Jaguars Lure Fans with Massive Scoreboard Renovations

The lowly Jacksonville Jaguars will become the latest team to hold a ‘world’s largest display’ moniker when two 21,700-square-feet Daktronics boards, as well as other LED displays, cover EverBank Field next season.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars’ struggles to fill their stadium and keep games from being blacked-out on local TV have been well documented… as were their struggles to win games last year.

But with the “largest HD LED video displays in the world” and a high first-round NFL draft pick, the Jaguars have high hopes that the 2014 campaign will be different. Whether an influx of new talent will help produce a turnaround in the standings remains to be seen; what definitely will be seen and should help attract fans to EverBank Field are the jaw-dropping scoreboards behind both end zones.

Jacksonville will be the latest to showcase a “world’s largest” display when the two 21,700-square-feet Daktronics boards begin operation — each could actually stretch from goal post to goal post if oriented lengthwise.

“Daktronics has worked with the Jaguars for the last decade or more,” says Daktronics’ Justin Ochsner. “[This] project and mega-sized designs really took off after Shahid Khan purchased the team in January 2012.” 

Related: Titans Lose, But Win With Largest End Zone Video Screens

Forget about rushing yards and passing totals — the statistics on the Daktronics boards should really impress Jaguars fans. Each end-zone display will measure 60 feet high by 362 feet wide with a 13HD pixel layout, and accommodate three side-by-side HD images. A centerpiece section that’s 60-by-106 feet ensures room for showing replays, with an extra 44-foot-wide buffer space for other graphical content.

Separate video windows can deliver graphics, live stats, sponsor information, animations and more, according to Daktronics, which will be using its Show Control System to command all of the various content. The scoreboard improvements do not stop there, though, as four new displays (18-by-32, 15HD) will replace the existing ones in the stadium’s corners plus two new ones (6-by-24, 15HD) that will go above each tunnel at opposite ends.

Related: Daktronics Embraces Global Stage During Super Bowl

LED ribbon displays will also be lighting up the sidelines as well as the seating bowl below the south end zone fascia. In total, the Jaguars say the roughly 55,000 square feet of video boards represents a 660 percent increase over last season’s real estate and now the most in the NFL.

Jaguars PR coordinator Tad Dickman has been using Twitter to document the progression of the scoreboard work since construction began in early March. The team even posted a Live Cam for visitors to click and see real-time views of the installation.

One day in early April, Dickman tweeted that the sideline LED ribbon boards (3.6-by-579 feet) along the east and west sides of the stadium had been completed; and that construction manager Sid Perkins was there updating the local media, telling them that “in 40 years, I’ve never missed a deadline.”

Perkins is VP of field operations for Hunt Construction Group, which is leading the renovation efforts with Elkins Constructors and scoreboard construction designer Haskell Architects and Engineers.

“We owe our fans and this community nothing less than the best, and these enhancements will be the best,” says Jaguars president Mark Lamping. “These stadium upgrades will drastically change the in-stadium experience and create a truly unique environment that you cannot get at home.”

Click here to see CI‘s list of the top 6 football stadium installs.

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