Clemson’s new videoboard gives Death Valley more ACC bragging rights
On the field, Clemson is already a powerhouse program in the ACC.
Now it can continue that trend when it comes to facilities. By the start of the 2022 season, Memorial Stadium will be home to one of the largest videoboards in the country.
The revisions will only help add to the stadium that, in 2017, was rated No. 1 in experience for college football and No. 10 for all sports by StadiumJourney.com.
After getting approval from Clemson’s board of trustees on Thursday, the new videoboard will be 7,166 square feet (126 feet wide by 57 feet tall) — more than four times the size of the current 11-year-old board that is 1,625 square feet (65 feet wide by 25 feet tall). It includes a new sound system, LED stadium lighting and will be raised 20 feet off the ground to improve visibility inside the stadium.
“One of the things we never want to take for granted is our fans have options,” Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said. “We want to make sure that when they come to the stadium, they feel like they’re getting the best value for their money, not only with the product out on the field but with the way that the whole game day atmosphere is pulled together. That’s one of the reasons why the scoreboard was so big from the standpoint of getting that done, having that increased amenity there as well as for those who are interested in that club experience, getting a new amount of inventory for our club patrons.”
The project, which was approved by the board of trustees’ finance and facilities committee last week, has been almost four years in the making. Clemson began looking into making changes to Death Valley in October 2017 and made original approvals for the project in 2019. The still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however, caused delays to bringing those upgrades to fruition.
“The scoreboard was a big thing and very important for us to look at as a next thing inside Memorial Stadium,” Radakovich said in 2019. “When you do a videoboard, you’ve get a new sound system and new lighting for inside the stadium, which was also important.”
The construction of the videoboard, added premium seating in the club spaces of the WestZone and improving ADA accessibility are set to be completed by the beginning of the 2022 season. Parking lot enhancements and renovations to the football locker room have a completion target date of August 2023.
Total cost for the changes will be around $65 million.
“The other two parts of the project, the redo of the locker room, the entire bottom floor area, certainly could wait an additional year as well as the parking lot,” Radakovich said. “But, we wanted to get those other two pieces out there, the concourse club and the videoboard, because we think those will be great enhancements to the stadium.”
While the size of Clemson’s current videoboard is ranked 84th in the nation, the new board will jump the Tigers into the country’s top 10 at the No. 8 spot and second in the ACC behind Florida State (9,368 square feet). The Seminoles renovated their board in 2016.
Oregon’s Autzen Stadium is currently home to the biggest videoboard in Division I college football, with the 12,276-square foot spectacle making its debut in the Ducks’ 2020 season opener.
The videoboard will be the first major upgrade to Clemson’s stadium since the WestZone club was added in 2006.
“After the delay last year because of COVID, it was still always right at the front of our agenda to be able to build the new WestZone concourse club because we do have a great demand for premium seats inside of Memorial Stadium as well as the other fan amenities, including that videoboard that’ll be new in the east side of the stadium,” Radakovich said.
Top 10 college football videoboards
Boards are ranked by size, in square feet
1. Oregon (12,276)
2. Auburn (10,830)
3. Purdue (8,529.5)
4. Oklahoma (7,849)
5. Texas A&M (7,661)
6. Texas (7,505.1)
7. Florida State (7,200)
8. Clemson (7,166) -- in 2022
9. Miami (6,715)
10. Arkansas (6,286)
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 10:36 AM.
