Time to get rid of embarrassing fieldhouse

Published 11:08 am Friday, February 9, 2018

Time to get rid of embarrassing fieldhouse

The idea that South Panola could have a new football fieldhouse is pretty exciting. In past years, the Tigers have been ranked nationally.
During this time, the national news people picked the topic of looking at what those nationally-ranked teams’ field houses looked like.
Needless to say, South Panola did not impress at all.
It was really an embarrassment. I actually think they decided to focus on the field instead of putting a picture up of the field house.
Now, granted it will cost a lot of money. Over the years, the South Panola football team has more than made enough to justify this expense. The notoriety the team has brought Batesville and Panola County makes this team invaluable.
Though we do not know yet how much a new field house with cost because bids have to be made, we can take a look at a Texas team who takes their football seriously.
Allen Texas High School sits in a pretty trendy suburb of Dallas. In 2012, they unveiled their 18,000 seat $60 million football facility.
I don’t care what you say, 18,000 people are a lot of people. The team still only had about 80 players, with parents, grandparents and siblings, you are talking less than 1,000 family members.
So, who were those other 17,000 people who pack that stadium.
Die Hard Fans….
In 1982, Odessa, Texas built a 19,000 seat stadium for $5.6 million.
I know the comments about sports over academics will be forthcoming, but the school district and board have included the other sports and other schools buildings in the capital improvement plans.
From what I understand, capital improvement monies cannot be used for personnel, school supplies or every day expenses. They can only be used on building and improving structures and buying school buses. So this money cannot go to buying books or other academic uses.
Myself, I look forward to a building we will all feel proud to show off to others who come to town to visit.

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