City Scrambles for Football Stadium Repair Dollars

The high school football season is set to kick off soon, but the Anchorage Football Stadium needs hundreds of thousands of dollars to get it into working condition.

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By Alexis Fernandez

Story Created: Aug 13, 2011 at 2:24 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Aug 13, 2011 at 10:46 PM AKDT


After two failed attempts to secure funding to repair the Anchorage Football Stadium, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department is heading back to the drawing board.

Back in April, the public voted down Proposition 5, which would have renovated the nearly 30-year-old structure in downtown Anchorage.

Teams are still using the stadium, but the bathrooms and locker rooms are still unusable.

This inconvenience has caused many athletic teams to look at other options.

“With no water, no electricity, it becomes cost-prohibited to use that place,” said Isaiah Vreeman, director of special projects for the Alaska School Activities Association. “We have to bring all that stuff in.”
South Anchorage High School assistant football coach, Edgar Lytle, says the conditions at the stadium are not ideal. He says his players feel uncomfortable and space is limited for everyone.

Governor Sean Parnell vetoed the city’s latest request for $1.5 million in funding.

The director of Parks and Recreation, John Rodda, says that although there has been pressure to find funding to repair the stadium, it would be much cheaper to build a new one. He says it would cost only $500,000 to demolish it, and build a new one with more space.

But coaches, including Lytle, said it could take several years to get funding and it could be too late by then.

“There’s going to be new stadiums everywhere--all schools are going to have new turf,” he said. “I don’t really see the need.”

The city plans to ask the Alaska State Legislature for funding during the next session, which begins in January.

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Bring your own lawnchair! said on Saturday, Aug 13 at 8:30 PM

If the ABT, alone, were to start paying taxes, we could build a superdome.

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Sewolf said on Sunday, Aug 14 at 7:42 PM

$500,000 to demolish and build according to Rodda, why has it cost South Anchorage HIgh a reported $2,500,000 to install artificial turf! Thankfully they didn't build a noisy drug deal attracting stadium with to accompany the new field. But even the grandiose plan to erect a stadium with huge scoreboard, PA, 1600 seats and no parking solution, multi porta-potties, and instrusive lights for the field in the middle of a nice neighborhood thus far has not moved forward.

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