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 As school districts across the country struggle to retain teachers, replace outdated textbooks and keep class sizes from ballooning, the wealthy, burgeoning Dallas suburb of Allen is preparing to christen its new stadium with a sold-out Friday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 ...
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.
I wish my college had a $60MM football stadium!
Having grown up in that area I can say that there is a lot wealth in North Texas and the people don’t mind spending it. The boom in the 1980’s was tremendous and Dallas and its suburbs grew like crazy.
That was one thing I really like about where I live presently - its like you’ve gone back 20 years in time compared to the fast-moving DFW Metroplex.
Texas High School football is everything here! FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!! Can’t wait!
Standard Operating Procedure in Texas.
Allen is just north of -- and is the 21st century version of -- Plano, where I lived during the 70's and 80's.
When I arrived, Plano was the AA champion; several years of growth later, they were the AAA champion -- for several years. Then, soon after, they were competing for the AAAA state title. Which they won, soon enough.
To maintain that winning streak, the town voted for a bond issue that -- rather than split the town into two high schools -- created two Grade 9-10 schools and one massive Grade 11-12 school. My son graduated in a class of 2,200, for example.
The express purpose was to maintain a winning football team that could challenge for the state title, year after year. And, at the same time, keep the entire community focussed around that school's success.
It worked.
As an aside, the three best football games I ever saw at any level were in the 1977 Plano championship run. Others on this board will recall them: Quarter-finals: Plano 29, at Highland Park, 28 (miraculously coming back from a 0-28 deficit in the 4th quarter); Plano 3, Odessa Permian 0 (at Lubbock, in an icy north wind...the FG was in the first series...and, with the wind, bounced over the goalpost). And, finally, I had the pleasure of seeing the Plano Wildcats win a state title against the Port Neches-Groves Indians ("Hot boudin. Cold cous cous. C'mon Indians, poosh, poosh, poosh!") before 70,000 rabid fans at Cowboys Stadium.
Yeah, H.S. football in Texas is serious business. And a lot of fun. Everybody should experience it.
You make an excellent point.
It's not unlike the taxpayers in Erie County, NY [Buffalo] who, not only built Rich Stadium, but who continue to approve the spending of hundreds of millions more each decade or so to improve it. Democracy rules; but that doesn't mean it's not stupid.
I will insist, I have nothing against HS football, or Texas. I simply am noting that the taxpayers in this jurisdiction “approved” a white elephant.
The football program will have the art and music programs rolling in dough.
It's a fact.
The school district decided to build it in a down economy, knowing full well it will never recoup the costs.
The thing is, the Plano High Schools share the stadium, this stadium is for one school.
LOL
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