Alabama may be a perennial college football powerhouse, always in the center of the national championship conversation. But it takes a back seat to Georgia's Norcross High School when it comes to flexing its stadium video board.
This fall, Norcross will debut the nation's largest video screen for a high school football stadium. Measuring 1,513 square feet, it's larger than the one installed at Bryant-Denny Stadium, where Alabama plays its home games.
To most people, such a screen for a high school may seem like overkill. But then, when you see it dwarf the football field in front of it, there's no question.
It looks like someone squeezed a big-screen into a walk-in closet.
The school would only say that the video board cost less than its retail price of $750,000, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Despite that huge price tag, head football coach Keith Maloof thinks it will prove its value over time.
"This thing will pay for itself because it's unlimited in what it can do for advertisers," Maloof told the AJC. "It's going to help us tremendously financially to help program."
The public school was also fortunate that none of its own money went into the purchase of the board. Four main contributors provided most of the money for the purchase.
The school also plans to use the video board as an educational tool, with students creating content and running the board during games.
That doesn't explain why the video board had to be the biggest in the country, but we probably already know the answer to that.
