I grew up in Texas. Football is ubiquitous in Texas. Pro football, college football, high school football, Pee-Wee football; in fact, every form of football except the original: European football, which most Texans believe to be a commie plot.
Posted on 08/30/2012 1:56:51 PM PDT by C19fan
Call it the palace of high school football: A gleaming $60 million facility with seats for 18,000 roaring fans, a 38-foot-wide high-definition video screen, corporate sponsors and a towering upper deck. Welcome to the new home of Eagles Football. As school districts across the country struggle to retain teachers, replace outdated textbooks and keep class sizes from ballooning, the wealthy, burgeoning Dallas suburb of Allen is preparing to christen its new stadium with a sold-out Friday night matchup against defending state champions Southlake Carroll.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Having lived in Texas, I can tell you that High School Football is a rite, not unlike Communion or a Bris!
But Penn State has a football culture problem.
That’s what I call having your priorities in order.
That’s what I call having your priorities in order.
What business does a high school have using taxpayer funds for this? Soon after, they will begin clamoring that they need donations and new taxes to keep the art and music programs alive. Freakin’ unbelievable.
“I understand HS football in Texas is huge but still I am shaking my head.”
Is there a rattling noise? What’s wrong with the people in an area spending money on football, if it’s theirs?
I prefer to think of these as marching band theaters.
Well the voters can vote for this facility if they are willing to pay for it with their property taxes. Texas has the cheapest houses around but very large property taxes. Obviously the Texans in this district feel that they can afford the taxes they are paying and possibly have them raised. Other districts crying about old books and over crowed school are irrelevant to this story and sole district.
This stadium will bring in money for the school district.
In Texas, high school football is king!
It is a huge facility intended for multi-uses not just for football. They are planning concerts and other sporting events. Allen high school is one of the top football high schools in Texas. For Texans going to see a good high school football game is like attending a good minor league baseball game.
One good scenario, anyway, I was a Cain supporter. He would be a good fit with either one of those two, IMHO..
This kinda thing just chaps my hide.
And with Robin Hood, a lot of that money will wind up going to poorer districts.
The supporters of this stadium admit the revenues from it will not come close to covering the fixed costs of the stadium.
I liked Cain alot too. I just haven’t seen him around lately. Now that you mention him, I kinda miss him. Hope all is ok with him. Obviously the stories of his harum was BS as not another peep about them once he dropped out.
They do love their football in Texas....
>>In Texas, high school football is king!<<
As anew Texan, may I ask one question:
WHY?
The school district decided to build it in a down economy, knowing full well it will never recoup the costs.
Can they read, count back change, do long division? I walked into the library the other day and a teenage girl left the computer catalog to ask me how to spell circus.
It’s not just Texas, but ALL over the South, football even at the peewee level, is HUGE. It’s seen as a man-thing; as opposed to limp-wristed soccer up North, where non-athletes can “compete” in a game (not really a sport for athletes or men).
Our northside ISD here in San Antonio now has a a BILLION dollar budget.
Uh, we play lacrosse up North. Think of it as football, without as many of the girlie-man Southern padding.
I grew up in Texas. Football is ubiquitous in Texas. Pro football, college football, high school football, Pee-Wee football; in fact, every form of football except the original: European football, which most Texans believe to be a commie plot.
“Apparently, Texans love spending other people’s money on football even more”
Well two thirds of the voters approved the bond issue from my experience down there I would have expected about 80% support.
As anew Texan, may I ask one question:
WHY?”
That is just the way it is. Same as it is in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas, where I raised my kids. If you had a son and they didn’t play football, they were obviously butterfly collectors. Daughters were the cheerleaders or on the drill team. Keeps the boys as boys and the girls as girls.
“This stadium will bring in money for the school district.”
Do you have an objective source that will back up you assertion that 60 million dollaf high school football stadiums earn money to a school district?
How do you think this school district will be able to pay off the 60 million dollar loan, finance maintance and insurance and turn a profit?
I played for a smaller 3A team (Allen and The Dragons I think are 5A) in Texas in 69’ and 70’. Only one time did we play for a crowd smaller than 5000. Our ISD has revenue from oil wells. As a matter of fact, they ended up slant drilling a well right underneath the football field.
It is in the small Ohio town of Massillon, too.
Also kind of big in SW PA, too. That region has given the NFL many of its greatest quarterbacks.
I don’t really care whether you are a HS football fan, or not . . . but at first glance, this appears to be an unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer funds.
A good argument for a big intramural program in which as many kids as possible get to put on the pads and play.
Not so good an argument for a $60 million stadium where maybe one in twenty of the male students will ever be on the field.
Full disclosure: I played baseball and wrestled in high school, never touched a football except for sandlot games.
And of course now Plano is going to want one just like it, then Southlake, and on and on...
“at first glance, this appears to be an unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer funds”
Well two thirds of the tax payers voted for it. It may not be what two thirds of the taxpayers may have voted for in your neck of the woods but as they say the voters have spoken...
Good grief ... the media are having a field day with this one.
FWIW ... it’s not just a football stadium. The stadium itself is surrounded by offices, classrooms, exercise facilities, and so on. Those structures are included in the $60M tab.
As does the Allen High band ... the largest in the country.
Funny, I heard the same argument about Obamacare just last week.
That's for those who participate in Curling in the off-season, right?
Two REALLY well-attended "sports".
Gee, it might actually bring some community spirit to Allen, you know, where neighbors might actually know each other.
I missed that. the ongoing argument I heard was 2/3 of the taxpayers would vote against Obamacare..
Apart from that, the "limp-wristedness" of a sport is determined by how many spectators watch? LOL, again.
I suppose I should have never played water polo . . . funny, that . . . we could never find any football players to play with us.
Allen ISD has been on the receiving end of Robin Hood money for years. Neighboring Plano ISD has PAID over $1.2 BILLION in "recapture" since the Robin Hood system was initiated in 1994.
There are football palaces like this all over Texas, many in poor districts, that were paid for with Robin Hood money. Rather than having wealthier districts able to improve the educational experience of their kids, they were forced to fund whatever programs the poorer district chose to pay for. Including multi-million dollar stadiums.
Stadium:
Stadium Parking:
#NotafanofRobinHood
Just making a point, that you clearly missed.
If what you are saying is true, that the stadium was funded with Robin Hood money, this is scandalous.
I understand your point, You are saying those dumb old Texans and spending their tax dollars a way you don't like.
Lacrosse is third in attendance in the NCAA behind football and basketball. It’s also the fastest growing sport in America.
So, how do you feel about Obamacare? LOL
And their logo looks a lot like the Philadelphia Eagles logo, not exactly very popular in these parts.
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