First Notre Dame did away with natural grass. Now it is preparing to add a new video board to Notre Dame Stadium. Say goodbye to Notre Dame as you once knew it, because this is no longer your granddad’s Fighting Irish.
“We are confident the introduction of video will significantly improve enjoyment at Notre Dame Stadium -- including the ability to support game day introductions and presentations with video elements, additional opportunities to promote the University, plus replays,” Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick said in a released statement.
So that’s it. The last bit of college football innocence at Notre Dame is now going away. It actually started with Notre Dame beginning to use wildly specialized uniforms for the Shamrock Series, which in itself saw the Irish cross the line separating college football from its purity over to the watered down NFL experience on college football Saturdays. Then came the decision to rip up the natural grass inside the stadium in favor of an artificial turf. And now Notre Dame Stadium is going to add a fancy electronic scoreboard so fans can watch an intro video, instant replays and more.
It was bound to happen, right?