• Giant scoreboards featuring high-definition technology have become immensely popular with football fans.
• The Dallas Cowboys’ new billion-dollar stadium will feature a giant HD scoreboard hung over the middle of the field.
• HD scoreboards serve a variety of functions, but encouraging crowd noise is job one.

The Big HD in Big D

When the Dallas Cowboys break in their new $1.1 billion stadium this season, the centerpiece will be a 600-ton HD scoreboard hanging from the arched girders of the retractable roof. The Mitsubishi scoreboard will be 160 feet wide and 72 feet high, running from one 20-yard line to the other. The display will have more than 10 million LEDs and a pixel pitch of 20 millimeters.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told Sports Illustrated that he got the idea for the scoreboard when he went to a Celine Dion concert in Las Vegas and saw a 40-foot-tall image of the singer beamed on a monitor as she performed. Being able to see every detail of the singer’s expression made for a fantastic show, he said.

Other HD Football Scoreboards

HD scoreboards have become something of a bragging right among football fans across the nation. Fans that have one at their stadium feel as if they are getting more for their money, as crystal-clear replays give a larger-than-life feeling to the action. The University of Texas has gone so far as to give its HD scoreboard a nickname: Godzillatron. This scoreboard, the largest in college football, measures 134 feet wide and 55 feet tall. Despite that particular scoreboard was built by our competitors, Electro-Mech also produces large state-of-art football scoreboards for its customers

Role of HD Scoreboards in Football Games

The primary purpose of these high-tech scorbeoards is to provide excitement to the fans, creating more noise in support of the home team. Music works hand-in-hand with the video to accomplish this. The scoreboards partly pay for themselves by including advertisements, although the more intrusive ones have made the scoreboards unpopular with some fans. Other fans appreciate the opportunity to get a closer look at the cheerleaders. Some boards broadcast fan messages, such as marriage proposals — not necessarily to cheerleaders, of course.

Top running back LaDainian Tomlinson looks up at the scoreboard on plays when he breaks into the open field, using the board as a rearview mirror to see if any defenders are hot on his heels. His former teammate Drew Brees joked to Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum that the slight delay between the video and real-time action has sometimes led Tomlinson to misgauge his distance from his pursuer and almost get tackled unnecessarily. Other players enjoy the scoreboards’ cartoon races and other animations right along with the fans, even if they are supposed to be listening to their coaches.

HD scorebaords are also used at numerous baseball and soccer stadiums. Other especially large HD displays can be found at Times Square in New York City and at the Colosseum in Las Vegas.