Hunkered Down With a New Scoreboard

Football in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a cutthroat enterprise where the school’s 12 members engaging in a constant battle of one-upmanship. Although an 0-2 start by the Bulldogs makes an SEC championship unlikely, the University of Georgia (UGA) gave the fan experience at Sanford Stadium, its football mecca that seats more than 90,000 rabid, mostly red-and-black-clad fans, a huge boost with the installation of a 35 x 75-ft. LED scoreboard that offers dynamic messaging across its entire surface.

School officials selected Daktronics’ (Brookings, SD) DVX 15HD display, which offers a 15mm pixel pitch. Alan Thomas, UGA’s associate athletic director for external operations, said, “The display was built entirely within the existing structure of the previous display, but we removed all fixed panels and made the display 100% flatscreen."

He continued, "The ProAd ribbon displays installed around the stadium’s fascia are 23mm-pixel displays. The difference is tremendous. We may have to look at components with smaller pixels for those displays as well.” 

The board, which cost $1.4 million, was subsidized through a clause in the University’s contract with its marketing and multimedia-rights holder, ISP, which was triggered when it was acquired by IMG. The school’s athletic department received a one-time payment at the conclusion of its last fiscal year, which ended June 30.