Allen TX's new megastadium complete

[Galen]

Allen HS, the school that made headlines 2 years ago when they announced construction plans for a $60 million, 18,000 seat stadium, has officially opened their new behemoth.

My link

How long do you think it'll be before DCI starts clamoring to have a show here?

[fsubone]

I would give it two to three years. They have to make sure that they could actually get in there, I know most schools are pretty tight about letting anyone onto their brand new field, let alone a bunch of marching band kids during the summer.

[DrumManTx]

Their band is going to take up half of it. lol

[And in first place~]

I live in PA and if any school in our area even thought about a $60 million stadium, the taxpayers would be furious and fight it tooth and nail. Here, they decrease budgets, eliminate some school programs, lay off teachers and other staff people and they build $60 stadiums in Texas. Only in America, as they say. But good for Allen. Looks like an incredible stadium.

[Kamarag]

I live in PA and if any school in our area even thought about a $60 million stadium, the taxpayers would be furious and fight it tooth and nail. Here, they decrease budgets, eliminate some school programs, lay off teachers and other staff people and they build $60 stadiums in Texas. Only in America, as they say. But good for Allen. Looks like an incredible stadium.

If only PA valued education as much as Texas does.

[Galen]

I live in PA and if any school in our area even thought about a $60 million stadium, the taxpayers would be furious and fight it tooth and nail. Here, they decrease budgets, eliminate some school programs, lay off teachers and other staff people and they build $60 stadiums in Texas. Only in America, as they say. But good for Allen. Looks like an incredible stadium.

The irony here is that Pennsylvania certainly has some pretty good stadiums at its high schools as well, especially in and around Pittsburgh.

[skajerk]

Beautiful stadium! Like they say, football is another religion here.

This is one of the "smaller" TX shrines. Waller is about 45 minutes NW of Houston. It holds only 10k. This is where our band's area competition was last year.

Then of course, there's the Berry Center where the Houston show is held every year. It only holds 11k.

Edited August 6, 2012 by skajerk

[onmyown]

I live in PA and if any school in our area even thought about a $60 million stadium, the taxpayers would be furious and fight it tooth and nail. Here, they decrease budgets, eliminate some school programs, lay off teachers and other staff people and they build $60 stadiums in Texas. Only in America, as they say. But good for Allen. Looks like an incredible stadium.

The reality in TX is that schools are laying off teachers, increasing class sizes and slashing budgets (including music dept budgets). This is the case throughout the state. These stadiums are not funded via school district budgets. For some reason, those living in these cities are glad to fund special bond elections to build stadiums and boost their own egos, but not willing to accept the fact that school funding and the education of their kids might be a little more important.

TX (I've lived here 37 years and raised two kids here and my wife is a 20+ year teacher in the system in TX) is pretty much in the bottom 10 in achievement across the board vs the rest of the country, but our stadiums look great! (sorry for the rant...)

[skywhopper]

I assume a football team that can utilize a stadium of that size also brings in significant revenue. Certainly many universities can subsidize their entire athletics program via the ticket sales from football.

Though if onmyown is right and the city is helping pay for it, that's a little zany. But I suppose no worse than the NFL, NBA, and MLB stadiums bigger cities have been building for teams for decades now.

[skajerk]

The reality in TX is that schools are laying off teachers, increasing class sizes and slashing budgets (including music dept budgets). This is the case throughout the state. These stadiums are not funded via school district budgets. For some reason, those living in these cities are glad to fund special bond elections to build stadiums and boost their own egos, but not willing to accept the fact that school funding and the education of their kids might be a little more important.

TX (I've lived here 37 years and raised two kids here and my wife is a 20+ year teacher in the system in TX) is pretty much in the bottom 10 in achievement across the board vs the rest of the country, but our stadiums look great! (sorry for the rant...)

I don't know what district or area you're in, but our band program has done nothing but grow since we started. We started with 90 in 2010 and are marching 150+ this year. We'll be over 200 next year because our jr. high music program has 400+ students (making up 4 concert bands) in it. The school and the admin here are fantastic! I've never been around an administration that supports the arts they way they do here.

Edited August 6, 2012 by skajerk