I am waiting on a 10mil, 10,000 seating capacity stadium for a grade school. It's not only the building cost, how about the maintenance, operation, etc. How many football games do they play in a season? The sponsorship level and TV exposure are just different for a high school football team. Well, I hope they have some smart people got those number figured out.
I know SLCarroll was commanding close to 10K for a sponsored Tent in front of the Stadium. Allen gets a LOT of TV exposure and has full games televised on average a couple times a year. And like the article said - they played in front of almost 50K people at one game last year. They are currently bigger and better than Southlake Carroll & they're competitive every year.
That money could have bought a ton of new books for schools all over Texas. But hey, you go to HS for football, not for an education...
not sure why people are focusing soley on the stadium. But, how much would a typical stadium cost (and i'm not talking some rinky-dink stadium with temporary stand seating)? This stadium will probably be used for the next 40 years, or more, as well. I don't really get why some people are so anti this. or it could have been used to save the whales.
The money should have been put towards building another highschool. They have one highschool with enrollment over 5000 in a growing community. That is much more of a problem than the football stadium being outdated. So in this case their priorities were very out of whack. I guess splitting their one highschool into two would weaken their football team, though, so obviously not an option. I love football and watch games on all levels every chance I get, but I would be outraged if this happenned in my community. There are much more important things for them to wory about, like having enough schools and teachers for their students.
Those kids do fine. We aren't talking about the hood. This is a rich part of town. I think academic performance has more to do with not being shot then small class sizes etc.
I think it's perfectly fine. They aren't tapping public funds, there's clearly a demand, and it is going to generate revenue to at least offset the bulk of its cost. Beyond the football use, I'm sure they'll be able to rent it out for events. And the price tag doesn't seem terribly out of line for a stadium that size.
Hope it's a synthetic turf field. This comment in no way has anything to do with the fact that I work for a synthetic turf manufacturer.
whats so wrong with a big school, exactly? Also, whose to say the new growth in the community isnt being redirected elsewhere? district can be redrawn...a new school doesnt have to be created, per se. my high school was 3500+ and it was only 10-12. It's not like we had auditorium style classes. They were the typical 20-30 size.
Ok people, this is an example of a sensationalized news story that is having the desired effect - outrage and astonishment. However, that's not the correct way to look at it. The State of Texas fails to provide constitutionally-mandated funding to the state's school districts, leaving the districts to come up with ever more inventive ways of increasing revenue, hopefully without increasing local property taxes too much. Now couple this with the constantly increasing school populations, and ever-expanding NUMBER of schools, including high schools, each of them fielding a football team and needing a place to play their games each weekend in the fall, and these stadiums are going to become the norm, not the exception. The Berry Center in Cypress is a similar entity, and is a revenue-generator for the district, not just for all the local football games but also for the paid use of the facilities all year round by third parties. The same thing is obviously going to happen in Allen, and likely on tap in San Antonio and out in Lubbock as well, and more as districts grow and facilities are needed. Also, as one person rightly pointed out, districts cannot legally use 'building and infrastructure' funds to pay for 'classroom' obligations such as teacher salaries. They come from two totally separate sources, and absolutely cannot be intermingled. This is why some districts can afford to build new schools but then cannot afford to staff them. Blame the State of Texas and its inability to properly fund its schools. However, as also pointed out, this is a non-story because it is entirely paid for by local bonds, and the voters voted for it, so what's the problem. That stadium will pay for itself many times over if it lasts as long as the previous stadium. Frankly, it's a brilliant move, and funds generated in-district like that CAN be used to fund teachers' salaries and similar costs.
It's fine if the local people are willing to pay for it. Just so long, they don't come back later and complain that this portion of the tax is already too high, they need a break for other taxes, or they need the State or Fed to help them pay other things ...
Agreed...one would think splitting the school would make more sense, and then have a smaller football stadium...i have to believe that you could do that for $60 million... word...
