Katy's New Stadium

[CC_Varmints]

Katy, Texas to vote on $69.5 million high school football stadium


On Tuesday the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas is voting on whether to approve a $100 million bond package that includes nearly $70 million pegged for the construction of a new high school football stadium.

The Katy Independent School District (ISD) features seven high schools, which would share the stadium.

Katy (Texas), the oldest high school in the Katy ISD, is one of the most successful programs in state history, having captured seven state titles, most recently in 2012. The Tigers are currently ranked No. 9 in the Xcellent 25.

According to CBS News, the stadium would feature 14,000 seats and could be ready for use in the fall of 2015.

Katy's proposal comes on the heels of Allen (Texas) opening its $64 million stadium last fall.



Voters say no to new Katy ISD football stadium

The proposed 14,000-seat stadium was to have been constructed on district-owned property north of and adjacent to Rhodes Stadium at 1733 Katy-Fort Bend Road.

November 6, 2013
Katy ISD will not get its new $69.5 million football stadium, following a loss at the polls on Tuesday night's school bond election.

[rtxc1]

I think it would be great for Katy to get a new stadium. However, placing it adjacent to the other is a head-scratcher.

Unlike Allen, however, it doesn't sound like as many clubs/groups/sports would get use out of this one that Allen gets out of theirs.

They should adjust the bond, re-group, and vote again in May. Sounds like a more-central location would probably be in their best interests and a cheaper price tag wouldn't hurt the vote.

[journeyman]

Rhodes stadium is in the heart of Old Katy blocks from Katy HS not Katy Taylor, Katy Morton, Katy Seven Lakes,Katy Cinco Ranch and the new school in Fulshear. the development areas spurring the housing boom in West Houston is not Old Katy but Cinco,7 lakes, and Fulshear and they don't like traveling through Old Katy to see there kids get spanked by the Katy HS meanwhile paying higher property taxes on homes valued at 250,000.00 plus.

[CC_Varmints]

From DCTF:


Stadium wars

As Texas high school football grows, so do facilities.



Texas high school football has long hailed the mantra that bigger is better, and that idea has resonated throughout the sport in almost every way possible. The Lone Star State has always basked in the glory that the sheer size of the sport entails. And that’s because we are bigger – Texas boasts over 1,400 high school teams, the largest talent pools in the nation (think of the mega-schools in the Plano Independent School District) and consistently the largest recruiting classes the NCAA has ever seen. We aren’t shy about the religion of football either, so often times stories that entail Texas high school football make their way onto national news scene and into our movie theatres, where outsiders can revel in the religion of high school football with us.

All that “bigger is better” talk is fun, but it begs the question – At what point does the current state of football overflow into what might be considered excess?

On Tuesday night the city of Katy voted on a bond proposal that would seriously improve education in the current school district. The $99 million bond package included plans for expansion to the district’s agricultural sciences center and $4.5 million for a new science, technology and math center. Those allocations garnered widespread support within the community, but it was the price tag on a new football stadium that ultimately lost voters in the polls.

After it was announced that $69.5 million of the plans would be dedicated to be building a new high school football stadium for Katy ISD, voter interest waned, and opponents argued that the stadium plans were absurd.

Granted, Katy ISD has grown to the point that a new stadium should be coming in the near future. The current facility, Rhodes Stadium, is currently juggling the schedules of the seven teams in the Katy school district. However, the new stadium’s design is what ultimately swayed voters to keep games at Rhodes for the 2014 season.

“Opulence” is the word that comes to mind when that costly of a stadium has a not-so-grand capacity of 14,000. Many teams across the state play in higher occupancy stadiums that provide adequate seating and less of the frills that the potential most expensive high school stadium in the state would offer. If you still aren’t hit with a dizzying array of dollar signs, consider the fact Allen’s stadium carried a price tag of $10 million less than Katy’s – and everyone everywhere knows about the palace that Allen Eagles play in.

Alvin ISD voters also voted to approve the bond that would create a third high school in competition with Alvin and Manvel high schools. Drawn up in that bond package was funding for the land and design of another Alvin ISD stadium, but it’s not clear how much of the $212.4 million will go towards the athletic facility. If recent new stadium history repeats itself, Alvin residents might see the construction of another super-sized spectacle.

Although the Katy bond proposal was unsuccessful, it begs the question – to what extent does the allusion of grandeur play into Texas high school football?

I’m holding back giggles as I write this, because the power of money in today’s football is both impressive and silly. For as long as I can remember, my own high school alma mater didn’t even have a home stadium to play on; the team simply walked across the street to a public soccer field and practiced there every day until they played on Thursday or Friday night at one of the neighboring school district’s shared stadiums. The team lacked a true home-field advantage, and practice conditions were less than glamorous, but that didn’t stop them from winning back-to-back TAPPS state championships in 2009 and 2010.

I’m assuming alumni of those two years would rather gaze in awe of their hard-earned state rings than at a NCAA-worthy bowl stadium, but I could be wrong.

Whatever side of the stadium argument you stand on, remember this age-old colloquialism: Money can’t buy you everything. Of course, some expansions are necessary in growing districts, but the majority of today’s great high school players aren’t developed in shiny new stadiums. They’re developed under the leadership of people who have a passion for the sport – And it’s exactly that passion that makes Texas high school football bigger-than-life.


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[flowtowntigers]

Let the Old money in Katy have their own ISD while Cinco, Seven Lakes, Morton Ranch and the others can start a new ISD.