Former Tech regents chairman likes councilman's scoreboard relocation idea

Texas Tech officials haven't ruled out relocating the Double T scoreboard on campus, but first will work with the City of Lubbock in trying to find a home for it elsewhere.

Christopher Huckabee, the recent former chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, said Friday night he likes the eagerness that City Councilman Steve Massengale has to relocate the iconic Tech landmark along Regis Street near the Preston Smith International Airport.

Huckabee said there'd been discussions about a month ago regarding where to move the scoreboard on campus before Massengale came forward with the alternative idea.

"We've just stopped on our consideration on campus," Huckabee said, "and said, 'If we can find a place that works for the city, we think that might be the best solution,' and once we work with the city, if that doesn't happen, we'll go back and consider locations on campus."

Trumble Crane and Rigging removed the Double T scoreboard from the south end of Jones AT&T Stadium on Thursday night. Tech plans to build a south end zone building and related football facilities totaling $200 million, to be completed before the 2024 season.

Huckabee said Trumble installed the scoreboard in 1978 and volunteered to do the removal. The scoreboard was cut from its concrete base, then lifted out by crane in one piece.

"We are going to repurpose it," said Huckabee, a Tech regent from 2015 to 2021. "It's going to go somewhere else, and everybody will get to enjoy it. I'm not sure yet where that will be. Steve (Massengale) has expressed very strong interest on the part of the city, and we're very interested in making that happen. But it's nothing more at this point than an expression from the city that they're interested in it.

"We're going to want to work through that with them to make sure it gets refurbished and it gets put up in a timely manner and there's an agreement to maintain it."

Massengale told the Avalanche-Journal on Friday that putting the Double T scoreboard near the airport would be a striking, welcoming visual for visitors coming into the city. In addition, it will help beautify the area along Regis Street, he said.

Huckabee said the scoreboard is state property and must be disposed of under rules of the state of Texas. He said it does not have to be sold, especially if transferred to another governmental body, but an agreement must be structured.

"I've had more than one individual call and say, 'I would sure like it,' " he said. "It's state property, so we can't just pick it up and give it to anyone. That's just not allowed by state regulations.

"We do not have a desire to sell it to the city, but we will have to structure an agreement with them and make sure we understand that it will be refurbed and taken care of in a manner that is fitting for Texas Tech — and certainly the city understands that, so that won't be too difficult."And I love the idea where Steve wants to put it. I think it could be pretty special right there, if we get a deal made."

Tech's south end zone plan includes a new Double T scoreboard that Huckabee said will be identical in size and design. That will be a factor should the original wind up staying on the Tech campus. Huckabee said in the recent discussions about where to relocate the scoreboard, he was not in favor of University Avenue and Marsha Sharp Freeway; i.e., the northeast corner of the stadium.

"The (new) one's going to look just the same," he said. "We're building an exact replica of this (original) one, but what we don't want is these two to compete with each other, so it needs to be far enough away from the stadium visually ... that it looks complementary to the complex."

Huckabee said the scoreboard will sit for several days, then be moved and stored in an area west of the Tech Health Sciences Center.

"It'll probably move at 5 miles an hour over there," he said, "so we're going to have to work with emergency services to make sure that we can get it there safely and we're not blocking traffic and things like that. We're working on a relocation plan right now. We'll store it. We'll secure it. It will be in our custody until we either work something out with the city or we decide to put it on the Tech campus."

Huckabee said he's been taken by the amount of discussion concerning the scoreboard's future and the number of people who have expressed interest in it.

"It's really interesting to me all the people that have reached out," he said, "but if we can do something with the city, that's really our desire — or locate it somewhere on the Tech campus. That's another alternative that we're working on as well, or considering. We do have money in the budget to relocate it on the campus, so if it doesn't work out with the city, we'll look at other options. So it's going to live on. We're just not sure exactly where yet."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Former Tech regents chairman likes councilman's scoreboard relocation idea