Blue and Gold Illustrated

UNDER THE DOME the Texas Longhorns at $139 million. With no "premier" bowl wins in the six tries since Lou Holtz guided his Irish to a Cotton Bowl conquest of Texas A&M in 1993, and with only two final top-10 rankings since that same season (2005 and 2012), it's easy to call Notre Dame irrele- vant over the last 25-plus years. Yet when it comes to big-time ticket demand, public interest and corpo- rate investment, no school in the country stands next to this little university in northwest Indiana. Video Board: Final Piece Added The $400 million Campus Crossroads project around Notre Dame Stadium that is slated to be com- pleted in August 2017 appeared to be missing one final element. That ended when it was revealed by the university that a 96-foot by 54-foot video board will be added on Notre Dame's south end zone (the side opposite the "Touchdown Jesus" mural on the Hesburgh Memorial Library). It will not be nearly as massive or gaudy as what Cowboys Stadium features, but slightly larger than what Oklahoma fea- tured when Notre Dame won there 30-13 in 2012. Meanwhile, on the north end of the sta- dium, the scoreboard will be removed for two reasons. One is to improve the view of the Word of Life mural and the second is to add ribbon video boards along the east and west sides to complement the main one on the south end. The university has vowed the boards will be used in a "tasteful" manner, just like at Purcell Pavilion for basketball and the Compton Family Ice Arena for hockey. This will include the lack of advertising or commercials. "We are confident the introduction of video will significantly improve enjoyment of every aspect of a game at Notre Dame Stadium — including the ability to support game-day introductions and presenta- tions with video elements, additional opportunities to promote the university, plus replays," Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick said. Other additional enhancements planned inside the stadium are: • The wooden benches by 2017 with have vinyl covering. The average space available per fan on the benches will expand from 16 inches wide to 18 inches, which will involve "reseating" the stadium. • About 3,000 premium seats for football games will be available in 2017. • Improvements to the Wi-Fi network within the stadium. • Enhancements to the existing sound system within the stadium bowl. • Renovation of restrooms and an increase in the number of women's restrooms. — Lou Somogyi Notre Dame Stadium's video board will not be nearly as massive or gaudy as what Cowboys Stadium features (see above), but it is still expected to enhance the game-day experience in South Bend. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

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