Should Auburn’s Video Board be Legal?
By Ryan York
Auburn recently unveiled the biggest video board in college football. The official measurements are 190 feet wide and 57 feet tall. For some perspective on how big that is, put two basketball courts end to end and the board is still bigger than that. The Aubietron is wider than the Leaning Tower of Pisa is tall. It is so large that pregame, they are able to show live games on one side of the board while putting advertisements on the other side. Seeing it in person is a sight to behold, but the question remains should the video board be legal or not?
On third and fourth downs on the Plains, the video board reads, “Get Loud,” while strobing orange and blue. There is another graphic they put up in crucial situations again saying, “Get Loud,” but this time there is a orange and blue moving pinwheel behind it. Now I sat in section 113, row 30, which was on the opposite side of the Aubietron and almost all the way to the top of the stadium. When the graphics were played, I found myself looking away from the board, because it was so bright and very distracting. I can’t imagine how tough it was for the players on the field. Westin Graves lined up for a 44 yard field goal in the third quarter, and of course the graphic was played. I was unable to follow the ball because the graphic was so bright. Auburn lined up for a field goal in the fourth quarter going same direction, and the video board was black.
Now I am all for a home field advantage, but when the home field advantage affects the vision of the players on the field, it has gone to far. You will never hear me complain about noise level, because that is something that does not directly affect the play on the field. However, with video boards getting bigger and bigger, the NCAA will have to find a way to regulate what can and can’t be shown. I am not the first to have complaints about the new video board.
There was even an article on rolltidewareagle.com about the advantages for Auburn that you can find here. This article goes on to detail how Auburn had to practice with the video board to prepare for the distractions. They specifically point out how pass plays and field goals will be affected by the board. It is time for the NCAA to take a stand on what can be played on the ever growing video boards.