. I guess I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue...
GO BLUE!
well the were 2 sets of the Michigan Stadium that was on the press box, I do not know how it would look but my thought was put them on the 2 scoreboards
not THAT long ago. One thing at a time, friend.
However, they are pretty outdated. It's time for some HD in the Big House.
screens were updated to LED before the 2007 season... HD would be awesome though but i think the 226 million dollar stadium upgrade took precedence...
The video screens weren't. They simply replaced the old signage that used to flip between various messages.
The only thing worse than the defense giving up a 3rd and 19 is watching the replay in HD.
And not to be too picky, but for a venue that consists of virtually all games in broad daylight (aside from the much-anticipated night game against ND) our video screen is just sufficient...I'd even be OK with just updating those.
They already installed new speakers inside the north scoreboard. Letters are going somewhere, but I don't know if they've finalized a spot yet (my bet is by the tunnel or something.
(Side note: How is this OT?)
I considered this OT because it was aesthetics versus deep content.
This is very much on topic. Currently, 8/10 (EDIT: now 9/10!) threads on the 1st page of the MGoBoard begin with "OT," and it feels very much like April.
The OP did not have to contribute to this.
Apparently the old letters are larger than you would think. Not sure what anyone would do with them if auctioned off? You couldn't probably even fit 1 letter in your basement. I think if they just put the old letters up somewhere in or around the stadium - that should be good enough to satisfy most fans. I actually like the clean look of the new structures, I don't think adding newer, larger, letters would really look good.
http://www.mgoblue.com/photogallery/gallery_index.html?school=mich&spor…;
If you go to the newest photo gallery of the stadium at the link above you can see a picture of where they are putting the speakers in the stadium. It's the 7th picture in and they are going above the north end zone scoreboard hidden behind some paneling.
I do agree that the scoreboards should have been replaced as part of the new renovations. I mean if you're going to renovate, why not do it all? They did pretty much everything else. With a budget of $250 million you think they could have found some money for that. Some nice, clean looking, HD screens would be nice. Make everything digital on one screen. That's the way to go. Something tells me though, that a new scoreboard isn't very far away.
No no no... they go on your roof!
I vote for the Smithsonian.
Thanks for the link...I had missed that part of the pictures when looking before.
As far as where we could put the letters, I'm voting for the Capital One Bowl...I'm pretty sure when we were there last time we owned that place...I'm just sayin'.
I talked to Bill Martin about the letters. He was surprised at first that there was so much interest in them. But, to his credit, he immediately took into consideration that fan-interest and made it a priority consideration. At the same time, I think the Architects hate those old letters and think that they would look horrible, out of scale and completely wrong on top of the new structures. Credit Martin with giving all sides a fair hearing. Martin's first idea was to put the letters over the tunnel entrance. I don't know, honestly, if that is still in the works. I'd bet somebody knows already; that somebody is not me.
Personally, I have changed my own view on the subject, as I did the whole renovation. I am now trusting the professionals. The architects are right. Keep it clean; find a new place for the letters. I expect that the decision has now been made, and that the letters will be treated as sacred but will not go up on the new structure(s).
The scoreboards will change, eventually. Actually, I remember two earlier-generation scoreboards, and it is funny; Michigan has always been playing catch-up with its scoreboards. They have always felt old-fashioned, going back to the old analog clocks that used to be on them. I'd like, as much as any of you, a 21st century scoreboard and video screen. For 2010, I'll be happy enough if they just use the ones we've got now and show all the disputed replays. (It is stunning when you go to a game at Camp Randall and they show everything on their big board. Sponsored, of course, by about 12 different home-improvement stores, soft drinks, and muffler shops. When you say Wis-con-sin, you've said it all. All except Bud-wei-zer.)
The thing with scoreboards is that they always have a back. And the back side is always funky. The one good use I've ever seen was back in the old days when Michigan put its setaing capacity on the back of the scoreboard -- 101,001. Can't forget that 1.
I'd get a kick out of putting video displays on both sides, front and back, except that at Michign, traffic on Stadium might come to a standstill.
Michigan Stadium was the first to ever use electronic scoreboards (back in 1930), so while they may take time to update them, they were ahead of the game in actually getting them.
1930, huh? I bet it was made with bits of real panther too.
I could be wrong but wasn't Michigan one of the first colleges to have a video screen in their stadium - the one we currently have?
..for $700, Alex.
I think we should hang a jumbo tron larger than that of the Dallas Cowboys. I know there isn't a roof; Zoltan will provide the space to hang it from.
/sarcasm
The Cowboys' scoreboard cracks me up. It's a tacit admission that a lot of seats in that stadium have a terrible view of the field.
what the plans were for the parking lot side of the stadium, I was a little surprised to see them remove the block M from over the top of the tunnel.
So many great memories there, I hope they give that area special consideration as well.
...CLOVERFIELDTRON. Behold:
I'm surprised how often people bring up the scoreboards as a problem. Do you remember the pre-1998 scoreboards? Those had no jumbotron and no statistics whatsoever. Yeah, I guess they could make the picture a little bigger/clearer. But I think it's nitpicking. Our scoreboards give us a lot of information as it is - is there really room for improvement there?
how about Notre Dame right now? They have no video screens. Ours may not be ultra-modern, but at least we have them.
And in 2009, it was the worst in my memory. Because it was the old, pressbox-mounted system, that was designed and trimmed for the stadium without the West and East structures. And it absolutely sucked when all the glass was put into place. The system was all wrong, sounded bad and echoed like mad. I expect HUGE, massive, monumental improvements in 2010. It's too soon to know, yet, but we might see it as soon as the 17th. When they get the new system really running properly, I expect that it might be one of the most noticeable improvements in the entire project.
Second only to Rich Rodriguez's offense.
The scoreboards I think will stay for at least 5-7 more years before any talk of replacements. Do you remember the pre-1998 scoreboards?
The "MICHIGAN STADIUM" letters I think, will be on one of the boxes. I was thinking about possibly in the future if they would put the National Championship and Big Ten championships on the boxes. Maybe even have the retired numbers as banners hanging from the box? That would really make the boxes look great. From what I've seen they are just plain Blue.
Scoreboards:
I highly doubt that the scoreboards will be changed until they add upper decks in the end zones or at least decide how they're going to configure them permanently. From what I understand about the project though, they specifically aimed to make sure they could add on to the end zones at a later time when they did the renovations, so I'm betting it'll happen some day, and when it does, they will probably upgrade the video boards. In the mean time, I've got no problem with what we have now, and I rather like the style of them.
Speakers:
Pretty sure they're doing this now. A lot of the speakers use to be on top of the press box, which is now gone. I am betting they have bought new ones to put on the new boxes.
Signage:
Belongs on the boxes somewhere. It can be on the outside facing Main Street or something as far as I'm concerned, but they belong on the stadium structure somewhere.
I guess I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue...+1 for Airplane! reference