LSU fans have undoubtedly noticed some immense advertising to go along with Tiger Stadium’s high definition scoreboard this season.A large portion of Death Valley’s new 27-foot by 80-foot Daktronics HD video board is bordered by video advertisements for sponsors of LSU Athletics such as Coca-Cola, Capital One Bank and McDonald’s.The reason lies in the renovation of LSU’s existing north end zone scoreboard, which featured many of the same advertisements.”We can contemplate what’s going to happen in the future, but we had existing contracts providing for static advertising that we had to honor,” said Herb Vincent, senior associate athletic director. Vincent said the advertising provides indispensable revenue for LSU athletics and the Tiger Athletic Foundation, which spent $7.2 million to update video displays at the University’s various athletic facilities.”The video boards were paid for by TAF,” Vincent said. “Some of that ad revenue goes into their general fund, so, in a very roundabout way, the ads help pay for the renovation.”Vincent said the price tag for the Tiger Stadium scoreboard renovation only was $3.1 million.Students don’t seem bothered by the extra advertising, as sponsors litter the stadium’s expanse.”It’s pretty much the same ads, so I just kind of overlook them and look at whatever’s on the scoreboard,” said Angelica Gibbs, marketing sophomore. “It gives me extra details, which is good because sometimes I get confused on players. It might have been a little bit too much money, but then again they spend everything on LSU football here.”One criticism was the board’s TigerVision advertisement, which has been situated in the middle of the board during replays in the first two games of the season.”I went to the Vanderbilt game, and there was a nice-sized chunk blackened out,” said Ryan Morvant, civil engineering junior. “As much as we spent on that, we should get that thing fixed and working completely.”Morvant isn’t bothered by the advertisements flanking the screen, however.
“I could kind of see how that would be distracting, but I didn’t notice it too bad,” he said.Several students said the new board comes as a marked improvement to the old one, regardless of advertisements.
“We have to turn around to see it, so I wish they had another one on the other side so [students] could see it,” said Ivan Greenlee, civil engineering sophomore. “I didn’t think [the advertisements] were a big deal. It’s big enough.”Tiger fans who made the trip to Mississippi State also noted the Bulldogs’ 111-by-47-foot HD display at Davis Wade Stadium, which is mostly free of the advertisements that clutter the LSU board.”Mississippi State didn’t have an existing board there when they built that,” Vincent said. “They didn’t have to honor contracts with any existing sponsors.”Vincent also said Mississippi State had to resort to tactics of its own to help with the $6.1 million price tag.”They had to run 30-second commercials during timeouts and breaks in play, which is something we’ve never had to do,” Vincent said. Vincent said the Athletic Department will discuss changes with sponsors in the future, but he said the different contracts have varying lengths, leaving future advertisement possibilities uncertain.–Contact David Helman at [email protected]