Video boards have become big recruiting tool

Scoring the boards

These days, it seems the board is almost as important as the score. Oklahoma's new scoreboard and big-screen video display will be state-of-the-art, but it won't be the biggest around.

Godzillatron

University of Texas,

Austin

•Built: 2005

•Cost: $8 million

•Dimensions: 134 feet wide by 55 feet tall

•What's on it: Approximately 50 percent of the screen is used for advertising, with a small strip at the bottom for typical scoreboard features (time, score, down and distance, etc.).

Pig Screen TV

University of Arkansas,

Fayetteville

•Built: 2000

•Cost: $3.75 million

•Dimensions: 107 feet wide by 30 feet tall

•What's on it: Strictly game video. One-fourth of the screen displays an advertisement during replays. Other scoreboard features are displayed on 30-foot-by-30-foot boards flanking the video screen.

12th Man TV

Texas A&M,

College Station

• Built: 2006

•Cost: $5 million

•Dimensions: 74 feet wide by 54 feet tall

•What's on it: Game footage and scoreboard information. Advertising appears during down time in games.

By Scott Wright

ich means by 2008, OU and OSU will join Texas and Texas A&M ("12th Man TV”, 54-by-74) and Nebraska (no nickname, 33-by-117) and others in going digital.

Officials say it's about enhancing fans' gameday experience. And the technology sure ought to do that — especially at Owen Field, where the current video board might as well have rabbit ears.

But let's be honest. This is about the arms race.

Football powers have long bragged to recruits about Nautilus machines and mahogany lockers and indoor practice facilities. Still do. But the new frontier is video boards — high-tech, high-priced and "Hi kid, can you picture yourself running downfield on that big screen?”

"We've heard that before,” says Mark Steinkamp, a spokesman for Daktronics, the South Dakota-based company that built Godzillatron and is expected to build OU's new boards. "They want to keep up. Their competition is not only on the field, but in the rest of the stadium.”

Consider Arkansas' standard procedure. As recruits dine at the stadium club in the south end zone, the Pig Screen in the north end zone shows Hog highlights.

It might as well be 12 feet away, not 120 yards.

"It's certainly impressive,” Arkansas spokesman Kevin Trainor says. "It gives them a glimpse of what the gameday atmosphere is like.”

Maybe you're thinking players don't notice such things. Think again.

Eleven years back, I watched Florida whip Arkansas in the SEC championship game. The rout was sealed when a defensive back stole an option pitch and took it 95 yards.

He savored the last few steps. And afterward, I overheard a teammate ask how Ben Hanks knew he had enough room to slow down.

"I was running right at myself,” said Hanks. "I could see it all on the big screen.”

And believe me, that big screen in the Georgia Dome end zone was nothing like Godzillatron. By the way, when the Longhorns first saw their new toy, they asked if they could hook up the Xbox.

Who needs a name on a jersey?

Page 2 of 2