Illinois to Install CFB's Largest Video Board, Preview Project in Photos, Videos
Illinois will be debuting the largest video board ever used in a stadium dedicated exclusively to college football ahead of the 2026 season.
The new video board being installed at the south end of Gies Memorial Stadium will measure about 69 feet by 250 feet and stretch more than 17,300 square feet, making it larger than the video boards used by 27 NFL teams, according to the digital display company Daktronics.
The display will be less than 100 square feet smaller than the video board at the New York Mets' Citi Field, which was the largest in MLB when it was installed in 2023.
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In total, the new display will feature 16 LED displays spanning a total of more than 26,750 square feet, according to Daktronics.
The installation will also feature ribbons over the north end and both sidelines, as well as eight bleacher displays and two displays outside the stadium.
The title of the largest video board in a stadium exclusively used for college football was previously held by Auburn university, where the video board at Jordan-Hare Stadium measures about 56 feet by 190 feet, per Daktronics.
The new installation at Illinois will now eclipse the size of Auburn's video board by about 60 percent.
The rest of the top-ten list of largest college football video boards is rounded out by Purdue, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, Mississippi State and Texas A&M, all of which use displays less than half the size of the new Illinois installation, according to Daktronics.
The upgrade to the stadium comes about four months since Illinois athletics announced the renaming of the venue following a $100 million donation from alumnus Larry Gies in September.
Scott Richey of The News Gazette reported at the time that Illinois planned to use at least part of that donation in order to upgrade the stadium video board.
Illinois is set to play under the new video board for the first time when the Fighting Illini open the 2026 season on Sept. 5 against UAB.
