New Houston County stadium designed for 6A high school football

December 11, 2015

Skyler Henry,

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Houston County School District’s newest stadium will be able to fit enough people for a 6-A high school playoff game.

Scott Hill, the director of facilities with the district, says the plan is to have about 6200 seats in the facility that’ll be home to both Houston County High School and Veterans High School.

“We built it to facilitate a 6-A high school so that we would be able to host playoff games,” Hill said.

The district broke ground on the new stadium this week.

Hill says he’s ready to see the district’s newest vision take shape.

“So we’re taking the dirt and we’re building up the bleachers. So half will be kind of below grade and then the rest of it will be above grade,” he said.

$12.5 million dollars in education penny sales tax is going toward the stadium.

“When you build a stadium, it’s going to be there for a long time. It’s going to be what the community is proud of,” Superintendent Dr. Mark Scott said.

He adds it’ll be both cost effective and a milestone.

“One of things that concerned Houston County High School was being able to have their logos on the field and having logos that recognize their team and their school,” Scott said.

Permanent logos on turf — newly installed at Houston County High’s current home, McConnell-Talbert stadium.

Staff with the Houston County school district say the turf at McConnell-Talbert Stadium is doing exactly what they expected it to do — it lasted through the wear and tear of the football season, that’s why they say they’ll put the turf in the new stadium.

“When you have three teams playing in a weekend, I mean the grass stops growing,” Hill said.

In addition to turf, the new stadium is a cheaper build than the “Mac” — about a five million dollar difference.

“It’s easier to do aluminum and it’s quicker to do aluminum and that’s one of the things we had to look at in the time frame of construction,” Hill said.

Plans are to have the stadium finished by August 2016.