New scoreboard, sound system and HD cameras added to OU stadium

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Construction began last week on dismantlement of the old scoreboard at the south end zone of Owen Field.

In its place before the start of the 2008 season will be a state-of-the-art, $4.5 million high-definition video screen totaling 3,689 square feet.

The board will be 113.5 feet wide and 32.5 feet tall. The previous Owen Field screen was only 36 by 21.

The largest video screen in college football, known as the "Godzillatron,” resides at Texas' Royal-Memorial Stadium. Texas' screen debuted in 2006 and is 134 feet wide and 55 feet tall, totaling 7,370 square feet.

But OU's new board is expected to be among the five largest in the nation, along with ones at Texas, Nebraska (4,012 square feet), Texas A&M (3,869) and Arkansas (3,210).

OU is also having a new sound system installed, and the athletics department is in the process of securing HD video cameras for Sooner Vision.

"This technology is on the cutting edge of what is available in today's market, and we're thrilled to bring this kind of innovation to our fans," OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said at the advent of the project. "It will add even more energy to our environments while allowing us to better communicate with the thousands that visit us each year and better serve the sponsors that are so important to our programs.

"In the end, a trip to an OU game will be more complete and more exciting in many ways.”

The video board will be the final piece of a $9.6 million project that included a new center-hung video scoreboard at the Lloyd Noble Center, which was mounted prior to last basketball season, as well as a video board on the north end of Owen Field, which was installed before last football season.

The two football video boards and the basketball board — all built by South Dakota-based Daktronics, Inc. — will have 16 mm HD capable video replay.

The project was approved by the OU Board of Regents in March 2007.

Initial work on the old south end scoreboard has started with removing the face and the lights that displayed the score and time.

The OU athletics department is salvaging several pieces of the old scoreboard in hopes of making them available to fans during an upcoming online auction.

Later this summer, a large crane will be brought in to remove the scoreboard's main structure.

The university is also undergoing improvements to The Switzer Center this summer, which was also approved by the Regents in a separate vote.

These renovations are part of Phase IV of a Memorial Stadium expansion and improvements project that began with Phase I, which included construction of the east side upper deck completed in 2003.

Phase IV, which is expected to be a $12.5 million venture, will include renovations to the team locker room as well as the sports medicine and equipment room spaces.

The Red Room, where team meetings are held and where the media interviews coaches and players after practices and games, will also be expanded and renovated.

In addition, emergency lighting for the public concourses of the stadium will be installed, and the west mezzanine of the stadium will be renovated to add office and studio space for Sooner Vision and the athletics department.

At their next meeting beginning today in Norman, the Regents are expected to vote on whether to approve design plans for Phase IV submitted by the architecture-engineering firm HOK.

Part of the construction should be done by the end of the year. The rest is expected to be completed before the start of the 2009 football season.

Phase II was done in 2004 and featured new restroom and concession facilities on the west side and bricking on the northwest and southwest corners of the stadium.

Phase III, which was completed prior to last football season and totaled $12 million, added new restroom and concession facilities to the north and west concourses of the stadium and a wrought-iron fence around the practice fields.