[June 17, 2011] New video board for Williams-Brice Stadium gets thumbs-up Tweet Jun 17, 2011 (The State - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- South Carolina took a step Friday to replace the SEC's third-smallest football stadium video board with the third largest. The USC board of trustees' Intercollegiate Athletics Committee gave preliminary approval for a $6.5 million video board to go in the north end zone of Williams-Brice Stadium for the 2013 season. The proposed 36-foot-by-124-foot board will be similar in size to the one at Tennessee, school officials said. The current board is 20 feet by 29 feet and can be difficult to see on sunny days. USC has raised $5.25 million from a dozen donors, deputy athletics director Marcy Girton said. The school expects to be able to raise the money for the remaining cost of the video board. Some donors said they would take back their contributions if their money was not spent on a video board, Girton said. Longtime board member Eddie Floyd wondered if USC instead should focus efforts on building a $14.3 million, football-only, indoor practice facility. The team shares an indoor facility with the track and tennis teams in the Roost area of campus. Football coaches have told him the facility would help attract recruits, Floyd said. "We asked them what the video board would do for recruiting. They said, 'Nothing.' " Playing in a charity golf tournament Friday, coach Steve Spurrier said USC has "a nice, little indoor place" that it uses four or five times a year. "I am not hung up on them, but I do realize that is the thing of the future and we'll need one in a couple years," Spurrier said. "Basically, you get one because everyone else has got one. "From what I understand, our fans really want that." The board will address the indoor practice facility, which would be located on the former State Farmer's Market site across from the stadium, at its meeting in September, committee chairman William Hubbard said. The facility could be paid for with donations, athletics department funds and loans, he said. "This is not an either-or position (between the video board and practice facility)." A few board members said the video board generated more calls and emails than any other issue in recent memory. The video-board approval comes as USC enters its third year requiring football season-ticket holders to pay annual fees of $50-$395 per seat. That's on top of the $320 price for season tickets. "I think we would have a revolt if we didn't do this," board member Chuck Allen said. The video board would be secured on pilings that would be buried 60-100 feet into the ground for protection from high winds, said Kevin O'Connell, USC's executive associate athletics director. The $2 million control room needed to operate the video board could be used to produce videos for the Web and TV, O'Connell said. The board has a life span of about 10 years and could be adapted for 3D viewing, officials said. The board would be visible to most fans, except maybe some seated in the top rows of the north end-zone stands, O'Connell said. Students sit in that section. A final decision to move ahead with the board could come as early as June 30. To see more of The State, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thestate.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The State, Columbia, S.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]