Jake Crouthamel – great practitioner of Murphy’s Law and Syracuse’s athletics director – can’t wait to see the Carrier Dome’s video-boards debut.

Sort of.

‘I’m excited,’ Crouthamel said, ‘to see that we don’t screw it up.’

Now that Syracuse has installed two full-color, 15-foot-tall and 25-foot-wide video-replay boards – which will be unveiled Saturday when the SU football team plays Louisville at 1:30 p.m. in the Dome – there’s plenty for Crouthamel to worry about, from selling advertisements to the tape working correctly.

‘Who knows?’ he asked. ‘Something could happen. We spent a lot of time developing this stuff.’

Since 1994, to be exact. At that time, Daktronics Inc. – the South Dakota-based company that supplies SU with all its scoreboards – finally received the technology to use color on large-scale scoreboards from a Japanese technology company.

The new technology excited universities and professional sports teams across the nation, including SU. But Syracuse couldn’t afford the $2 million price tag, said Pat Campbell, the Dome’s managing director.

So SU waited until 1999, when the university identified a funding source. By biding its time, Syracuse spent $1.3 million for its two replay boards.

‘We knew the cost would go down,’ Campbell said. ‘Anything new in electronics starts out astronomical right away because everybody wants it. If we put video in five years ago, it probably would have cost us another $700,000.’

Despite the savings, SU still has to recoup some of the $1.3 million and will do so through advertising. Syracuse Sports Properties, which handles all SU event marketing, is in charge of selling ads to put on the board.

SSP has sold ads to five companies, including Pepsi, Budweiser, Advance Auto Parts and Nextel, said Scott Malaga, SSP’s general manager. By purchasing an ad, the companies get a spot on an advertising panel and a sponsorship of a video feature.

Malaga declined to release any figures on how much SU has made on the advertising.

‘They’re doing quite well,’ Campbell said. ‘It’s going to take a few years to pay off the total, but that’s what we planned.’

Syracuse’s frugal budgeting came at a cost. While they waited, large universities put up the big bucks for replay boards.

‘We’re one of the very few institutions of higher education at this level that doesn’t have them,’ Crouthamel said. ‘We weren’t in step with reality, with what everybody was doing.’

Indeed, the fan experience was lacking at the Dome without boards.

‘It’s exactly what the Dome needed,’ SU fullback Thump Belton said. ‘Get those screens in there and watch yourself when the play’s over. I think it’s going to be good for the program.’

Good for fans and Dome atmosphere, certainly. But the boards might not have quite the on-field impact.

‘Will it enhance the atmosphere of the Dome?’ Crouthamel asked. ‘Sure. Is that going to help recruiting? I doubt it.’

After a smooth installation this summer, Syracuse now stands on par with any college’s stadium entertainment. Each board came in two pieces, top and bottom, before a crane attached them to a previously-erected steel frame. Advertising panels attached to the side of the boards came separately.

For fans seated underneath the upper bowl with a blocked or restricted view of the boards, SU installed 48 monitors connected to the bottom of the upper deck that they can see.

Getting replays on the board as quickly and efficiently as possible is priority No. 1, but there’s a catch. Per Big East policy, a replay may be shown only once immediately after a play and at full speed only. Non-controversial highlights can – and will, Campbell said – be shown at breaks between quarters in slow-motion and from different camera angles.

Problem is, one man’s definition of controversial isn’t definitive.

‘To be very honest, I don’t see much wrong – unless there’s going to be a stampede on to the field – if there’s a close out-of-bounds play,’ Crouthamel said. ‘Is that controversial, or it just a close out-of-bounds play?’

‘We’ll work that out as we go through the year,’ Campbell said. ‘Anything that embarrasses an official or can incite the crowd against the visiting team, we probably won’t show.’

Responsible for recording and showing replays is a seven-person film crew from SU’s Electronic Media Communications Department. From a renovated audio closet in the Dome press box that has six television screens and three computers, they’re in charge of making sure every play makes it to the board.

Aside from replay, SU had local video producer Roger Springfield create special features, including plays of the game, great plays of SU past, a weekly scholar-athlete profile, Tailgater of the Game, Pepsi Fan of the Game and, for Saturday, a lead-in to the SU men’s basketball team’s ring ceremony.

The video crews have vital experience – EMC works any broadcasted game for whatever network televises it and Springfield produced the Orangemen’s Final Four DVD.

Still, Crouthamel isn’t about to relax.

‘We’ve got very capable people operating it and providing content of it,’ he said. ‘But it’s still the first time.’

So, years of preparation, a successful fund-raising effort and a handful of qualified professionals can’t quell Crouthamel’s nerves.

Maybe a vow from his partner in bringing the boards to the Dome will help.

Said Campbell: ‘We won’t screw up.’

Published on September 11, 2003 at 12:00 pm