Illinois debuted record-setting massive video board with an 'Air Bud' screening

One of the most ambitious offseason projects in college football is now complete.

Illinois announced in January that it was building the largest video board in college football for Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign, and on Saturday, fans got their first look at the massive screen in the most fitting way possible: with a screening of the movie ‘Air Bud.’

Illinois basketball star David Mirkovic apparently made the movie selection as fans got to watch the classic family film on a 17,300-square-foot screen. That screen eclipses Auburn’s 11,000-square-foot board, which opened in 2015 and was previously the largest in college football.

#illini mega scoreboard.

It’s big. Largest in college football by around 6,000 square feet

It will debut this weekend pic.twitter.com/En0fiwKARJ

— Carson Gourdie (@GourdieReport) August 5, 2026

#Illini debut the largest scoreboard in college football on Saturday

Illinois fans got to watch Air Bud — courtesy of David Mirkovic — and get autographs from the team

They traveled all over the Land of Lincoln to see it pic.twitter.com/ntDo2MLXDV

— Carson Gourdie (@GourdieReport) August 9, 2026

The new video board, with a square footage of more than 17,300, becomes the largest in college football by more than 6,000 square feet. The board is 69 feet high by 250 feet wide and features 10-millimeter pixel spacing to provide high-resolution video, according to an Illinois release from January.

Were Gies Memorial Stadium an NFL facility, its video board would be the fifth largest in the league. To cover the display, it would take more than 1,600 60-inch televisions.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Illinois debuted record-setting massive video board with an ‘Air Bud’ screening