Saturday was a momentous day for the North Carolina State football program.
Not only was the school welcoming Notre Dame to campus for the second-time ever (and the first since 2016), but the home opener was the debut of the Wolfpack’s new, massive videoboard at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The new screen is 7,121 square feet and features 6.6 million pixels and 75 audio speakers making it the 11th largest in college football. The price tag? A cool $15 million.
And it lasted all of one quarter before the skies opened up and proved the technology was no match for mother nature. Seriously, a huge thunderstorm passing through sent NC State searching the fine print of the scoreboard’s warranty terms.
According to NC State Athletics, the new video board was not hit by lightning. It is currently having trouble because panels shorted due to weather. There’s no smoke or (visible) damage to it indicative of a strike. Crews can’t fix now for safety reasons until the delay is over. https://t.co/mWFNGNSn1c
— Chris Lea – WRAL-TV (@ChrisLeaTV) September 9, 2023
Current status of NC State’s scoreboard. pic.twitter.com/iza5mSCSxH
— Ethan McDowell (@ethanmmcdowell) September 9, 2023
NC State’s new scoreboard is mostly back up, repair folks can take a stab at more work on the panels now that weather has improved. Fans filing back into stands. pic.twitter.com/U245tGmtV5
— Aaron Beard (@aaronbeardap) September 9, 2023
That’s just awful, horrible luck. And maybe a lesson in design and engineering. Here’s hoping they can get it fixed — or at least exchange it for a new one.