(rendition of Allen High School’s new football stadium)
As many American school boards continue to deal with the fall out of the recession – school closures, massive budget cuts — it’s nice to see that somethings don’t change. Like football in Texas.
Allen High School in Texas received approval on Monday from its school board to build an 18,000-seat football stadium, with construction costs expected to reach upwards of $60 million. USA Today reports that the new stadium will be the fifth-largest football HIGH SCHOOL stadium in the state. The school’s current stadium was built in 1976 with 7,000 seats.
Allen, TX resident and mother of a player Jo Hudson told USA Today, “Last year and this year, I could hardly get a seat in the stands. After you get done with the band (670 members), the cheerleaders, the extra groups, the student body (5,049 enrollment in grades 9-12, according to the state association), there’s not a lot of seats left.”
In the same article, Chester E. Finn Jr., president of DC education think tank Thomas B. Fordham Institute said, “That’s Texas for you. This is, of course, ridiculous in a period of tight money, and the explanation will be that this is dedicated money and can’t be spent on other things. ā¦ But I’m not a bit surprised. If it were Indiana, it would be a basketball arena.”
While it does sound a tad batsh*t insane, if you compare it to hockey in Canada, it’s not complete lunacy in terms of demand. Many Canadian Hockey League juniors are high school-aged and play in arenas seating close to 20,000. Of course, those rinks aren’t usually built on the school board budget. I guess in Texas the Three Rs are reading, ‘riting and running backs.
[URL]http://www.thecheapseats.ca/2010/08/welcome-to-texas-high-school-to-build-596m-football-stadium.html
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