An update on Michigan Stadium's new scoreboards
Maize and Blue Review was invited to an exclusive tour of Michigan Stadium's new video boards on Wednesday afternoon as construction begins to wind down ahead of the 2023 season, which is set to begin in one month.
The video boards are still under construction, but the program assures that the boards "will be ready for the first game" on Sept. 2 against East Carolina.
Below are some facts about the new boards that were shared.
- Both the north and south end zone scoreboards are identical
- The entire structure of both boards measures 179 feet wide by 62 feet tall, an 85 percent increase from the previous 109 feet wide by 55 feet tall boards
- The video board display measures 152 feet wide by 55 feet tall, a 118 percent increase from the previous 85 feet wide by 45 feet tall video display boards
- Over five-and-a-half miles of new cabling has been pulled for the project
- Each of the two new added columns on each scoreboard weigh between 60 and 70 tons, and the columns reach 65 feet underground
- Michigan's new video boards are now the third largest video boards in college football, only behind Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium and Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium, although both stadiums only have one video board, while Michigan has two
The new sound system — which will remain only coming from the north end zone — will be "significantly better." All of the concourse speakers have been replaced, according to the program, and the new sound system will "allow for more control and better balance throughout the entire stadium."
"Now, if you're in the north end zone, south end zone, closer to the field, further away, you should be able to hear in all the different areas of the stadium, and that should be a really big improvement for all the fans."
"We're really trying to prioritize what's done for the fans," a program spokesperson said. "There's a lot more inventory up there on the board now... we're going to focus on showing out-of-town scores during the game, having all different stats categories where in the past we showed seven stats categories that were static on the left bar. Now we're going to be able to rotate between 15-20 different stats categories to be able to show people everything that's going on."
From the inside of the stadium, the scoreboard will look rather similar to how it did in the past. The edges of the board will be blue with a block 'M' and the board will read "Michigan Stadium" across the top in maize lettering.
In accordance with Warde Manuel's comments last month, the program confirmed that the boards will be ready to go for Michigan's season opener against East Carolina on Sept. 2.
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