One East Texas town is shelling out major money for a new high-school football stadium.
Voters in the Lufkin Independent School District (LISD) approved a $98.25 million bond package on Sunday, which will, in part, fund renovations and upgrades to school facilities, according to the Lufkin Daily News. One major component of the bond package will fund school district athletics. Voters also approved a measure to construct a $42 million football stadium to replace Abe Martin Stadium, a building more than 50 years old that seated just over 10,000 spectators.
The new stadium—which earned just over 1,800 of 3,400 votes in the Proposition B bond vote—will reportedly be equipped with new locker rooms, an eight-lane track, turf, lights and a scoreboard. There will also be restrooms, concession stands and a press box. The stadium will be used for far more than football, serving as the home base for band competitions, track meets, Special Olympics events and annual graduations, according to Carl Asbeck, LISD’s athletic director and the head coach at Lufkin High School.
“It’s a place for everybody in Lufkin to come together and celebrate,” Asbeck told the Lufkin Daily News. “It’ll be something that draws people to our town and our community because there’s going to be a lot of people that want to come and play in Lufkin.”
Asbeck added he hopes the new stadium will serve students and families in LISD for the “next 25 years.” He did not detail exact dates and timing of the new stadium’s construction, nor Abe Martin Stadium’s demolition, though he hopes to “jump out of the gate super, super fast,” regarding stadium construction.
Lufkin High School is the lone high school in Lufkin ISD. The district also has just one middle school, along with five primary schools and three elementary schools.