Georgia to bring 'nation's biggest video board' to Athens in 2025
GREENSBORO, Ga. — There were times last season Stegeman Coliseum was rocking, and both Georgia athletics director Josh Brooks and head coach Mike White hope that’s happening more often as the years go along.
First made mention of in September, Georgia announced plans to bring college basketball’s biggest video board to The Steg ahead of the 2025-26 season. Expected to be between 6,000 and 7,000 square feet, the video board would be positioned on the east wall of Stegeman Coliseum (behind left basket as shown on TV) and would surpass San Jose State’s LED display by nearly 2.5-times the size.
“It’s really just a look at the national landscape of different opportunities, and really there’s so many different ways people are doing this now, but it just felt so natural with that great wall space we had to put that to use,” Brooks said on where Georgia went for ideas on the videoboard. “Really, it just kind of came together that way. Just really felt like it was just a natural fit for a use of that space.”
“It wasn’t just about making it the biggest. That organically happened. It was really about using and utilizing that space,” he added. “We would like to have started earlier but the video board is going to require some HVAC components, some cooling. So we had to take a little bit more time to plan it. So the construction of that will begin next year, next spring.”
Funding request for the video board is still in the works according to Brooks, however, a rendering was shown on Thursday. Brooks knows that many would prefer a brand new arena, however, to him, this is the best option for all involved parties – keeping costs down and Georgia Basketball on campus.
“First of all, I love Stegeman. I think it’s got a lot of good parts to it. The cost of building a new arena in today’s dollars would be astronomical. It wouldn’t be a good use of funding,” Brooks said. “For a lot less, a fraction, we can keep doing what we’ve been doing with renovation. The amount we’ve put into it is nowhere near what it could take to build a new arena of that size.”
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“Look, I’ve talked to peers and coaches and ADs who come into Stegeman and go, ‘This place looks amazing.’ I think this next evolution with the video board and the lights and the sound is going to make it one of the premier facilities in the country,” he continued. “I think it’s a smart use of funds. I love the location. I’m really excited about the future of Stegeman.”
Georgia made changes at The Steg ahead of the 2023-24 season to revamp the look of the coliseum. Painting the ceiling black along with changes to the seating arrangement of students helped bring a new feel to The Steg. There was also a flipping of where the teams’ benches are located to have opponents shooting into the student section for the second half of games.
It’s all part of Brooks’ plan to better the atmosphere and make Athens a harder place to play, and so far, it’s working. Georgia finished 13-6 at home and gave several of the nation’s top teams fits when they came to the Classic City. On the whole, the Bulldogs won 20 games for the first time in eight seasons and finished things off with an exciting run to the NIT semifinals.
Mike White returns three key players from the 2023-24 team: a trio of freshmen that by season’s end were starting. UGA has also added top-10 ranked classes both from the high school ranks (No. 9) and the transfer portal (No. 6), the only program in the country that can claim such success on the recruiting trail.
Georgia will begin summer practices for the 2024-25 squad in early June.
