According to material documents provided online for Auburn’s Board of Trustees meeting on June 7, the estimated cost of upgrading the videoboard in the north endzone of Jordan-Hare Stadium is $25.7 million.
Documents suggest that the financing will come from athletic department donations, but no other information is provided about the donors.
The forthcoming BOT session will see board members vote on final clearance for the project, which was launched during the Feb. 2, 2024 BOT meeting. The initial approval was unanimous.
Construction on the videoboard will not commence until trustees provide final approval.
The vote, which is likely to pass, would be the most significant step forward in Auburn’s long-running effort to upgrade the aging scoreboard now in the north endzone. The BOT gave similar initial clearance in 2017 for a new videoboard, but the project was never completed.
The briefing materials included new graphics for the next project, in addition to Auburn’s earlier designs from February.
At the February 2 BOT meeting, Dan King, vice president of Auburn’s Property and Facilities Committee, stated that the present scoreboard, erected in 1987, is “truly problematic.” Since his arrival at Auburn in late 2022, Athletic Director John Cohen has emphasized the importance of modernizing the north endzone.
The new videoboard, if permitted, will be 47 feet tall and 154 feet wide. According to BOT documentation, this is approximately two-thirds the size of the current south endzone videoboard.
Since the original certification in February, Auburn has collaborated with LYBD Engineers of Birmingham, a previously approved contractor, to complete the videoboard design.
The documents for the June 7 meeting specifically highlight improving the gameday experience for Auburn students. Auburn’s student section is in the south endzone, hence Auburn’s lone modern videoboard is behind the students. The new project would provide them with a videoboard that they could view without turning around.
