So reading the topic on the Southland Football thread that has been brought up countless times on this and the previous board I think deserved its own, fresh topic.
We've discussed many, many times that Homer Bryce Stadium is dated and, for a number of reasons doesn't have the best college football feel to it. But what would be a feasible way to improve our Saturday nights in Nac?
The idea of a new stadium altogether is an interesting one, but the question is where to put it. The idea of building it where our current practice facilities are is a good one. It keeps a very good backdrop of the Piney Woods and there's room to make a very nicely sized stadium. Homer Bryce could even be kept in tact and still used for other things.
If Homer Bryce was renovated in the ways it needs to be, removing the track and moving the stands closer to the field, I believe it would be much more expensive than anyone realizes. It could be done, but would take time and be very expensive.
Doing a complete rebuild of Homer Bryce(demolishing and rebuilding) would be easier than trying to fix the current problems, but how many boosters and alumni who have only ever known Homer Bryce Stadium as there home would really be okay with that? It's easy for us to say we want something new for our football team but there are a ton of people with bigger ties and more money attached to the school who probably would throw a fit if they found out we were demolishing Homer Bryce.
And with the two above options, that means for at minimum one season our Division 1 football program would likely have to share a field with NHS or Lufkin High School.
Realistically we are probably looking at well over a decade before SFA could financially support the construction of a new football stadium, but I do think something needs to be done.
Many FCS schools have beautiful state of the art facilities and I think we should too. It would help the football atmosphere, probably bring in more fans, and attract more recruits.
Or maybe we can just throw a dome over Homer Bryce Stadium and call it the Sawmill 2.0.
We've discussed many, many times that Homer Bryce Stadium is dated and, for a number of reasons doesn't have the best college football feel to it. But what would be a feasible way to improve our Saturday nights in Nac?
The idea of a new stadium altogether is an interesting one, but the question is where to put it. The idea of building it where our current practice facilities are is a good one. It keeps a very good backdrop of the Piney Woods and there's room to make a very nicely sized stadium. Homer Bryce could even be kept in tact and still used for other things.
If Homer Bryce was renovated in the ways it needs to be, removing the track and moving the stands closer to the field, I believe it would be much more expensive than anyone realizes. It could be done, but would take time and be very expensive.
Doing a complete rebuild of Homer Bryce(demolishing and rebuilding) would be easier than trying to fix the current problems, but how many boosters and alumni who have only ever known Homer Bryce Stadium as there home would really be okay with that? It's easy for us to say we want something new for our football team but there are a ton of people with bigger ties and more money attached to the school who probably would throw a fit if they found out we were demolishing Homer Bryce.
And with the two above options, that means for at minimum one season our Division 1 football program would likely have to share a field with NHS or Lufkin High School.
Realistically we are probably looking at well over a decade before SFA could financially support the construction of a new football stadium, but I do think something needs to be done.
Many FCS schools have beautiful state of the art facilities and I think we should too. It would help the football atmosphere, probably bring in more fans, and attract more recruits.
Or maybe we can just throw a dome over Homer Bryce Stadium and call it the Sawmill 2.0.