Baseball Field Gets JumboTron

The baseball team's 10-year-old scoreboard, which recently became unreliable, was replaced with a new JumboTron, a scoreboard that includes a large video screen.

This new board will have video capability that will allow fans to have a new experience when they attend games, said Mike Fox, UNC baseball coach.

Fox said he hopes the new video capability will allow the team to show images of the University, replays and live coverage of the game action.

He was echoed by Jeff Elliott, senior associate director of athletics.

"It will be something enjoyable for the fans to have, and there is a lot of potential down the road to do things with the video," Elliott said.

Baseball player Mike Gross said the JumboTron will add to the atmosphere of the stadium, possibly bringing more people to the games.

"It's just one more reason to come out to the ballpark," Gross said.

Other than the new video options, the board will serve the same basic functions that all scoreboards serve -- keeping track of the score and the innings in the game.

The UNC Department of Athletics purchased the board from Daktronics, the supplier of all UNC's scoreboards.

Funding for the board was generated by the UNC Athletics Association and the advertisements that will be shown on the board during the games.

Baseball coaches have been working on buying the board for more than a year and a half, Fox said.

"The fact is, it's been a lot of hard work," Fox said.

The decision to buy the board was made when coaches realized how much money the team was spending retrofitting and repairing the old board.

"It seems the old board was reworked before I came, and it had just outlived it's usefulness," Fox said.

Fox said the new board is constructed but is not yet wired.

"The electronics are currently sitting in boxes in the press box," he said.

Fox said he expects the board to be functional within the next two or three weeks.

It will be ready for the spring baseball season.

Even after it is set up, the operators of the new scoreboard will have to take special training courses on how to use the board's different video functions, Fox said.

The JumboTron will be one of only a few on college baseball fields across the country -- a fact that excited some UNC students.

Sophomore Jonathan Langston said, "It's the kind of thing you don't see in college baseball."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.