The Greatest Big Screen Show on Earth

Years ago when Arkansas got one of the first major sized video screens, there was a considerable internal debate within the men's athletic department. I reference it that way because what I know of it was second hand.

The conscious decision was made to "downplay" the video aspects of the board in the early years because it would take away from fans watching the game. "They'll just sit there and watch the TV," was one former administrator's rule.

Frankly, I did that from my old seats, which were on the north 10 yard line, when the game was on the other end of the field. Initially, that made sense.

Fast forward to the SVG Technology Summit at Dallas Cowboys Stadium two weeks ago. That's a video board you cannot ignore, and in fact, with some seats it is way easier to watch the board that becomes larger than life than the ants that are running around on the distant floor.

It's insane how sharp, how dominant the boards are -- even run mirrored to each side to keep down the vertigo and disconnect of seeing a player run to the viewer's right on the screen while they run to the left on the field below it.

From the moment I saw it during our Southwest Classic game, I -- and others -- speculated this will kill coming to the game. As another colleague said, why would I leave my couch, my toilet, my fridge and fight traffic, drunks and other fans to attend. I can just watch my own big screen at home.

Make sense. Then I heard Frank Deford's NPR commentary on the scoreboard. He made the point that this was so massive it could actually be more of an experience, and referenced Jerry Jones.

The Jerry Jones angle -- and genius -- was explained clearly at SVG. Competing against the couch, HDTV and 50-inch home screens is by actually going bigger, steering into the skid.

Give the fans a different experience, one they cannot get on TV, cannot have with the unlimited angles. This means making sure there are more cameras, more angles, more replays, more shots by coming to the game on an even bigger screen than staying home.

The Cowboys do this in part with their quad-split replays, originally done for certain private replay usages, but now a huge stadium-only feature.

So shoot more crowd, more cheerleaders, more replays, more stories, more tailgate features in the commercial breaks -- AND have less "commercials" in the stadium. (What about that scoreboard revenue -- shift it to the digital signage elsewhere in the facility).

This mindset, with several other small points I'll break out later, add up to the "ultimate fan experience" goal of Dallas Cowboys Stadium. We must all get on board quickly, or we'll be left with video boards and half-way productions.

Once again, it's Jerry's World, and we find ourselves chasing it to keep up.