CONCORD, N.C. -- In a move designed jointly to sell race tickets and pique the jealousy of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Bruton Smith announced plans Tuesday to build the world's largest high-definition television screen at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The flamboyant chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. said that his new HD big-screen TV will be "40 percent larger" than the world's current largest TV screen. Two of those were raised last year at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The giant scoreboard there actually comprises more square feet, but its dual-sided largest video displays are not as wide or as tall as the one-sided screen that will go up along the backstretch at CMS.

“

I know Jerry, and he's a nice guy. But he has limited space and could only do something a certain size. We're not interested in doing that. We wanted to do something very big here.

”

-- BRUTON SMITH on Jerry Jones

Smith's behemoth will be 200 feet wide and 80 feet tall, covering 16,000 square feet. The video screens at Cowboys Stadium cover 25,000 square feet in all, but each is "only" 180 feet long and 72 feet high.

"This is not Texas-sized. This is Charlotte Motor Speedway-sized," Smith said.

The project at CMS will be done in partnership with Panasonic, which will be in charge of constructing the screen. Jim Doyle, president of Panasonic Enterprise Solutions, said construction will begin shortly after the running of the Cup Series race scheduled for Oct. 16 at the 1.5-mile track and will take "four to five months" to complete.

Neither Bruton Smith nor his son, track president Marcus Smith, would say exactly how much the project will cost. But Jones' giant replay screens, built by Mitsubishi, cost roughly $40 million.

"I don't see a lot of places doing this," Bruton Smith said. "It would be wonderful, but it's a little expensive. This is a giant step for NASCAR and everything else we will be doing here."

In addition to continuing to host three NASCAR race weekends each year -- revolving around the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 in May, as well a second Cup race each October -- Bruton Smith said he envisions the world's largest TV screen enabling his facility to bring in major concerts and other events.

Bruton Smith also chided his son, telling him that now he expects the track's Cup races to begin selling out again. He later let it be known that he is very serious about the marketing punch that he expects the massive TV to pack. The grandstand seating capacity at CMS currently is 140,000, but like most tracks and other sporting venues in the current economic climate, it has not been selling out lately.

"I told Marcus earlier that this is going to assure us a sellout of all of our events. I really believe that," Bruton Smith said.

For comparison's sake, Marcus Smith said the screen that will sit adjacent to the Diamond Tower Terrace on the backstretch is larger than the front of the White House, which measures 168 feet across and 70 feet high. Bruton Smith said he has no doubt it will draw fans to the track.

"I think they'll be able to see so much more by being able to utilize the big-screen television screen that they'll say, 'This is awesome.' And they'll want to be there to see it. I think we'll be able to attract more and more people from greater distances," Bruton Smith said. "We're here to entertain -- and this is part of the entertainment."

Marcus Smith said he agrees with his father that the new addition will help sell out future events at CMS.

"I think it will make a huge difference [in selling tickets], absolutely," Marcus Smith said. "What this screen does for us is add that extra value, that extra fun -- and certainly if someone is deciding where to spend that entertainment dollar, I think having the world's largest television screen tied into the world's greatest place to see a race is going to tip the scales to have them come here to Charlotte."

The elder Smith obviously is pleased that it his big-screen television soon will be bigger than the screens put into play in Cowboys Stadium by Jones.

"I know Jerry, and he's a nice guy. But he has limited space and could only do something a certain size," a smiling Bruton Smith said. "We're not interested in doing that. We wanted to do something very big here."