The incredible shrinking scoreboard

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Schnauzer

Schnauzer

Pretty Sure You are Wrong
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As TCF was designed and the early construction period arrived... all the press boasted "the 2nd largest scoreboard in college sports." Then, as construction continued, the claim of "2nd" became mixed with more reports it was the "3rd largest scoreboard in college sports." I just read an overview of the stadium that said the scoreboard was now the 4th largest. If this keeps up, will it be so small we will be forced to share it and pass it from seat to seat to watch replays on September 12? Can I hold it during the fourth quarter?

No big deal... either way I think it is wonderful and I am really looking foward to not having to squint like I do at the metrodome to watch replays. I don't care where it ranks. I just think it is funny to see the multiple claims regarding its size.

If you can't tell it is early July... I suppose this post is a good example of the kinds of things we are down to as we count the days for the season to begin. My apologies. :)
 

Schnauzer said:
As TCF was designed and the early construction period arrived... all the press boasted "the 2nd largest scoreboard in college sports." Then, as construction continued, the claim of "2nd" became mixed with more reports it was the "3rd largest scoreboard in college sports." I just read an overview of the stadium that said the scoreboard was now the 4th largest. If this keeps up, will it be so small we will be forced to share it and pass it from seat to seat to watch replays on September 12? Can I hold it during the fourth quarter?

No big deal... either way I think it is wonderful and I am really looking foward to not having to squint like I do at the metrodome to watch replays. I don't care where it ranks. I just think it is funny to see the multiple claims regarding its size.

If you can't tell it is early July... I suppose this post is a good example of the kinds of things we are down to as we count the days for the season to begin. My apologies. :)
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Blame Mississippi State. They built a bigger one. Not sure where the other huge one is, though?
 

Gopher07 said:
Blame Mississippi State. They built a bigger one. Not sure where the other huge one is, though?
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Oklahoma has the other big one, but if you go by total area TCF's is still larger. Oklahoma's is wider, but TCF will have more visable area.
 

Schnauzer said:
As TCF was designed and the early construction period arrived... all the press boasted "the 2nd largest scoreboard in college sports." Then, as construction continued, the claim of "2nd" became mixed with more reports it was the "3rd largest scoreboard in college sports." I just read an overview of the stadium that said the scoreboard was now the 4th largest. If this keeps up, will it be so small we will be forced to share it and pass it from seat to seat to watch replays on September 12? Can I hold it during the fourth quarter?

No big deal... either way I think it is wonderful and I am really looking foward to not having to squint like I do at the metrodome to watch replays. I don't care where it ranks. I just think it is funny to see the multiple claims regarding its size.

If you can't tell it is early July... I suppose this post is a good example of the kinds of things we are down to as we count the days for the season to begin. My apologies. :)
Click to expand...

Its also dependent on which measurement you use. I hadn't heard about the Miss St board (and thus know nothing about it), but if you use total square footage we are 2nd behind Texas (unless Miss St indeed is bigger). However, there are scoreboards that are longer and therefore have larger corner to corner measurements. These scoreboards are also more narrow and therefore have less square footage.
 

GoAUpher said:
Its also dependent on which measurement you use. I hadn't heard about the Miss St board (and thus know nothing about it), but if you use total square footage we are 2nd behind Texas (unless Miss St indeed is bigger). However, there are scoreboards that are longer and therefore have larger corner to corner measurements. These scoreboards are also more narrow and therefore have less square footage.
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http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/07/0...ans-biggest-hd-scoreboard-in-the-sec-this-fa/

The screen itself will be 111x47 feet ... ours is 108x48, meaning there's is just barrreely bigger (5217 sq feet vs 5184 sq feet)
 


UPDATE: Miss St's board will in fact be just a tad larger. Here would be the new rankings based on sq footage:
Texas:
134 x 55 = 7370 sq. ft.
Miss St:
111 x 47 = 5217 sq. ft.
Minnesota:
108 x 48 = 5184 sq. ft.
 


Mine's Bigger

A little p$nis envy going on here?:eek:
 

Eventually there will be a scoreboard that is bigger than the actual playing field.
 



PlayHosea said:
Eventually there will be a scoreboard that is bigger than the actual playing field.
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Or scoreboards on the field. :) Fiber-optic field turf capable of projecting images/information onto the field (everything from a first down line to ads) already exists.
 

PlayHosea said:
Eventually there will be a scoreboard that is bigger than the actual playing field.
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How right you are. Here is the Dallas Cowboys' new scoreboard sketch for their stadium:
BowlScoreboard1000x750.jpg
 


gopherguy05 said:
Oklahoma has the other big one, but if you go by total area TCF's is still larger. Oklahoma's is wider, but TCF will have more visable area.
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Oklahoma does not have a larger scoreboard. I believe you are thinking of Nebraska. Our scorebaord is 108 x 48 = 5,184 sq ft and Nebraska's is 118 x 34 ~ 4,012 sq ft.

The 3rd largest is Tennessee which is redoing their video board as a part of ongoing renovation. Their board will be unveiled Sept. 5, 2009.

Largest boards (by sq ft)
1. Texas: 7,370
2. Mississippi State: 5,217
3. Tennessee: 5,207
4. Minnesota: 5,184
5. Nebraska 4,012

Rutgers is planning an expansion that will pass up Nebraska for #5 but I'm not sure when construction starts.
 




It was bound to happen that our board was going to go down in rankings...I mean that is the only direction it can go as others are building bigger ones. It's just too bad the fall has come this fast before our stadium even opens! Soon we won't even be in the top 10 I'm afraid. Heck, TCF won't even be the biggest scoreboard in Minneapolis for long.
 

I took the tour

a couple months ago and was told by my tour guide that originally the TCF scoreboard was the largest in college football when it was ordered.

However, the scoreboard company realized that Texas has a serious case of Napoleon's disease and contacted them directly after receiving confirmation of the order. Within a couple weeks, Texas had put in an order to increase the size of their scoreboard.

And now you are seeing the ripple effects. So no, the scoreboard isn't shrinking.
 

the accomplice said:
a couple months ago and was told by my tour guide that originally the TCF scoreboard was the largest in college football when it was ordered.

However, the scoreboard company realized that Texas has a serious case of Napoleon's disease and contacted them directly after receiving confirmation of the order. Within a couple weeks, Texas had put in an order to increase the size of their scoreboard.

And now you are seeing the ripple effects. So no, the scoreboard isn't shrinking.
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Unfortunately I think your tour guide was mistaken because the timeline suggests this isn't possible. The U's stadium bill didn't pass until May 20th, 2006 and Texas had already announced the purchase of Godzillatron (at its current massive size) by May 10th, 2006.

However, I believe your guide was simply confused rather then telling a tall tale. The story shared by assistant AD Phil Esten on my tour last fall was that the Gophers originally had a larger scoreboard then the one planned for Target Field and that the Twins upped the size of their board so that they would have the largest display in the state. Other posters who have taken the tour noted the same story. Twins/Texas...they all begin with T! :)

But I agree, what you are seeing are ripple effects.
 

from the subject line, I thought this post was going to be about how the ads were going to drown out the actual scoreboard/replay screen. Honestly, having the 2nd/3rd/4th biggest scoreboard doesn't mean much to me if it's just going to be the 2nd/3rd/4th billboard in the nation. I understand that ads are part of the deal and bring in revenue but I just hope they can keep them under control.
 

Size is one thing but it's got to be aesthetically pleasing too. Ours is definitely that. That Dallas one looks awful suspended from the air like that.
 

Video scoreboards should be illegal in college football. Same goes for all music not coming from the band.
 

Studwell55 said:
Video scoreboards should be illegal in college football. Same goes for all music not coming from the band.
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Substitute "Video Scoreboards" with "Foreward pass" and you sound like my grandpa.
 

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