Big House to re-open in fall with renovations

There's no place like home.

Especially when home comes complete with close to 5,000 new seats, enormous combination video and score boards shadowing over fans at each end of the field and 70 new restrooms.

When fans walk in to the renovated Michigan Stadium Sept. 12 for the first home game of Michigan football, construction that began in the winter of this year should be completed.

New combination video and scoreboards - part of a $7.9 million dollar system that includes the replacement of the four dot-matrix boards in Crisler Arena with video boards and a the construction of production facility in Crisler - loom over fans at both ends of the playing field. But fans won't see advertising adorning the shiny new screens.

STEVE GERTZ/Daily A construction worker stands above Michigan Stadium where new seats, 70 additional bathrooms and massive videoboards and scoreboards have been added during the past year.

"There will be no scoreboard advertising in Michigan Stadium," said Athletic Director Tom Goss. "Michigan is one of the two (college) stadiums we know of to have no commercialism in their stadiums. We think it is critical that we maintain a commercialism-free stadium."

To keep the stadium free from commercialism, University officials decided the televised broadcast of Michigan's seasons opening game against Notre Dame would be broadcast inside Crisler, rather than the stadium, as had been discussed during the summer.

The previous scoreboards, which stood in the stadium for more than 30 years, were removed in part because they would have disrupted the addition of the new seats in two areas.

The old scoreboards will be divided and sold to the general public over the Internet, said Associate Athletic Director Thomas Cecchini.

The pieces will be affixed to a photograph of last November's Michigan-Ohio State football game - the final game in which the scoreboards were used - displaying the 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. The 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."

Cecchini said the pieces will be available for sale on August 14, before time Michigan begins its season.

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

LSA sophomore 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."

Although the University is not the leader in video scoreboard implementation, Goss said it is leading the way in the combination of scoreboards and the Internet.

"Michigan was the first stadium to have electric scoreboards," Goss said. "We were not the first stadium to have video boards, but we will most likely be the first university to tie it into the Internet."

Alumni will be offered Internet subscriptions, which will allow them to view game replays, coach interviews and highlights from Michigan's athletic history. The site should generate revenue for the University, Cecchini said, adding that potential advertisements on the service also would generate funds for the University.

"The Internet provides the content we can take to our alumni for a fee," Cecchini said. "As you put that on the Internet, there are other ways to make revenue with advertisements."

Eventually, video segments of all 23 Michigan varsity athletic teams will be able to be placed on the Internet, and a cable station for the system's use could be down the road, Goss said.

Students and Michigan football fans had varying opinions on the idea of replacing the boards, debating between tradition and enriching the Michigan football experience.

"It might be cool, but it will lessen the tradition of the stadium," said '98 alum Mike Khomutin, who paints himself and sports a wig for football games. "It's an old-time stadium and if you put in a scoreboard with TVs, it will hamper the tradition."

Khomutin said the old scoreboards should be relocated behind the new seating, rather than being replaced entirely.

The scoreboards are symbols of past football seasons, said '98 alum Jeff Holzhausen, adding that they may also be good luck charms.

"There's too much tradition in those old score boards - I still see the great upsets against Ohio State," said Holzhausen, formerly known as Superfan, would don a cape at Michigan football games.

"I think there is a certain mystique about the Michigan Stadium that shouldn't be messed with," Holzhausen said. "You would think the scoreboards would be thought of as good luck after this (past) year."

A playback feature could improve the attendees' experiences, said LSA junior Jason Granet.

"I think that Michigan football fans, after this season, are very into watching the football game," said Granet. "They're very good fans."

The size of the scoreboards haven't drawn much concern from members of the University community or Ann Arbor residents, Cecchini said.

"I've not had any response," Cecchini said. "It's a very exciting time and everything has really started to take shape."

In order to select the style and size of the new displays, University officials studied scoreboards and stadiums at other major universities.

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