A $60 Milllion High School Football Stadium To Be Built in Texas

by Jon Azpiri | April 15, 2010 at 05:50 pm

1680 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

Allen High School Plans To Build a $60 Million High School Football Stadium. Is It Public Money Well Spent Or a Sign That Friday Night Lights Run Amok?

A high school in Texas is planning to build a $60 million football stadium. Allen High School, located in a suburb of Dallas, has approved plans to construct a football stadium complete with 18,000 seats and a high-tech video scoreboard.

The stadium is part of a larger $120 million bond package passed in May 2009 that included nearly as much money for a new auditorium.

Stadium proponents claim that the new stadium is needed because the team and community has outgrown its current facility. The stadium originally held less than 8,000 spectators. As the community grew and the Allen football program improved, the school was forced to build extra bleachers to expand the stadium to 12,000 seats.

The new $60 million high school football stadium will include 18,000 seats, 4,500 parking spaces, a video scoreboard, and a two level press box with film deck and observation deck.

There certainly seems to be enough demand to fill the new $60 million, 18,000-seat stadium. Last year, the Allen Eagles played at game at the new Cowboys Stadium before a crowd of 50,000.

You might think that spending so much money on a high school football stadium might outrage some locals, but officials say that's not the case. This is, after all, the state that inspired Friday Night Lights.

"In Texas, funding is completely separate between capital projects and general (education) fund," he said. "If we don't build the stadium, none of that money could go to teachers or classrooms."

The proposal passed 63-37.

"This was not that controversial in Allen," Carroll said.

Allen High School has a tendency to go big or go home. It is one of the largest school in the state of Texas and has an 800-plus member marching band, one of the largest in the country.

The new Allen Eagles stadium is slated to open in 2012. Here is an outline of the $60 million high school stadium (pdf).