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Sports Venues · August 6, 2026

UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium End Zone Board Gets 4.5x Resolution Jump via Daktronics Renew Re-LED Upgrade

Same cabinet, new 10 mm pixel pitch: the Miners' video board is ready for Mountain West play.

By AVinBrief Editorial Desk ·

What did Daktronics install at Sun Bowl Stadium, and what physically changed?
Daktronics replaced the LED modules in the end zone video board at the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, using the Daktronics Renew re-LED program. The physical cabinet and structure are unchanged at 33.5 feet high by 60 feet wide (10.2 m by 18.3 m). What changed is the pixel pitch: the board moves from the previous 15HD layout to a 10 mm pitch, packing in 50% more LEDs and delivering 4.5 times the resolution of the prior screen.
How does dropping from a 15HD layout to a 10 mm pixel pitch translate to a 4.5x resolution gain?
Pixel pitch is the center-to-center distance in millimeters between adjacent LEDs, smaller pitch means more pixels in the same area. The board moves from the 15HD layout to a 10 mm pitch, reducing the spacing by a meaningful margin, which compounds into a significant density gain across the full board. At 33.5 feet by 60 feet, that physical area now contains 50% more LED nodes than before, and because resolution scales with pixel count in both dimensions simultaneously, the total pixel count, and effective resolution, rises to 4.5 times the original. At a 10 mm pitch, the minimum comfortable viewing distance calculates to roughly 80 feet, which is well within stadium seating geometry.
What content and operational capabilities does the upgraded board support?
The board supports variable content zoning, meaning it can run as one unified full-screen image or be divided into multiple simultaneous zones. Supported content types include live video, instant replays, statistics and game information, graphics, animations, and sponsorship messages, giving UTEP Athletics flexibility to serve different operational needs within a single game day.
What is the Show Control system included in the project, and what does it do?
Daktronics Show Control is an integrated game-day production system that combines display control software, video processing, data integration, and playback hardware into one package. It is available in three tiers: Core, suited for high school and entry-level venues; Plus, suited for college arenas; and Max, suited for professional and major league stadiums. Capabilities include live and scheduled display control, real-time graphics rendering, scoring and timing, a clip server, and total venue control covering lighting, audio, video, and environmental systems. Daktronics releases more than 100 improvements to Show Control annually. The system also carries a strategic integration partnership with Grass Valley for integrated venue production from source to display.
Why is the timing significant for UTEP?
UTEP joined the Mountain West Conference on July 1, 2026, after competing in Conference USA. The upgrade is ready for the 2026 football season, which is UTEP's first playing in the Mountain West. Jim Senter, UTEP Vice President and Director of Athletics, connected the display refresh to a broader effort to improve the fan experience as the program enters what he called a new era in the conference.

The Take

What does the UTEP re-LED project tell integrators about the Daktronics Renew approach to aging stadium infrastructure?

The Sun Bowl project is a clean case study in what a re-LED refresh looks like in practice: the physical steel and cabinet stay, the LED modules and control system come out and go back in new. For a university athletics department, that model avoids a structural replacement project, no new mounting engineering, no new permits for the housing, no removal of a large outdoor cabinet, while still delivering a 10 mm pixel pitch specification at 4.5 times the original resolution.

For integrators evaluating this approach for their own clients, the three questions worth pressing are operational. First, what is the guaranteed pixel pitch uniformity across the full cabinet after the re-LED, particularly at seams and edges where older mounting tolerances may not align cleanly with the new module geometry? Second, what does the Show Control tier selection mean for ongoing software cost? The Plus and Max tiers serve college and professional venues respectively, and the 100-plus annual improvements Daktronics releases suggest the platform carries a live update cadence: understanding whether that is included in the initial contract or requires a separate maintenance agreement matters for total cost of ownership. Third, what is the warranty structure on the new LED modules installed into the existing housing? The original cabinet’s service life now runs ahead of the new electronics inside it, and the crossover point is a real planning question for a college athletics department on a multi-year capital cycle.

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