Buffalo High School is beginning construction on a new football stadium, which will be completely finished in three years, school officials said.
Athletic Director Pat Clark said the new facility will be more convenient than the school's current stadium.
That venue is located at the old high school, now vacant, which sits down the road from the new high school that was built in 2012. For the past four years, the football players have had to lug their gear down the road before a game and haul it back to the school after. Teams use the old school as their dressing room instead of having locker rooms.
"The facilities are old. They work, but I don't know when that school was built," Clark said. "Visitors are dressing in the old dressing rooms. That building is now vacant - there's not much maintenance that goes on in the building."
The new stadium will take care of these issues, Clark said.
Darrell Moore, Buffalo's softball coach, went to the Putnam County School Board in September with administrators to get the stadium project started.
As a Buffalo High graduate, he was thrilled when the new high school was built, but saw the need in the community for a new football stadium.
In addition to the existing stadium being inconveniently located, he also said the track is sloped and doesn't have the correct radius. The new regulation track will have eight lanes; the current track only has six.
"I think it's fantastic," Moore said. "I think it's going to be state-of-the-art and I think it will be one of the top facilities around. We're taking our time with it."
Moore said he hopes local businesses, such as Toyota, will consider donating funds to the new facility. He said the new stadium will be used for more than just football, and can host other events such as concerts, Special Olympics events and band competitions.
The construction on the new stadium has already began, with grass planted and the grade on the field complete.
According to Clark, the new stadium will have seating to accommodate 2,500 people, a concession stand for both home and visitor sides, a new press box, state-of-the-art LED lighting, new locker rooms, a new weight room and an eight-lane track surrounding the field.
School officials have projected the facility to be completed in three phases. The first phase is field grass, the bleachers, the scoreboard and the press box, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2016, Clark said.
"It's a long shot, but we're hoping to be able to play some of our football games later in the 2016 season at the new facility, but it won't be fully finished," Clark said.
By the end of 2017, the school hopes to have the locker rooms and weight room complete. Clark said the decorations and concession stands will be completed by 2018 if all the other phases go as planned.
To help fund the new facility, the school has started a "Buy a Brick" program, where alumni or community members can buy a brick for $100 with their name or a message on it. The bricks will be laid in front of the stadium when it's finished.
Clark said he's received positive feedback from students, their parents and the community.
"They've embraced it really well," Clark said. "The kids are asking every day, 'When's it going to be done? Am I going to be able to play on it before I graduate?'"
Clark said the construction for the stadium is at a standstill right now because of the weather, but they hope to resume building once the weather warms up in March.
Until the new stadium is built, student athletes will continue playing at the old football stadium down the road.
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