When $60 million is spent on an extravagant football stadium, one would expect it to last a lifetime, but that’s not the case for one Texas high school.
Allen High School, located in an affluent suburb of Dallas, began building Eagle Stadium — complete with 18,000 seats, a Jumbotron and artificial turf — in 2010, and it opened for the 2012 season. The project cost a total of $59.6 million, making it the most expensive high school stadium in the country.
But just two years (and two state championships) later, cracking concrete on the stadium’s concourse caused Allen Independent School District officials to look into the design, and they found that it was flawed.
“Previously, PBK Architects, which designed the stadium, said the problems in the concourse level were probably caused by shrinkage in the concrete,” Julieta Chiquillo of the Dallas Morning News wrote. “But an analysis commissioned by the district shows engineers have found design deficiencies at the concourse level.”
“Partial findings by Nelson Forensics indicate that some support structures were not designed in a way that would hold the weight anticipated on that level of the stadium.”
Allen Eagle Stadium was deemed “not safe for public assembly,” and must be closed for the entirety of the 2014 season. It could take more than six months to fix.
In the meantime, the high school will have to pay $5,000 a game for their team to play at the neighboring Plano High School’s field.
Photo via Twitter/@StadiumPix
