Proposed Scoreboard A Bad Idea for Auburn

According to a story by al.com's Brandon Marcello, Auburn's Board of Trustees will vote Friday on whether or not to begin construction on what would be the largest video scoreboard in college football. Jay Jacobs, Auburn's athletic director, told Marcello that the scoreboard would measure approximately 200 feet wide and 55 feet tall. Most Auburn fans, especially ones that attend the home football games, are excited about the possibility, and reasonably so. I, however, think that it is a very bad idea for several reasons. Let me begin by saying that I attended all but one home game in 2013, and every home game in 2014, so I am fairly familiar with Jordan Hare Stadium and the gameday experience as a whole on the Plains. From my experiences and the experiences of several others that I have spoken with, there are far more pressing issues with the stadium that need to be addressed. (To Auburn's credit, they are in the process of planning upgrades to Jordan Hare, but none of the upgrades would be completed before the proposed scoreboard.) My seats the last two years have been in the North end zone. To access these seats, one must pass through a limited number of convenient gates to enter the stadium or go in a gate farther away and walk around the concourse. Once inside, the concourse is very narrow, probably about thirty feet wide. Thirty feet may seem like a lot, but when thousands of fans are trying to squeeze into the bowl of the stadium via walkways that are also very narrow, thirty feet of concourse space fills up very quickly. There is also a noticeable lack of major concession stands and restrooms on the North concourse, leading to very long lines for both before the game and at halftime. The concourse area needs expansion and additions, and both would be better ways to use the proposed 13.9 million dollars needed to construct the new scoreboard. Also, the sound system at Jordan Hare needs to be replaced. Auburn loves to play pump up music before big plays and during timeouts to get the crowd involved and the stadium loud, which is great. It is counterproductive, however, when the speakers are so bad that the crowd can barely make out the music as well as the public address announcer. If Auburn insists that a scoreboard is where the funds should go, they should focus on the North end rather than the South end, where the proposed video board would go. As mentioned before, I sit in the North end zone, so the current HD video board in the South end zone is perfect for me. However, above my seats, there is an outdated scoreboard that includes only the score, game clock (when it works, which is not all the time), down and distance, etc., but no video board. For fans sitting in the South end zone or on the South ends of the East and West upper decks, it is difficult or impossible to view the video scoreboard. Installing a video scoreboard on the North end of the stadium would please these fans and make the game more enjoyable for them. Lastly, there is no reason to build a massive scoreboard like the one proposed because in a couple of years, at most, someone will have one bigger and better. With college football programs around the country constantly looking to find ways to flex their financial muscles, there is no doubt that whoever has the biggest scoreboard will continue to be topped year after year. As proof of this, 2014 was the first season that Texas A&M was able to lay claim to scoreboard bragging rights, as their 7,340 square foot behemoth was finished in early June. Here we are, not quite eight months later, and another school is already making plans to take that claim by the 2015 season. Auburn cannot expect to hold onto the title any longer than A&M did. While it would be neat to lay claim to the biggest scoreboard in college football, that claim will not last long. The current scoreboard fits all of Auburn's needs, and the Board of Trustees should look to improve other areas of the stadium before spending nearly $14 million on an unnecessary piece of eye candy.