ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The 'Big House' is getting a big facelift before the 2023 football season that has been in the works for over four years.
On Wednesday, Michigan officials showed off the two new video boards inside Michigan Stadium.
The jumbotrons are 179 feet wide and 62 feet high. That's a 120 percent increase from the old scoreboards.
U-M can't wait for the maize and blue faithful to see it for the season opener against East Carolina.
"I think the project to replace the scoreboard at the stadium is exciting for all involved," Michigan associate athletic director Kurt Svoboda said. "This is really a fan-facing initiative. We hope people are going to be wowed and really overjoyed when they get in the stadium. It is also a really exciting project for people here in the athletic department, who spent a lot of time day in and day out really thinking about that fan experience and giving them a great overall atmosphere here at the stadium."
Michigan estimates the two video boards by themselves are the third largest jumbotrons in the country. However, if the two video areas of the two scoreboards are combined, U-M officials believe no other stadium in the nation tops it.
What you can't see are support beams that weigh 60-70 tons attached to the scoreboards, and those support structures go underneath the ground 65 feet.
On top of that, the university has 5.5 miles worth of cable for the video boards to function.
Svoboda says while the gameday experience will not change much, the new video boards will add to the atmosphere.
"Our fans are going to notice that these are essentially blank canvases for our video team and our event presentation team to work with as they see fit," Svoboda said. "To adjust to the circumstances to a team within a game. To be able to move things like out of town information, down and distance markers and to adjust what we want to do, on behalf of our fans."
The two video boards were funded by the Michigan Athletic Department and donors. U-M is not certain how much was spent to make them come to life.
The video boards are expected to last roughly ten years before they need to be replaced again.
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