Michigan Stadium, the largest stadium in the US, is to be fitted with two new video scoreboards, which will cost around $12m (£9.2m/€10.9m).
The boards will be located at the north and south ends of the stadium and will replace the current displays, with the Detroit News reporting that the upgrades will form part of a wider $41m renovation of University of Michigan venues.
Other elements of the project will include a new audio system at Michigan Stadium, upgrades to the production room at the Crisler Center arena, and new safety installations. The Crisler Center has a capacity of 12,000 and serves as the home of the university’s basketball teams.
A request by athletic director Warde Manuel to fit the new scoreboards has been accepted by university regents. According to Manuel, the current scoreboards at the 107,000-seat stadium feature “obsolete” technology.
Rob Rademacher, senior associate athletic director and chief operating officer at the University of Michigan, said: “We plan to fully fund this upfront with athletic department gifts that are restricted for capital purposes.
“We will not be touching our operating budget with this, and it’s all gift funds. We don’t anticipate any additional operating expenses with this project or additional personnel needed to run the new technology.”
Architecture firm SmithGroup Inc. will design the project and the scoreboards are set to be fitted by the autumn of 2023. The current scoreboards were fitted in 2011.
Image: Lectrician2/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
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