Forget about a college team. A naive out-of-state traveler might wonder what NFL organization was planning on relocating to Allen’s palace. Maybe we Texans are so insulated to the fervor surrounding high school football here that we can’t really comprehend its reduced emphasis elsewhere…. We almost expect grandiose high school stadiums in the Lone Star State. Now Eagle Stadium is the mother hen of that group…. The stadium is part of a $119 million bond package that was passed in 2009. In Friday night’s opener, 21,766 fans crammed inside to watch Allen shut out defending champion Southlake Carroll…. And it’s not a football-only venue, either. Beneath the stands is a golf simulator, a wrestling area and an enormous weight room.
Back in February, 2011, I wrote about Texas’ Allen High School building a $60 million football stadium while at the same time laying off teachers and cutting programs. Judging by the response I received from some folks in Texas, you’d have thought I’d molested their womenfolk and made off with their horses. Regardless of whether or not fans of Texas high school football want to acknowldge it or not, Allen’s $60 million monument to misplaced priorities says pretty much everything you need to know about the relative value of edumication in Texas. While it’s become clear to most of the nation that Texas’ public school are intended by many Texas Republicans to be little more than Christian indoctrination camps, high school football has long been right up there with all things Jesus. If you’ve ever been to a state championship game in Texas, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
Eagle Stadium opened last Friday night to rave reviews from those who attended the game. One reviewer said that Allen’s football cathedral “lives up to expectations,” as if fans shouldn’t have to put up with the primitive conditions most of the unwashed masses in other states must endure in order to watch a high school game. Yes, I’m a card-carrying member of the unwashed masses, if for no other reason than I simply can’t understand the backasswards priorities that Eagle Stadium represents.
Don’t get me wrong; I understand that the $199 bond measure passed handily in 2009 (with the support of 63.66% of voters). The voters of Allen ISD are certainly free to apportion their tax dollars as they mutually agree to…and people like me are free to point out their hypocrisy and twisted priorities. Allen’s median household income in $95k/year, almost twice the national average, so there’s clearly a lot of money to throw around. That said, I still hold to what I said 19 months ago: Eagle Stadium is an outsized example of some horribly backasswards priorities. In an era when so many districts, including Allen, are cutting costs and laying off teachers, $60 million for a football stadium seems…difficult to justify at the very least.
A month after I initially wrote about Allen’s bond measure, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the budget shortfalls could result in 100,000 of Texas’ 333,000 public school teachers being laid off. Given that environment, you could be forgiven for thinking that lucid, thoughtful people would come together and devise a plan for dealing with (and hopefully forestalling) that sort of crisis. This is Texas we’re talking about, and so it seems the place of Allen’s $60 million football palace vis a vis education was never deemed worthy of discussion.
Hey, it’s football; what does that have to do with edumication??
Residents of Allen ISD and apologists for Texas high school football can apply as much lipstick as they want to this pig. When they’re done, they’ll still have a pig on their hands…and some seriously backasswards priorities.
Johnny may not be able to read or write, but you can bet that he’ll be to be throw a fade pass to the back of the end zone…and won’t that look good on a resume?
