Michigan reveals next priority for football facility upgrades
The Michigan Wolverines football program has gotten some notable facility upgrades in recent seasons, headlined by the new video boards and sound system at the Big House for 2023.
The improvements are not over yet, either. According to Brian Kegler, Executive Associate Director of Development at the University of Michigan, more work is on the way after the 2023 season. The headlining project is a new locker room for the football team, as well as renovations to the men’s and women’s basketball facilities at Crisler Center.
“Moving forward, in terms of facility work, we will be doing a renovation of the football locker room”, Kegler said on the most recent edition of the Conqu’ring Heroes podcast with Jon Jansen. “Probably after the season we’ll get moving on that – that’s a $14 million project.
“In addition, the Men’s and Women’s and basketball locker rooms, and renovation will start after the season for those respective sports. And each one has not had any real attention to it in at least a decade. As you know, that’s something that you continue to have to pay attention to, and refurbish, and keep it up to the caliber you would expect to see at Michigan.”
In terms of renovations in their home stretch, Michigan Stadium will feature a new LED lighting system for the 2023-24 season as renovations head into the home stretch at the Big House. A state-of-the-art system has been installed that has been custom-designed to improve the on-field lighting, reduce the energy footprint and enhance the production around football games.
The LED light upgrade replaces the previous set of lights at Michigan Stadium, which where installed in 2010 to go with the new east and west towers at the venue. Before then, U-M used temporary lights when needed for games.
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The new system was designed by Musco Lightning and will feature its Show-Light Pro Venue special effects technology. The new lights will allow for customized light shows at the Big House with color-changing abilities and light-to-music synchronization.
The new light system goes hand in hand with the new video boards at Michigan Stadium, as well as sound system upgrades in the north scoreboard.
The structures that support the boards in both end zones measure 179 feet by 62 feet, an 85% increase in size from the previous boards (109 feet by 50 feet). The videoboards themselves measure in at 152 feet by 55 feet, an 118% increase from what was there before (85 feet by 45 feet). The boards contain 135 video cabinets that weigh between 400 and 800 pounds.
The size of each board is the third largest in college football behind Auburn and Purdue, respectively, though both of those stadiums have only one board. Michigan has two structures on both the north and south endzones. The video boards are manufactured by Mitsubishi, known best for their work at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The boards are capable of 4K and 8K resolution but depends on the broadcast source.
