The sun is shining, the band is playing, and the buzz in Jordan-Hare Stadium is palpable. On Sept. 12, the Auburn faithful packed the stadium to the brim, not only to see their Tigers play Jacksonville State, but to witness the grand unveiling of the largest scoreboard in college football.
As the first image of Auburn’s campus at sunset shot across the 190-foot-by-87-foot screen, a crystal-clear sound system boomed throughout the stadium and across the Plains, racing to the ears of people miles away.
One of the biggest pieces of technology in the world was officially operational—in a small town in east Alabama.
And none of it would be possible without Jay Jacobs.
“It couldn’t have gone better,” Jacobs said. “I have five goals here at the department, and one of those five is the best game day experience in the nation…It was really cool. I just appreciate so much from the team, the way they worked so hard up to and during (the unveiling). I think it made a lot of Auburn people—the Auburn Family—proud.”
Jacobs made the call in the spring of this year, and over the course of a few months, it was in place and ready to go.
With such a massive accomplishment --no pun intended-- under his belt, Jacobs could’ve been content to sit back in his office, kick his feet up, and call it a day. But that’s not how he operates.
Jacobs already has his sights set on the next phase of upgrades for Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The norm these days seems to be a by-the-numbers seat expansion for football stadiums. Universities like to have more people in seats, because more people in seats equals more people buying tickets.
Jacobs, though, prefers to think outside the box.
“The north end zone is the next thing I have my eyes on and that is because we need to continue to find ways to increase that game day experience, and to keep achieving that goal and exceeding that goal of being the best in the nation for a game day experience,” Jacobs said. “One thing that could happen is after the 2016 season, is that we tear down the north end zone and rebuild it, so that we have some different seating options there for people.”
Premium seating options—such as a field-level lounge where people could watch the game from the end zone while enjoying concessions, or a club-level seat where specialized areas for Auburn fans to mingle and socialize—are the type of upgrades Jacobs is shooting for.
“What we’re going to do is make it where students want to continue to come to games,” Jacobs said. “We have to make it to where when you graduate from here, you want to come back and hang out and be social. We want to start creating those new traditions for our early graduates.”
The colossal video board is just one of the many ways Jacobs plans to construct an atmosphere at Auburn that prides itself on being the best. Time and time again, Jacobs reiterated that he’s not looking for easy ways to increase numbers; he’s aiming to set the standard for what it means to have a game day experience.
“We’re not looking to add a lot of seats to the north end zone, if any,” Jacobs said. “We just want it to be the best it can possibly be.”
Back in February, when Jacobs gave the green light on proposing the video board project, he knew it would be an enormous undertaking, but he prides himself on being one thing, something his grand vision for Auburn’s upgrades reinforces: the best.
“It’s what makes Auburn, Auburn,” Jacobs said. “It’s just Auburn being Auburn, and nobody’s more Auburn than me, and that’s why we’ll be the best.”
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