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Two new features will be on display during New Mexico football and basketball games this fall in an attempt by the Athletics Department to enhance fan experience.
University Stadium will have a new high-definition video scoreboard located at the north end of the facility, while fresh hardwood will be installed in The Pit as a continuation of the renovation begun in 2010.
Funding for both projects came from capital outlay money approved by the New Mexico state Legislature during its regular spring session this year, Deputy Athletic Director Tim Cass said. The football scoreboard cost approximately $1.3 million while The Pit’s floor cost roughly $135,000, he said.
Cass estimated the previous football video display is about 13 years old. Last season some areas of the old screen did not function completely and had one or two small colored squares over the picture.
Cass said the department took measures to improve the current audio at University Stadium, though UNM will not completely replace the sound system.
“I think it’s really going to enhance the fan experience,” he said. “The scoreboard and the sound were antiquated. They needed attention.”
Made by Daktronics, the new UNM display measures 32 feet high and 80 feet wide with a 15HD pixel layout, according to an Athletics Department release. Daktronics also manufactured the video displays currently used at The Pit, Cass said.
The display will be up and running in time for UNM’s season opener against Texas-San Antonio on Aug. 31, Cass said. It arrives one year after UNM installed artificial playing turf at University Stadium.
“It’s part of a greater plan, clearly. Football, there’s a great opportunity for us to build the on-field product, to build the fan experience and to increase revenue,” Cass said. “That’s at the end of the day, and so the fan experience is critical to return customers.”
Bob Davie, entering his second year as football head coach, said the program is riding a wave of momentum and the new video scoreboard epitomizes the progress shown so far. What the Lobos must do now, he told the women attending the 20th annual Lobo Football Women’s Clinic on July 18, is put points on that scoreboard.
He repeated those sentiments during the team’s media day event on July 30.
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“I look out at this stadium, I don’t take for granted what that new turf did for this program, and I don’t take for granted what that new scoreboard is going to do for our fans and for the overall look of our football program,” Davie said. “There’s been a lot of good things put into this program, and we have no excuses moving forward.”
Cass said the new basketball playing surface could not be done at the same time as the rest of The Pit. It was not possible to install, polish and apply a seal coat to the hardwood properly with the risk of sawdust or other particles falling onto the floor, he said.
“It had nothing to do with the cost of it at all,” Cass said. “It had to do with the sequencing of renovating that building and being able to play on the floor.”
First-year men’s basketball coach Craig Neal said on July 31 that he doesn’t expect an adjustment period to be necessary for the new surface. Though it may be somewhat slick initially, the “goals are still 10 feet and wood’s still wood,” he said.
After the basketball teams got a flashy building to play in following The Pit’s renovations, Neal said it was time for fresh surface to play on.
“It’s going to be awesome for the women’s program and for our program,” he said. “I’m kind of excited to unveil it and it’s going to be pretty cool.”
With the funds for the football stadium’s display and the basketball arena’s floor coming from Legislature-approved capital outlay proposals, Cass said he hopes UNM will demonstrate its efforts to be good stewards of the investment.
“We did the best we could,” he said. “Now we feel like we have a chance to really enhance that experience with this improvement.”
