Report: Auburn to install college football's largest scoreboard
It appears that Texas A&M won’t have college football’s biggest scoreboard for long.
According to AL.com, the Auburn Board of Trustees will meet on Friday to discuss the addition of a “200-foot wide scoreboard” in the south end zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium. The project is reported to cost “an estimated $13.9 million.”
“If what we are intending to do is approved, it’ll be the biggest video board in college football,” Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs told AL.com.
The video board installed at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field last summer is 47-feet tall, 163-feet wide and 7,661 square feet in all. Jacobs says Auburn’s will be bigger.
Jacobs said the video board above the south end zone will measure roughly 200-feet wide and 55- to 57-feet tall, which would surpass Texas A&M's recently-installed board that measures 7,661 square feet. Exact dimensions for Auburn's video board were not included in documents provided to Auburn's trustees.
If approved, the new scoreboard would be ready in time for the 2015 season.
“That’s what our fans deserve and what our football team deserves,” Jacobs said.
Additionally, Jacobs said the athletic department is looking to upgrade Jordan-Hare Stadium as a whole and is “seeking approval to engage an architect and construction manager for the project.”
Per AL.com, documents provided to Auburn's trustees say the upgrades would include “options to enhance amenities, improve locker rooms and consider additional premium seating,” but would not include expansion or additional seating. Jordan-Hare Stadium currently seats 87,451.
Other improvements being explored include “widening the concourse and upgrading restrooms.”
“The timing is right," Jacobs said. "We're one of the few schools to play in front of a sold-out crowd in every game, home and away. Some schools, because of their demand, they've increased stadium sizes and sometimes that's not, in retrospect, the best thing to do. ... For us, we're great with the size of our stadium right now. We just need to continue to have the best game-day experience in the nation.”
Construction could reportedly begin as soon as December with completion set for the 2017 season. It could also be pushed back until December 2016 or December 2017.
The school’s trustees must give approval during their Friday meeting before work on the project can begin.
For more Auburn news, visit AuburnSports.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
