Mississippi State University football fans can look forward to having a more exciting game day experience as plans for the installation of a new jumbotron at the Scott Field/Davis Wade Stadium are underway.A new jumbotron is expected to be in place by the end of the 2008 football season.
Athletic director Larry Templeton said the new addition will be just another piece of the pie that makes MSU game days special.
Some students, such as freshman business major Grafton Bragg, feel the current jumbotron is inadequate compared to those owned by other schools in the Southeastern Conference.
“I went to the Auburn game this year and their replay and pre-game videos basically trumped that of Scott Field [Davis Wade Stadium],” he said. “It will be nice for better replays and hopefully better sound as well.”
The new jumbotron will have the power to put everything on the board with no permanent ads or scoreboards.
“It will be totally metric so we can design everything we want up there, like ads or video,” Templeton said. “It’s all programmed like a basic computer.”
He said his team would like to install a strip in the stadium, as well. A strip consists of an LCD [liquid crystal display] board on both of the upper decks and will be similar to strips installed in NFL stadiums.
“People want to watch other games, see replays and see other statistics,” Templeton said. “This gives us the opportunity to make our stadium as top quality as any in the country.”
Another benefit of having the new jumbotron is the increased opportunities to put up additional advertisements since there will be no fixed signage, he said.
The current board takes eight to 10 people to operate and was bought for $1.2 million from Sony, which no longer produces that type of video technology, Templeton said.
Kalea Henry, a junior broadcasting major and athletic media relations intern, said she looks forward to the advanced technology of the new jumbotron.
“I submit our scores to ESPN via an ESPN scoreboard in the press box because our current jumbotron isn’t equipped with the technology to send it automatically, unlike many other jumbotrons in college football stadiums,” she said.
Templeton said the decision has not been made yet but are reviewing some of the options on whether a package can be put together.
The first step to purchasing the new jumbotron is funding, which will be raised through advertising and donations through the Bulldog Sports Network, the athletic department’s marketing arm, he said.
Various companies will then present proposals, which will be carefully reviewed until one is decided upon.
Jim Ellis, associate assistant director for athletic marketing, said the current jumbotron was cutting edge when purchased, but now is nearly a decade old and has a very limited lifespan left.
“Sony doesn’t even make parts for it anymore,” Ellis said. “Luckily we have scored and backlogged some parts so we can keep it in repair right now, but in the next five years it will be obsolete.”
Ellis said within the next five years, other schools will be applying new technology and he would like to see MSU be proactive in the transition as well.
“LCD was not even a thought 10 years, ago and now you have the high definition, different formatted screens and all of those types of things,” Ellis said.
As far as what to do with the current jumbotron after it is replaced, there are options to utilize it elsewhere, but the technology will be so outdated that it is likely no one would be interested in it, he said.
“It would be like taking an old black and white TV out and getting someone to do something with it now,” Ellis said.