Texas Friday nights in the fall mean one thing: high school football. To say the general population is crazed over the sport would be an understatement. But how much do we love high school football? Maybe too much.

Allen High School of Allen ISD recently opened up their $59.6 million football stadium to the public for its season opener against state power Southlake Carroll. The stadium, which includes seating for 18,000 people, also boasts a 38-foot-wide high-definition video screen. A weight room and practice area for both the golf and wrestling teams adds to the amenities of this stadium.

While Eagle Stadium takes the cake in the Texas high school football world, these sort of stretches for bigger and better football stadiums is not unheard of. Odessa Permian, the school well known for “Friday Night Lights” built Ratliff Stadium in 1982 for a then unheard of $5.6 million. The stadium seats just under 18,000 fans.

In East Texas, Carthage High School recently lugged out $750,000 for a 1,200 square foot video screen. In a town that holds just under 7,000 people, the high-priced screen raised a lot of eyebrows.Closer to home, the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex, also known as “The Palace,” was a $26 million venture that opened in 2003 and seats 11,000 people. It is used by all the Round Rock ISD teams and is often rented out for other events.

These high priced football stadiums bring to mind the question: Are we spending too much money on athletic complexes when school budgets are at a low?

There is no doubt that Texas is football crazy, which is reflected by these multi-million dollar stadiums being built. But is football the only thing benefiting from these big money expenditures? At the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex a whole host of events has taken place over the years from band competitions to pro-football tryouts to professional soccer matches.

During the fall, the stadium is constantly used with both middle school and high school football games. Throughout the spring, high school soccer matches fill up “The Palace.”
High school football games give opportunities for students other than the players to showcase their talents. The band, cheer and dance teams all perform during the games.

These multi-million dollar complexes benefit many more students than just the football team, but that will never settle the question of why Texans spend bundles of money on fancy football stadiums.Former presidential candidate and billionaire Ross Perot questioned the decisions by communities to spend more money on football than improvement in schools in Texas.

“Do we want our kids to win on Friday night on the football field or do we want them to win all through their lives,” Perot said in a 1988 Washington Post Column. “Thats what we have to start asking ourselves.”