The chance of rain in Tiger Stadium? Never. The chance of light? Always.
Over 100,000 seats sit unoccupied under the glow of Tiger Stadium’s LED-lit scoreboards every night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. As the cathedral of college football shines bright in the night, many University students wonder why the scoreboards are on if no one is there to see it.
Plant and soil systems freshman Noah Willsea is among those wondering why the scoreboard is constantly lit.
“The lights look nice and all, but it seems like a waste of energy for them to be burning all night with no one to see them,” Willsea said.
LSU Senior Associate Director of Athletics Robert Munson understands the urge to shut off the scoreboard at night.
“It’s not a TV,” Munson said. “Common sense says to turn them off, but you could potentially damage the system entirely.”
LSU Athletics Director of Internal Projects and Facility Operations Amanda Adams cited moisture as the main threat to the lighting system. If the scoreboard is turned off for an extended period, it could be severely damaged.
“Moisture will not build up on a heated surface, therefore, we have minimal issues with the boards if we just leave them on,” Adams said. “If we turn them off and allow moisture to build up, one simple problem could turn into half of the board being down. The other positive side to having the boards lit throughout the night is it provides lighting for security purposes.”
The scoreboard lights have not discouraged students from trying to break into Tiger Stadium. On Jan. 19, three students were arrested for breaking into Tiger Stadium and stealing merchandise. In 2017, there were eight eight reported break-ins at Tiger Stadium.
Tiger Stadium is not alone. The scoreboards at Alex Box Stadium also remain lit well into the night. The scoreboards’ LED lighting system keeps the athletic department’s electricity cost to a minimum by limiting the amount of electricity being used.
Many of the campus sports teams use the scoreboard for recruiting purposes. Teams request the boards to be on and showing a logo or image to impress recruits.
“Recruiting is nearly a year-round occasion for us,” Adams said.
On holidays, the scoreboard displays a correlating scheme of colors. The system allows for hundreds of color schemes.
In a 2012 ESPN article covering the new lights in Tiger Stadium, LSU Deputy Director of Athletics Eddie Nunez discussed the importance of lighting up Tiger Stadium.
“We wanted to bring it back to life and restore its luster—and then also try to find a way to make it exciting for our fans, give it some fresh life,” Nunez said in the article.
Luster and recruiting aside, Tiger Stadium’s scoreboard will continue to shine into the near future.
LSU Tiger Stadium shines bright on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, on LSU campus.
