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N.C. State’s game against Notre Dame on Saturday was delayed by lightning nearby – and the lightning ended up more damaging than expected.
The game served as the showcase N.C. State’s brand-new scoreboard at the stadium, but it barely made it a quarter.
As lightning struck nearby the stadium, the $15 million scoreboard shorted out.
The game had been delayed roughly 15 seconds into the second quarter, and the new board went out while the delay occurred.
N.C. State says the scoreboard is the 11th largest in college football, sitting at a whopping 166ft in length.
The majority of the screen’s 6.6 million pixels were made ineffective following the strike of lightning, making it difficult to read the messages on the screen.
Since the incident, the scoreboard is running fine and fully operational.
A lightning strike put NC State’s video board out of commission 😳
(via @tbhorka)pic.twitter.com/RP7YkD0nMk
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 9, 2023
While many fans rumored the scoreboard was struck directly by the bolt of lightning, N.C. State said otherwise.
According to sources at the scene, the lightning struck nearby and simply shorted the new board.
The $15 million addition was revealed during the game while storms loomed in the background, eventually causing the excitement.