Spartan Stadium

[shoelace]

Have seen some monumental playoff games played there over the years.

[SWHITE2002]

Local Tax money should not be going to the Stadium with the only benefactor being Notre Dame, which is a private school. ND has donors with the deepest pockets around. If upgrades are to benefit them, they should raise their own proceeds.

ND does have donors, but not $5-$10 million dollars amongst a few that do have money. Portsmouth High School used the stadium for years and left as soon as they were "given" money for a new stadium/school. So, Notre Dame leaning on taxpayers money is hardly a handout and just as someone else said, it benefits many other teams/organizations. The school relies on donors to keep the school running and pay its bills to provide an education that is far better than a lot of other schools (check the test scores) and is proven. So sorry that a school levy isn't able to be formed and used like all other schools do to create funding for a new building.

It would be fantastic if the NFL would donate to preserve a stadium once used by one of their "teams" and the first-night football game. But, we all know that it won't happen so the next idea will need to be used to gather funds.

Glad you're so open to seeing other schools succeed as well as seeing a historic structure preserved.

That’s difference between Public and Private. If they don’t have the finances to run the program, don’t have it.

[PTrojan59]

Article in the PDT on Spartan stadium really lays out what kind of money it would take to fix up the historic venue. Goes on to tell of a possible plan. Everything from it being on the ballot for tax payers to pay towards it, to it being demolished. Decent read if anyone is interested.

[RBH23]

Article in the PDT on Spartan stadium really lays out what kind of money it would take to fix up the historic venue. Goes on to tell of a possible plan. Everything from it being on the ballot for tax payers to pay towards it, to it being demolished. Decent read if anyone is interested.

Definitely was a good article, although I was surprised that the total cost is only $5MM+. I thought I read it would be over $10MM.

[dirt_cinders]

Local Tax money should not be going to the Stadium with the only benefactor being Notre Dame, whom is a private school. ND has donors with the deepest pockets around. If upgrades are to benefit them, they should raise their own proceeds.

Well that is one perspective - I guess we could feel the same way about tax dollars going to Portsmouth City Schools (about 70% of tax dollars) if you child goes to a private school. Maybe all school tax dollars should follow the child and where they go.
I do not feel this way because I see the value of the public school and what it means to the city.

[sportsnutscioto]

Time to move on past this old yet historic relic. It’s a shame, but years of neglect and relying on the current residents at the time to do patch work has caused this facility to deteriorate. We get so caught up with the mystic of old buildings around town and get bent out of shape when they are torn down. But, with the neglect over the years and the cost to repair, just build new. Go out and price the cost of a turf football field; some bleacher style seating; open space for standing room and bag chairs and you could have yourself a nice multipurpose field for many uses other than just football for the current resident of the stadium and anyone else currently using it. Do an 8-10 year lease with ND at half the cost of the field turf and allow them first priority use of the field/complex from August-November. At the end of the lease agreement, about the time to redo the turf, offer to extend the lease under the same agreement.

With smaller bleacher seating space and the amount of space smaller seating areas would create at that location, you could easily have enough space for a full football field and probably additional turf green space for youth to hold practice for the cost to restore the old stadium.

Look around at the revenue being brought in by youth sports entertainment. Towns all along I64 in West Virginia have jumped on it. It’s a revenue stream Portsmouth could easily tap into if the city would get out of its own way. Too many in office and around town that just don’t see the big picture in regards to growth potential around town. The city could then start to look at upgrades and endeavors with Branch Rickey Park, which is still in remarkable shape and the Little League fields.

There is so much that could be done with all that space. A whole sports/activities/entertainment complex with the right vision and investment.

[RBH23]

Time to move on past this old yet historic relic. It’s a shame, but years of neglect and relying on the current residents at the time to do patch work has caused this facility to deteriorate. We get so caught up with the mystic of old buildings around town and get bent out of shape when they are torn down. But, with the neglect over the years and the cost to repair, just build new. Go out and price the cost of a turf football field; some bleacher style seating; open space for standing room and bag chairs and you could have yourself a nice multipurpose field for many uses other than just football for the current resident of the stadium and anyone else currently using it. Do an 8-10 year lease with ND at half the cost of the field turf and allow them first priority use of the field/complex from August-November. At the end of the lease agreement, about the time to redo the turf, offer to extend the lease under the same agreement.

With smaller bleacher seating space and the amount of space smaller seating areas would create at that location, you could easily have enough space for a full football field and probably additional turf green space for youth to hold practice for the cost to restore the old stadium.

Look around at the revenue being brought in by youth sports entertainment. Towns all along I64 in West Virginia have jumped on it. It’s a revenue stream Portsmouth could easily tap into if the city would get out of its own way. Too many in office and around town that just don’t see the big picture in regards to growth potential around town. The city could then start to look at upgrades and endeavors with Branch Rickey Park, which is still in remarkable shape and the Little League fields.

There is so much that could be done with all that space. A whole sports/activities/entertainment complex with the right vision and investment.

As much as I would love to see the stadium repaired, the cost is too high to dump on the residents of Portsmouth. Moving on is sadly the best option.

[dirt_cinders]

A little smoke has been in the air for at least 3 to 4 years on a possible new school for Notre Dame. The voucher program has cleared the way for a number of families to afford Notre Dame. The elementary has a number of waiting lists for classes and have outgrown the building. The Ohio General Assembly just passed into law increases in the voucher system for the upcoming year. A family of 4 making 135k/yr or less can receive up to 8,400 per child for hs tuition.

If the new school is in the plans I would look to do a football field at the school and spend money there.

[Old Shorts]

Being referred to as an “old relic” myself I can honestly say the world would be much worse without us “relics” around. I hope they find a way to save the old girl. As for me, my shorts could be considered relics as well but they are still in great shape so I’m going to keep them around and keep wearing them.

[formerfcfan]

A little smoke has been in the air for at least 3 to 4 years on a possible new school for Notre Dame. The voucher program has cleared the way for a number of families to afford Notre Dame. The elementary has a number of waiting lists for classes and have outgrown the building. The Ohio General Assembly just passed into law increases in the voucher system for the upcoming year. A family of 4 making 135k/yr or less can receive up to 8,400 per child for hs tuition.

If the new school is in the plans I would look to do a football field at the school and spend money there.

There are two ways I can see ND getting a new school. But, both paths are reliant on “if’s.”

1) ND ponies up at least 80% of the financing on their end.

The Diocese is risk-averse. At the same time, they have many plates spinning. A new school for ND would be great, but I doubt the Diocese is going to get behind having to pick up more than 20% of the tab. If that. This is partly due to the complicated geography of population in Scioto County: waning population, plus the main concentration of wealth is in a community that not only has solid public schools — but also the parish that had the most attendance. With the DoC looking to build a new high school, from the ground up, in Delaware County and the possibility of rebooting Flaget in Chillicothe, I would expect the line to be “if you want it so bad, you’re making it happen.”

2) The state legislature, indeed, goes deeper on School Choice to the extent that some Republicans (like Senate President Matt Huffman) have inferred: that the state eventually commits public funds toward combating “school choice deserts.” Yes. This is something that has been discussed. In this instance, the state could conceivably make financial commitments toward a new building for ND. It’s an absurd idea, but so too was the idea that the state would be rebating parts of private school tuition to high-income families in the state.

Now, the problem with this is ND possibly being up s— creek with the rest of the county.

[eagle one]

They can patch it up , hell , Fairlands stadium was condemned in 84' and theyre still using it .

both places are dumps with the concrete palace being the worst

[Omega]

Breaking self imposed exile to comment on this subject.

It is obvious the locality does not have the ways and means to restore the stadium where it can be used for many years to come.

That said is there an actual engineering study/plan to restore the stadium for safe and effective use. Is their an actual price tag for such a project?

Assuming a plan exists, have any individuals, civic groups, or government entities actually approached those with deep pockets for funding?

The NFL, ESPN, Bengals, Browns, and local business like Fluor cannot help unless they are asked. Could sports celebrities with southeast Ohio ties like Al Oliver or Joe Burrow lead the cause?

Then again our beloved southeastern Ohio always seems content with the status quo.