Michigan unveils planned scoreboards for Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena and Yost Ice Arena
The Michigan athletic department released renderings of new scoreboards planned for (from left) Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena and Yost Ice Arena.
Prepare for some big-screen TV envy. Michigan Stadium's new video screens will be 85 feet wide, or 40-percent larger than the previous screens that were removed in March.
The Michigan athletic department announced details of the new scoreboards for three of its venues today. Dallas-based TS Sports will complete scoreboard replacement projects at Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena and Yost Ice Arena.
“We are excited to partner with TS Sports on state-of-the-art boards at our three biggest venues,” athletic director Dave Brandon said in a release. “Our goal is to set new trends in the viewing experience for our fans and these boards will be the first step in that goal.”
Here are details, according to the release, on each of the three new scoreboards:
MICHIGAN STADIUM TS Sports will install new state-of-the-art LED screens in both end zones of Michigan Stadium, which will be 40 percent larger than the previous system. The new video screens will be 47 feet high and 85 feet wide and will be complete in August, prior to the 2011 football season.
The overall size of the structures will be 108 feet wide by 62 feet high, which includes the scoreboard and enclosure.
“Michigan Stadium features our new Impact 16 video product from Lighthouse Technologies," TS Sports president and CEO Garry Waldrum said. "The Impact 16 will provide Wolverine fans with the latest technology and clearest video image in college sports.” CRISLER ARENA
TS Sports will replace the center-hung scoreboard, which was installed in 1998, with one that features 14 LED video displays that will track "all major events throughout the game -- instant replays, fan shots, hustle stats, animations, graphics and much more." YOST ICE ARENA Yost's first major facelift will include the addition of a center-hung scoreboard system that includes nine LED video displays.
The project also includes the conversion to high-definition video equipment. Due to construction at Crisler Arena, the Michigan Sports Television Production Studio, which manages and controls the video boards, will be relocated to Michigan Stadium until the arena is completed in 2013-14.
Comments
Tru2Blu76
Fri, Apr 8, 2011 : 7:40 a.m.
I'll be happy only when: I get live feed of every Michigan game direct to my iPod Touch. I get scheduled to work every darned Saturday. This is no way for a Michigan fan (and Michigan dad) to have to live!
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 2:27 p.m.
I guess none of the naysayers have been to Bloomington, IN, to see Michigan play Indiana in football recently. I have. And Indiana has one of these scoreboards. The quality of its picture was amazing and all of the Michigan fans around me commented how we ought have a similarly high quality video screen in the Big House. I'm guessing Dave Brandon saw the same thing I saw last fall. That, and the fact that he needed a new football coach, too! Good Night and Good Luck
Pablo
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 1:08 p.m.
Ok...let me see...and then...in how many more years will we NEED a bigger-to-serve-you-better larger and larger monstosity?
racerx
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 7:15 a.m.
For the football stadium, will they enable someone to fully show questionable calls and replays? Is this not done to upset the faithful? I swear, whenever there is a questionable play that a replay could shed light on what happend, we never get to see it. It seems as though whoever decides this chooses to do so on purpose. Which is a shame!
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 4:44 p.m.
That's a Big Ten and NCAA Rule. They are very picky about what replays get shown.
Greggy_D
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 1:25 p.m.
Agreed. They do the same at Spartan Stadium.
Ron Granger
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 3:26 a.m.
Notice the advertising plastered all over the signage? Especially the crisler sign - it is more than 50% advertising. How sad. Millions spent to force advertising down our throats. Nice going Michigan! I guess corporate partnerships and profits are really what education is all about! One of the nice things about seeing a game at crisler had always been the lack of in your face advertising. The new signs look carnivalesque.
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 4:44 p.m.
If you would like scholarship athletes to continue receiving a free education, then you'll have to deal with advertising. It's not obtrusive, it's not disruptive, get over it.
Greggy_D
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 1:23 p.m.
Exactly. Been to a Pistons game within the past few years? Carnival is the exact word I would use to describe the experience. Their bright LED boards flash advertising incessantly during the game. And now it's coming to Crisler.....
Terry Star21
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 1:46 a.m.
Theo and our gang are getting older - what a welcome 'sight' to be able to see fine replays of our many touchdowns, defensive stops, and coaching staff smiling on the sidelines. Michigan Football is here to serve it's Faithful. Thank you - MgoBlue !
kilalqaeda
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 12:39 a.m.
$20 million could have bought a lot of coffee's for the hardworking people of Ann Arbor. Clearly coffee is more important than infrastructure and technological advancement.
jameslucas
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 11:49 p.m.
Although the new video score boards are not in 3-D; play on field will remain in 3-D, this maybe good news since watching 3-D for long periods is known to cause headaches.
michboy40
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 10:19 p.m.
I think Michigan Stadium and all of the their venues will be rockin' with the new luxury suites, renovations, and scoreboards! Of course I never go to the games anyway, but they seem pretty cool and if I got a chance to go I would. On a side note, I hope someone points out to Adidas that GO BLUE rolls off the tongue a little smoother than GO WOLVERINES!
Dale R. Leslie
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 8:53 p.m.
IN 1998, Ann Arbor News columnist Jack Gillard wrote with tongue-in-cheek about the then HUGE replacement scoreboards and their influence beyond Ann Arbor. Workers have put one of the new Michigan Stadium scoreboards in place so now we havan idea of the boards' size. Has anyone stopped to think of the unintended consequences of scoreboards this large? Read excerpt below: MID-MICHIGAN: (Birch Run exit on US-23 North, 60 miles north of the Michigan Stadium, man pumping gas into his car at a service station and staring intently southward.) Maw: Paw, what's takin' so long for you to pump that gas? Paw: It's OK Maw, Michigan just scored and Ohio State has a minute, 10 seconds before the half. I want to see what happens. Just like watchin' on TV. (Standish, 120 miles north of the Michigan Stadium, man sitting on his roof with tray holding chips, dip and several cans of beer.) Paw: Hey, Maw, Michigan just scored! Maw: That's nice, Paw, but I was just wondering, how are you going to get down off that roof after you drink all that beer? Paw: Carefully, Maw, carefully. (Subsequent news item in the Saginaw News:) Junius "Paw" Smechengrabber of 314 Sawdust Street, suffered a broken leg as a consequence of watching the Michigan-Ohio State football game Saturday when he fell off his roof. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Jack Gillard is a retired copy editor and columnist for the former Ann Arbor News (now annarbor.com) and he and his wife Mary Lou reside peacefully west of the new scoreboards in Ann Arbor. This column was published in August, 1998. See the Community Wall to read the whole column.
bartman
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 8:52 p.m.
And ticket prices just went up $20 a piece to help pay for this. I heard that UofM donated the old scoreboards to the city of Ann Arbor so they can prop up the old scoreboards under the bridge to the stadium to keep it from collapsing. I really like all of the improvements that have been done to the stadium, but I am not sure paying another $20 a ticket is worth a larger scoreboard that UofM will receive more revenue from by showing advertisements along the bottom of the new scoreboards.
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 2:37 p.m.
Remember, there are no advertisements in Michigan Stadium, so the new boards will not bring new advertising revenue for them. Also remember they haven't raised ticket prices in seven years. And adjusted for inflation that ticket price is only about a $10 increase. These scoreboards are about having quality facilities that are ahead of and better than other colleges. Michigan State is updating Breslin's scoreboard this year and Spartan Stadium's scoreboard next year. Schools are upgrading, it's about recruiting and providing a good experience for fans.
Domey
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 8:36 p.m.
Paid for, in part, by Ann Arbor which will be paying U of M $1million so they can use the parking lot while they rebuild the crumbling brides that lead to "The Big Hole".
Ignatz
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 11:48 a.m.
I like brides better. ;-) However, far more Ann Arborites will use that spanking new bridge than football fans, though many fall into both catagories.
Domey
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 8:37 p.m.
Of course that was supposed to read "bridges".
Dale R. Leslie
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 8:18 p.m.
The dramatic interior and exterior changes to help the U-M CRISLER ARENA sparkle has an adverse trickle-down effect. Up to 30 members of a lay person support crew who staff the arena for U-M basketball games face the loss of their job due to a "new direction" planned by the athletic department. Some of the faces had served in their capacities for over 30 years. One of the soon-departed quipped, "After unceremoniously relieving me of my job at Crisler Arena, they asked me to remain part of the crew at the Michigan Stadium during the football season. Apparently there is not a 'new direction' at the Big House. I told them where to put that job and it wasn't in the Help Wanted section of annarbor.com"
R
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 7:18 p.m.
I really don't understand how this is relevant to the article. I'm genuinely sorry for your friend's firing, but it likely had nothing to do with expenditures for scoreboards.