Friday Night Goes Dark as Texas School Shuts $60 Million Football Stadium
Source: Reuters
DALLAS One of the most expensive high school football stadiums in the United States has been temporarily shut due to structural problems less than two years after it opened in the Dallas suburb of Allen.
The $60 million stadium has developed cracks of nearly an inch wide in the concrete of its elevated concourse that could make it unsafe, the school district said this week.
In Allen, as in many parts of Texas, high school football games are some of the most important events on the calendar. Texas high school football is such a cultural phenomenon that it has inspired a book, movie and TV series, all called "Friday Night Lights."
The eye-popping price for the 18,000-seater stadium that includes a $1.3 million scoreboard, was financed as part of a voter-approved $119 million bond package.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/02/28/us/28reuters-usa-stadium-texas.html
barnabas63
(1,214 posts)Stuart G
(38,458 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)What's a Texan to do?
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)how can they service the debt. Who is on the hook for a default?
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-schools/allen-news/headlines/20120825-state-of-art-eagle-stadium-rises-from-recession.ece
They got in the Texas vs. the Nation. Will they get in the Tom Landry classic in August?
Turbineguy
(37,412 posts)Let's just hope that's all taxpayer money at risk and not private! That would be a problem.
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)It could be cheap concrete, but I bet it's all the fracking going on there causing ground subsidence, through depletion of the water table.
Botany
(70,639 posts)If that is the elevsted concourse in front of the brick buildings then this will be
a very tough fix. It could be bad concrete, not enough steel re-bar in the concrete,
or a design flaw or flaws but no matter what it is the fix will not be easy or cheap.
I wonder how much the school district is spending on math and reading?
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)with concrete columns on the periphery and that will make the stadium look ugly.
Botany
(70,639 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 1, 2014, 09:20 AM - Edit history (1)
.... between the brick buildings and the bleacher seats they might
have to rip the whole thing down and rebuild it. It could be a design
flaw .... look @ the architects and or the engineers ..... it could be
a bad pour of concrete or the make up of the concrete was bad ....
or the steel re-bar inside the concrete was bad .... or the structural
steel framing was bad for one reason or another but it looks to me that
the area under the concourse is used for locker rooms or other things
and so if you don't want pieces of concrete falling on Coach Jones' head
they might have to rip it down and build it again.
You might be right about the columns but I don't see how they could
carry the load.
I wonder if somebody or a group of people didn't do their do diligence
and tested the soil and sub soil before the thing was built.
BTW if I was in a position in Allen Texas I would be finding out who
was at fault and telling "them" the city and or school district is not paying
one dime to fix the problem.
Blue Owl
(50,567 posts)n/t
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,069 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Incitatus
(5,317 posts)There's a high school that spent more?
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,069 posts)Allen, Texas, population 85,000 has one high school with over 5,000 students in attendance.
$60,000,000 divided by 5,000 = $12,000 that could be spent on students.
Amortize it over, say, 20 years and that is $600 per student per year.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Sweet Freedom
(3,995 posts)Football reigns over everything. At my daughter's last school, which was brand new, every teacher hired had a connection to sports. Their main goal was making district. In fact, each football player had three helmets, but the auditorium had no lights. The theatre department had to perform in the cafeteria.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)...that those cracks are the result of fracking.
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K&R
fujiyama
(15,185 posts)Actually I hope it does. After all, it's always these sorts of towns lecturing blue states about fiscal responsibility.
These towns have some very fucked up priorities. Sixty million dollars could go a long way in actually providing people an education - something that keeps brain cells in tact - and doesn't lead people to have concussions and a myriad of other injuries.
But all snark aside, I understand that football is a big part of Texas culture. Not my thing but whatever. Maybe by prioritizing education, you can actually have a big football stadium, built at a fraction of the cost - designed by competent engineers, built by skilled tradespeople, using high quality materials...but that would imply actually educating society. Something these half wits never understand. What pisses me off more than anything is their arrogance in lecturing the left that "throwing money at something solves problems".
Well, there you have it. Welfare is great if it goes toward fighter jets and football stadiums.
FSogol
(45,582 posts)mbuch64
(55 posts)It wouldn't be surprising if they tore it down and then built a 90 million dollar stadium. I have to wonder how much of the 60 million they actually spent on the stadium and how much got skimmed off by contractors who probably got a no bid contract to build the stadium.
TxVietVet
(1,905 posts)I'm sure the constructor got his loot. I saw him in a news clip and he's willing to help fix the flaws. I'm willing to be he'll want more money to correct it. The first thing that came to my mind was that Brown and Root poured the concrete. If KBR did it, it was done as cheap as possible on material and labor to maximize profits.
The most important thing is that WTF does a high school need a $60M stadium?