Everything’s bigger in Texas, even the high school football stadiums.
According to Rivals.com, Allen, Texas, residents will pay $59.6 million to finance a new high school football stadium that will open in the fall of 2012. The new Allen Eagle Stadium will feature 18,000 seats, a video scoreboard and an artificial-surface field.
The Allen football team won the 2008 Texas 5A state title in front of more than 50,000 fans at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Allen’s public information director Tim Carroll thinks the Allen football team is overdue for a new venue.
“We finally maxed out on growth,” Carroll told Rivals.com. “This is something that we have wanted to get done for a while, but we had to build schools first.”
Residents showed their support for the stadium by passing the original proposal 63-37.
“In Texas, funding is completely separate between capital projects and general [education] fund,” Carroll said. “If we don’t build the stadium, none of that money could go to teachers or classrooms.”
The stadium was part of a larger $120 million bond package passed last May that could only be used on capital expenses. Carroll feels the $59.6 million investment is wise.
“[The cost] may appear high to other parts of the country, but it compares to what people are doing here,” Carroll said. “It becomes an economy of scale.”
The Allen football team has gone 67-12 since 2004, recording 14 more wins than the Dallas Cowboys in the same time span. The high school team hopes its winning ways will carry over into its new stadium.
