A piece of stadium history

Scoreboards prepared for ceremonial dismantling

The scoreboards that have loomed over the spectators at Michigan Stadium for more than 30 years will soon become tiny pieces hanging over University community members living room couches.

Last month, the University Board of Regents approved a $7.9 million project to replace both the stadium scoreboards and all four dot-matrix scoreboards in Crisler Arena with combination video score boards. The project also includes the construction of a production facility in Crisler.

Tom Cecchini, associate athletic director, said the old scoreboards will be divided into smaller pieces, affixed to a photograph of last November's Michigan-Ohio State football game - the final game in which the scoreboards were used - displaying th

NATHAN RUFFER/ Daily Richmond Steel ironworker John Leroy dismantles one of Michigan Stadium's scoreboards. The scoreboards will be taken apart and sold as momentoes.

e final score of that game and sold to the public.

"We're going to take the scoreboard and do just as we did to the old turf," Cecchini said.

Cecchini said members of the University community will be given a chance to purchase the scoreboard sections, although both price and size of the pieces are currently under deliberation. Farmington Hills-based CTC Production Sports, the company that divided the Michigan Astroturf in 1991 for its sale, has been contracted to divide the scoreboard.

"We'll put it on the Internet, and sell (the pieces) through our Website," Cecchini said. "They'll be small - something someone would want to see hanging on the wall."

Revenue from the scoreboard memorabilia will be put into a scholarship fund for student athletes, Cecchini said.

LSA first-year student Nathan Fredericks said he would buy a piece of the scoreboard, but thinks alumni and faculty would be more likely to purchase the memorabilia.

"It's a nice souvenir - a picture of the of the game on a piece of the scoreboard," Fredericks said. "It's like having a piece of the stadium."

Of the four dot-matrix boards to be removed from Crisler, Cecchini said two boards could possibly become message displays, similar to those outside of Yost Ice Arena and the remaining two boards probably will be installed in the Varsity Tennis Center.

Cecchini said Athletic Department officials are still researching the type of videoscreen they will purchase, but that a decision should be reached sometime next week.

"We have been evaluating videoboards since early December and that process has not been completed," Cecchini said. He added that contractors have been hired to build the scoreboard structure and production facility.

Cecchini said the different technologies involved with the videoboards have contributed to the lengthy search.

"There's a big move in technology related to videoboards," Cecchini said. "We're kind of on the cusp of where its changing."

Cecchini said some of the systems' differences include picture quality, power usage and durability.

"Image quality is what we're looking for," Cecchini said.

The company contracted to create the scoreboard, Daktronics Inc., based in Brookings, S. D., has created several information boards on campus, including those outside of Yost and Crisler.

Jack Janveja, facilities planning and design director, said the project is on track with its $6 million budget. "Everything is on schedule," Janveja said.

But Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison said graduates at Spring Commencement may graduate in a half-finished stadium.

"Every expectation is that it will be finished," Harrison said.

The construction is divided into two phases. The first phase includes the halo that will add an additional 5,000 seats to the stadium, and the second phase that involves relocating the rest rooms and food vendors.

"The infrastructure of the stadium will be finished," Harrison said, adding that food vendors may remain in temporary buildings similar to those they occupied in previous seasons. Eventually, all of the vendors will be in permanent structures in order to clear the walkway outside the stadium.

04-17-98