A new main video board will be the latest renovation to Sun Devil Stadium which Vice President of University Athletics Ray Anderson said will increase fan engagement and position the venue to become a multipurpose venue.
The new board will be the eighth largest in college football. It will measure over 47 feet tall by 113 feet wide, making it slightly wider than the display at Arizona Stadium in Tuscon.
"Over the past three years, Sun Devil Stadium has gone through several upgrades, including improvements to stadium seating and upgrades to various facilities throughout the stadium," Anderson said in a press release. "This new video display system will help us elevate the fan experience and allow us to increase the number of events hosted in the stadium throughout the year, in addition to football."
Ready for the big screen!
— Sun Devil Athletics (@TheSunDevils) May 18, 2017
Sun Devil Athletics is partnering with ANC to bring a new main video display to Sun Devil Stadium. #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/RAesJuoKD4
The project is expected to be ready in time for ASU football’s home opener on Aug. 31 against New Mexico State. Located in the north end zone, the new 16mm display will be installed by digital signage integrator ANC. The two other video boards will still be used in conjunction with the new display.
Sun Devil Athletics Manager of Game Presentation Josh Richard said the new video board’s interactive graphics and videos will enhance a fan’s game-day experience.
Richard said the new board on the stadium's north end will allow every fan to see things like college football score updates, statistics and graphics.
"A lot of feedback we have heard from our fans is they want more information that is live," Richard said. "We are going to present that in a very efficient manner. Closed captioning has always been an important part to our fans and that will be very readable and legible on this board."
Our ginormous videoboard is coming together nicely! @TheSunDevils fans are going to be pleased #GoDevils pic.twitter.com/oHNd7NOAgy
— Rocky Harris (@SunDevilRocky) May 19, 2017
In addition to interactive graphics and videos, fans should expect high definition replays. ANC’s vSOFT operating system will allow playback of uncompressed video, which is widely considered the purest video form. ANC will produce content and operate the visuals during each Sun Devil football game and at live events.
In the past, Sun Devil Stadium has hosted various types of events including rock concerts and a Papal visit. However. Executive Director of ASU Gammage and ASU Vice President for Cultural Affairs Colleen Jennings-Roggensack said the stadium has been used almost solely for football games in recent years.
Jennings-Roggensack said the video board, along with other renovations scheduled to be finished in 2018, will allow ASU to utilize "98 percent" of the stadium. She said the school hopes to host things like film screenings and other interactive events at the stadium when it would otherwise be empty.
"We also hope, because we have a very large international student population, to show soccer matches and a number of cricket matches, international sports that maybe don't necessarily dominate the American sports scene but they do for the rest of the world," Jennings-Roggensack said.
Jennings-Roggensack said ASU is also looking into other ways to use the stadium year-round, including farmers markets on Sunday and the potential for classes to be taught inside the stadium.
Season ticket holder and Sun Devil Club member Ben Kriegsfeld said the new video board is an important step forward for the football program.
"This is going to be the real deal," Kriegsfeld said. “It tops off the renovations. And our stadium as certainly the top one in Arizona, and I have traveled to most of the stadiums throughout the Pac-12 and there is no reason why we can't attract the best kids ... obviously needing the facilities to do that, and to be there for fan engagement.”
In 2009, ASU and ANC worked together for the first time to improve displays at Sun Devil Stadium and Wells Fargo Arena.
In recent years, ANC has designed several video displays for professional teams including the Seattle Mariners video display, the largest HD video display in MLB.
Reach the reporter at jpjacqu1@asu.edu or follow @joejacquezaz on Twitter.
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