Fans will be able to score piece of the Breslin Center scoreboard
EAST LANSING – You may soon be able to own an unlikely piece of Michigan State University’s history: part of the Breslin Center’s scoreboard that has served countless fans for more than 10 years.
The scoreboard was lowered from the rafters for a final time on Wednesday, MSU Associate Athletic Director/Communications Matt Larson confirmed.
The multimedia system that has helped pump up fans for nearly 12 years will be replaced with a new modern system that Larson says will help bring the energy to any event taking place at the stadium.
“Your new video boards are going to have more advanced technology, higher resolution, more vibrant color, to a new audio system with the ability to drive excitement while also delivering clarity to all parts of the arena,” he said. “This is all really planned to take that fan experience and raise it to an even greater level.”
Larson said the lifespan for large LED video boards like the one being replaced are generally 8 to 10 years and that the new system will continue to leave opposing teams shaking in their boots.
Larson estimated that the project would be complete in early fall of this year and said a more specific timeline would be available later in the summer.
What the school calls the ribbon board - the long video screen between the lower and upper levels of the Breslin Center, is also being replaced.
Fans of the MSU Surplus Store — a store and recycling center on campus that often handles discarded and retired university supplies — quickly inquired if the board would join the establishment’s ever-shifting inventory.
Chris Hewitt, operations coordinator for the store, confirmed that the Surplus Store would be selling parts of the scoreboard in the future but didn’t have many specifics yet.
“Yes, it is coming to the store…but just not in one piece. We will be sure to provide updates when available,” Hewitt said from the store’s Twitter account.
Hewitt said the timeline and way in which the parts could be sold are unclear at the moment. The scoreboard still needs to be fully removed from the cables suspending it and broken up into pieces that will hopefully be desirable by the public.
“When these things come down, they’re not made to be taken down in very sellable pieces,” he said. “We’re waiting to see what we get.”
Larson said the demolition of the center scoreboard would take place over the next week, the ribbon board in the two following weeks and the audio system in the week after that.
The scoreboard will join a host of other oddities found at the Surplus Store, including pieces of the basketball court from MSU’s 2000 NCAA basketball championship.
The scoreboard was installed in the Breslin Center in 2011 for about $2 million, according to a story at the time from WKAR.