Texas town spends $60 million on new HS Football Stadium...

Everything is bigger in Texas? I think it goes, everyone is dumber is Texas!!!

I just finished reading a story about a high school in the Dallas suburb of Allen that spent $60 million on a new football stadium... Now $60 million would be a lot for most college stadiums, but a High School?? And even stranger is that this stadium isnt even the biggest HS stadium in the state, its the 3rd... So I wonder, why is a school allowed to spend that much money on a stadium? How did something like this even get approved? Why not use that money for something constructive like education, public works projects, housing the homeless...or a myriad other useful causes!

I understand that sports are a big deal in this country, but people need to wake up sooner than later and ask themselves "what the hell are we doing?"... The waste in this country is simply amazing, and we wonder why we're in the shape we are in today...

Maybe I'm overreacting to this story, but I feel that the money could have been used much more wisely... I'm glad that people in Allen, TX will be entertained on Friday nights this fall, but I know that money could have helped a lot of desperate people and worthy causes....

newsfeed.time.com...

And to give you an idea of what a typical HS football stadium costs, usually they will pay anywhere from $3-5 million if they want to do it right...

Allen is a pretty wealthy part of North Dallas, I'm sure they can afford it. People up there are fanatical about HS Football, even for people without children.

reply to post by jhn7537


60 Million they could've spent on education, instead each graduating class is denser than the one before...

I mean now days they just pass you in school.

GO FOOTBALL TEAM!

High School Football in Texas is more important than Jesus, and they LOVE Jesus.

ok. Let's look at the flip-side here.
Say that your area could spend 60 million on either a new stadium or on education and they choose education. The teachers/staff get nice bonuses and raises. Some new books are purchased. Some new supplies are bought. Some facilities are updated/upgraded.

Now...fast-forward 5 years.

The books are in bad shape. The teachers are bitching about salaries. The equipment and facilities are in disrepair AND...your football team has to play in the same crappy old stadium.


I live in a small town on the opposite side of Dallas as the story speaks. It's a fairly affluent area with a median avg income of 70K+. In 2006 our school district built a stadium that holds over 11,000. It then built a world-class natatorium (swimming/diving) facility and this year a performing-arts center which has 5500 seats opened.

Extravagant? Yes. Beneficial? Hell yes.
You see..with the proceeds the community makes from renting out these facilities and hosting non-district events, they are now able to enjoy such perks as giving iPads to each student this year, keeping taxes lower by not having to generate additional bond-revenue for city projects and from Not having to pay other facilities to host events such as graduations, plays/musicals etc.
and guess what......our education-system is among some of the highest-ranked in the state.

Hell- I used to think like you guys in that "why should those meatheads get more of the goods than the teaching of our future..." but now I see the realization. Yes - Football is GOD here in TX. But...knowing this can also be used to help other areas like education

Originally posted by azbowhunter
High School Football in Texas is more important than Jesus, and they LOVE Jesus.

Not all of us. I havent been to a HS Football game since I was in Middle School and I only went there to socialize lol.

Native Texan here...

....no surprise from me....Football and Texas is like a Grill and Steak......Texans (native ones at least) live and breathe football....the high school I went to in TX had an actual stadium....not just bleechers...but real seats like at NFL stadiums.....and even special "box seating".....and was a 5A team....

Football is serious stuff.....and cheerleading......thats a whole 'nother scary topic

I agree the amount of money spent is crazy but this is what is possible when your hard earned tax dollars are spent correctly and given back to the public for use by all. When the school has football games people park 1-2 miles down the road and walk with their coolers and family to the stadium and this was before the new one is completed.

Before everyone slaughters the dollar amount....Have you been to Allen? The parks are nice, the schools are nice, the roads are nice and the shops are nice.... When you manage your money you can accomplish great things for the public.

If anyone would like pictures let me know because I drive past the stadium almost daily.

Don't hate the player hate game...

reply to post by TXRabbit


I get your point, I understand that HS TX football is almost bigger than College/Pro sports teams in the area, but still, $60 million seems like overkill... They could have created a state-of-the-art learning facility within the school, but instead they have a state-of-the-art football stadium with a 75x45 ft HD Video scoreboard....

And its not like their old stadium was horrible, it was a stadium that held 14,000 people, it just didnt have all the bells and whistles... now they can seat 18,000 with all the bells and whistles... Worth the money?? I guess thats up for debate...

Originally posted by knowledgedesired
I agree the amount of money spent is crazy but this is what is possible when your hard earned tax dollars are spent correctly and given back to the public for use by all. When the school has football games people park 1-2 miles down the road and walk with their coolers and family to the stadium and this was before the new one is completed.

Before everyone slaughters the dollar amount....Have you been to Allen? The parks are nice, the schools are nice, the roads are nice and the shops are nice.... When you manage your money you can accomplish great things for the public.

If anyone would like pictures let me know because I drive past the stadium almost daily.

Don't hate the player hate game...

Would the OP be happier if they bought more military grade weapons like other cities?

edit on 7-8-2012 by knowledgedesired because: (no reason given)

If you read my OP you would see that I wrote: Why not use that money for something constructive like education, public works projects, housing the homeless...or a myriad other useful causes!

I never asked for military grade weapons for the city... Thats another BIG waste of money

reply to post by jhn7537


What's dumber - voters of a wealthy Dallas suburb voting to spend $60 million on a stadium for their kids or the bankrupt state of California spending $68 Billion on a high speed rail system ($178 million of that is from our federal taxes)?

Why didn't California spend that money on it's educational system or the 101 other economic and social problem facing the state?

reply to post by greeneyedleo

.and cheerleading......thats a whole 'nother scary topic

Haha, yep.. Remember back in the 90s, some woman in Channelview Tx tried to have her daughters cheerleading competitor snuffed out..

And yes I am Native Texan as well and Native Dallasite

Originally posted by jhn7537
reply to post by TXRabbit

 

I get your point, I understand that HS TX football is almost bigger than College/Pro sports teams in the area, but still, $60 million seems like overkill... They could have created a state-of-the-art learning facility within the school, but instead they have a state-of-the-art football stadium with a 75x45 ft HD Video scoreboard....

And its not like their old stadium was horrible, it was a stadium that held 14,000 people, it just didnt have all the bells and whistles... now they can seat 18,000 with all the bells and whistles... Worth the money?? I guess thats up for debate...

Thanks for reading.
Let me try to explain it another way...

Dumping that money into a state-of-the-art learning facility yields 0 return to the community short or long term.

Dumping that money into a football stadium has an immediate return short/long term.

or - to put it another way
Revenues from football/events at a shiny new stadium can be used to fund some educational needs whereas revenues from educational funding cannot either sustain it's own needs or those of other activities - simply because they generate 0 revenue.

Originally posted by Juggernog
reply to post by greeneyedleo

 

.and cheerleading......thats a whole 'nother scary topic

Haha, yep.. Remember back in the 90s, some woman in Channelview Tx tried to have her daughters cheerleading competitor snuffed out..

And yes I am Native Texan as well and Native Dallasite

yeah - crazy stuff huh? Some of those teams spend over 1000 bucks on a little uniform.

Not quite as bad as that Toddlers in Tiara's...but close

reply to post by TXRabbit


I did read what you wrote, I just disagree because stadiums, like anything today, need to be maintained and that costs money....

Dumping money into educating children yields zero return??? Are you serious???

And the football program would do fine with or without a new $60 million stadium.... It was doing just fine before they built it...

reply to post by jhn7537


Agreed and I removed comment regarding military grade weapons, apology.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that when the system is run correctly there is a surplus of money to spend on things like big fancy stadiums and what not. Allot of other cities could learn allot from Allen Texas because even when the money is falling off the trees very little seems to ever get back to the community. The taxes are not higher in the area the system is just run correctly without greedy people draining the system dry.

IMHO if you have the surplus to build a 60 million dollar stadium maybe you need to lower your tax rate.

I think the city and surrounding area see it as....If you have a surplus build something that will last for a 100 years of which they did and are still doing. They also built a professional style skate board park, a hydro slide water park, bmx tracks, new baseball fields, disc golf parks, running trails etc..

If your not going to give it back at least spend it on something that many people will be able to use and for a long time.

They also have an indoor field for practice as well

reply to post by knowledgedesired


Yea I saw that... They literally run the Athletic Dept. at these High Schools similar to a medium size college would, with the stadiums, workout facilities, etc... I'm from Chicago, football is big in the Midwest, its just not at the same level you guys are use to down in TX... If the city I lived in spent $60million on a football stadium when they could build a sufficient one for $5 million Id be upset, but thats just me, some people want to mention ROI, but when it comes to ROI the only return Im looking for is that the kids of my community are getting the best education that money can buy, Im not looking for a monetary return on that investment...

Until our schools are models of excellence on the academics, sports have NO place beyond the GAME for P.E. class they once were. 60 MILLION dollars?? And the details show this is only the 3rd largest in Texas for high schools. High Schools for goodness sake.

Well... Allen isn't perfect as a district and damn sure not '60 million dollars for a game' perfect.

Anyone know if their special ed program is fully funded and running surplus? They sure have one..and if it's like the one here, it's chasing pennies for dollars to make do on whatever they get.

District Student Information
In the Allen ISD District, 11% of students have an IEP (Individualized Education Program). An IEP is a written plan for students eligible for special needs services.
The Allen ISD District serves 7% English Language Learners (ELL). ELL students are in the process of acquiring and learning English Language skills.

Source

For general reference to what the above means, Allen has 18,715 kids total for the 11% for come from.

Surely then, they won't have any failing schools. Not with 60 Million dropped on ballparks, right? Err... nope.. Got at least one currently in failure status by the Fed's estimation.

Local districts’ misses
Shown are the numbers of schools that did not meet No Child Left Behind goals (known as adequate yearly progress) in some area school districts.
Allen: 1
Arlington: 38
Carroll: 0

Source - Standard Testing Status numbes

I will say they only have 16% of their students on Free or Reduced lunches in the Allen district. Not bad given a 59% Texas state average for participation...yet, 60 million? for a ball park? 16% REQUIRING free or reduced lunches seems to argue far better uses.....Bond issue or not.

I'll admit, I'm not unbiased. I believe strongly that games are games and need their place in school for P.E. and competitive development as healthy adults. I just think it needs perspective to what schools are built to do. Playing a game isn't it. Learning how to read, write and use critical thinking is. Our schools are generally failing miserably....while games are put on a pedestal higher than almost anything else.

Well..... We get the citizens we put the effort into education for. So far, we seem to be getting exactly what we deserve.

it's really modern looking..... and big
ya see,here in north texas there is nothing to do for outdoor activity except go to the lake......this adds one more chance at something to occupy our off-time. we have no public land,it's all bought up. my son said it well...."if you're out having fun, you either own the land ....or you're tresspassing.

www.wbur.org/2010/11/13/texas-stadium Read that article I cant link off my cell. The article in the OP is missing some information, when the voters decided to approve spending money on the school they did not just focus on football. The total amount the school receieved was 120 million. 60 went to the stadium, the other 60 went towards building a new fine arts facility and a career tech center. They improved things for a lot of students not just the football players.


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