Texas High School Debuts $56M Football Stadium (La Porte)

here’s Brody Brazil depending on where you’re watching this video from across the country or across the world that might have a big impact on how you feel about the topic of this video there’s a high school in Texas that just got done completing a $56 million stadium for its football team let me say that again $56 million high school football stadium that’s about to open this upcoming school year just outside of Houston Texas this is Leaport High School no this is what it used to look like i want to be very clear and I’m somebody who actually started my career covering high school football here in Northern California in the Bay Area i went to all the schools i covered pretty much every team of like 250 high schools saw so many different teams so many different schools and so many different football fields and this is pretty prototypical here i should have done that in red grandstands on one side grandstands on the other they’re very lucky here they’ve got lights those are very high up look at that press box like a Star Wars style press box they already had and I think this stadium was built in the 50s or 60s they’ve obviously added on but it was that simple seats on one side seats on the other you can see a track right there and not much more to it actually you know what let me show you the aerial i forgot this was in there this is the overhead view home of the Bulldogs i mean if that doesn’t scream high school football I don’t know what that building is i’m going to assume it’s locker rooms or some type of workout facility there’s a couple other buildings here not a big deal area for the shot put over there really big track here surrounding that uh that football field but yeah I think it seats maybe four or 5,000 and that’s a pretty big and spacious and pretty typical high school football field that you can see anywhere across the United States that’s what it used to look like here’s what it now looks like you think this is really worth all that money by the way this aerial shot I assume from the drone not far off from the Gulf there so you’ve got nice proximity to uh the shoreline looks like the setting is great but in terms of the stadium here for the Bulldogs couple things to point out jumbotron on that side Jumbotron on this side not only on the inside of the stadium but look at that the outward- facing jumbotron for the exterior of the stadium yeah it’s technically got two decks this is like a second deck stadium press box on that side obviously team facilities probably workout um maybe locker room area on that that I think that’s the north side of the building but there are structures here all around i don’t know if there’s bathrooms in there or what’s going on here but entrances yeah this is the south side i think that says southeast right there the point is there’s a lot going on here but there’s also not a lot going on here it is impressive don’t get me wrong for a high school you get to play your home games there but what do we say $56 million are you seeing Are you seeing $56 million here like if if I gave you $56 million is this what you would expect to be the end result maybe i mean maybe that’s what all of this costs and it’s all built out too i’ll show you some of the inside shots there but yeah there’s this structure there’s all that maybe it does you know what maybe in the end it does add up to $56 million it’s a lot it’s not a big stadium i think this place is going to seat a little bit north of 9,000 oh that’s why it costs 50 plus million this is a full scale control room for like a video for a broadcast i imagine for the big screens I see a production switcher right there i see a router right there of course I’m I’m this guy with like this home studio of course that’s the that’s the stuff I see in this video are those uh yeah those monitors up there are those expensive anyway bottom line is here they’ve got a whole production control room here gen X that’s what I was trying to think of the speakers the expensive speakers this looks like the view from the training facility on the north side so it’s got a nice uh you know scenery and setting of the actual field i imagine that could be a wait room i mean what high school has a bunch of has a bunch of big screens hanging from the ceiling is this an Orange Theory or is this a high school workout facility where I went to high school definitely didn’t look like that in fact I think it was a converted auto shop that was the athletic department’s weight room there’s like a first class pavilion area here is this luxury seating are these luxury suites at a high school football stadium i mean it’s crazy right or maybe it’s not crazy more on that in a second and wait until you see some of the other other things popping up around Texas in terms of high school football that is definitely a second deck i also want to point out in just a second those seats like this track the football field the end zone doesn’t even end until right over there that was a really bad arrow i’m taking that off endzone’s right over there so I mean you are way far away you’re like 40 yards away if you’re sitting in those second deck seats i should have highlighted that in some of the overhead shots but again Leaport High School the new football stadium in the facility cost a total of $56 million i should also explain this was part of a 235 bond uh million dollar bond package three different measures that were all approved back in May of 2023 and if you’re saying well did this get crammed in with something else like did they do textbooks school buses and a football stadium on one measure they actually didn’t i mean I will give the Leaport is it independent school district uh and the the voters around there I will give them some credit measure C was Bulldog Stadium alone they specifically wanted this to happen this was independent this wasn’t shoved in with anything else voters approved this there is kind of a sour side the Bulldogs have not played a home game since October 21st 2022 they basically took the 23 and 24 football season to rip out that entire facility and build what you just saw so the point being is that some kids had to have their junior and senior year of playing football at Leaport High School just outside of Houston they missed out on obviously the new stadium they didn’t even get to play a home game for two full years so some kids really missed out although some kids are going to get it great if you’re graduating in the next four years or beyond so kind of stinks that they did that that they had to do that shut it down for 2 years but also just kind of amazing that this was a $56 million project but let me blow your mind for just a second if you’re thinking well this isn’t normal who does this well in Willis and that school district they’re requesting right now a $68.8 8 million high school football stadium katie’s already got a $72 million stadium mckenny’s at 70 prosper’s at 60 tombles at 55.7 and Clear Creek has a $52.2 million stadium these are high school football stadiums i get it it depends on where you’re watching this video if you’re in Texas you’re like “Well yeah that’s what we do this is our thing this is our entertainment it’s part of our culture.” a lot of the rest of the country you’re probably going to be asking some questions some honest questions just like I’m about to do and I love sports and I think it’s so cool that some high school kids are going to get to play at a facility like that and not just high school football i should be clear i’m sure the boys and girls soccer team gets to use it i’m sure track and field’s going to have a ball with this i’m sure there’s a lot of things that are going to happen at that at that stadium it it is a community meeting point and a rallying spot i I totally get that but if a community is ever short a single dime on education but is also at the same time willing to spend $56 million on a high school football stadium I think that’s a bad way of going about things i mean the question instantly has to be asked could $56 million have been better spent like in this educational environment again I love sports i love stuff like that i think it’s so cool i think in a lot of ways it’ll it’ll pay the pay the community back in ways they didn’t even expect but if we’re talking about 2025 and how school budgets go that’s hard and also does that stadium even look like $56 million i don’t know maybe I have this in my head you tell me what you think in the comments section below i would have expected like a full second deck maybe a longer press box by the way what who needs a press box if you’re press and you’re covering a high school football game like I used to do you’re out on the field you’re out on the sideline you’re not up in a press box that’s climate controlled and has glass windows in front of you that’s the NFL that’s college that’s not high school but does that does that stadium feel like $56 million i don’t know i’m still kind of torn on that one who by the way is also going to sit in all those terrible end seats on the south end there like I know they had to do that to fit the track in there but again I I feel like this stadium wasn’t like they didn’t spend all their money on design of the stadium if if I if I’m being fair right if you’re fine with 56 million I just don’t know that they made it like efficient as a professional stadium might be and I also want to ask this question at the very end what’s the return on this $56 million now I I am not saying that because I feel like I’ve I’ve already got the answer or I’m totally against this i’m saying I think you can sell me on this you can say “All right here’s why over the next if it lasts 50 years it is a million dollars a year more than that but you could sell me on the value of this to the community and if they can squeeze every ounce of productivity out of this stadium you could probably sell me but I I just don’t know what that is compared to $56 million of building I don’t know a music hall a cultural center something a little bit more educational like what would a $20 million library do you could build basically three of those for the purpose of one high school football stadium what is the return you let me know in the comments section down below what do you think the best way you could justify a return on this is again I can be sold i’m not totally against this i just don’t know what exactly the return is so a $56 million stadium but as you found out with this video that’s not even close to the most expensive high school football stadiums in and around the state of Texas here in California I doubt we’ll be seeing one of those anytime soon let me know what you think about all this in the comments section below also thumbs up while you’re down there helps me the video and the channel don’t forget to hit that subscribe button you know I’d love to see you back here next time

Join channel, access perks ✅ http://brodie.bz/join
LEAVE ME A VOICEMAIL 📞 (833) 4-BRODIE

*Subscribe now, get more* 📺 http://brodie.bz/YouTube

[[ *MY PLAYLISTS* ]]
San Jose Sharks: https://brodie.bz/sharks
San Francisco 49ers: https://brodie.bz/49ers
San Francisco Giants: https://brodie.bz/giants
Golden State Warriors: https://brodie.bz/warriors
Howard Terminal Ballpark: https://brodie.bz/HowardTerminal
Oakland Athletics: https://brodie.bz/athletics

[[ *MY OTHER CHANNELS* ]]
*BRODIE BRAZIL AVIATION* ✈️ http://brodie.bz/Aviation
*HOME STUDIO PRO* 🎥 http://brodie.bz/HomeStudio

📸 *Instagram* ➡️ http://brodie.bz/IG
🐦 *X /Twitter* ➡️ http://brodie.bz/X
👍 *Facebook* ➡️ http://brodie.bz/FB

*Support this channel* 🎉 https://brodie.bz/PayPal

#texas #football #sports

23 comments

  1. LaPorte is a little late to the high school "mega stadium" game in the state of Texas. Allen and McKinney (north of Dallas in Collin County) opened up larger and more grandiose football stadiums within the last decade (though, both venues were plagued with structural defects which have since been corrected); McKinney's stadium hosts the NCAA Division II national championship game and has done so for the past decade.

    All 12 of Frisco ISD's high schools (keep in mind that Frisco only had one high school up until 2002 before the population explosion hit hard) and spread their football games across their own Memorial Stadium, Toyota Stadium (FC Dallas' home grounds) and The Ford Center at the Star in Frisco (which is part of the Cowboys' world headquarters).

    And that's not factoring in high school stadiums which are about as large (pushing 10K capacity) which aren't quite as modern as LaPorte, Allen, McKinney, etc. such as San Antonio ISD's Alamo Stadium, Fort Worth ISD's Farrington Field, which dates back to the 1930s, and Ector County ISD's Ratliff Stadium, the home of Odessa Permian of Friday Night Lights fame, Odessa High and UT-Permian Basin (D2 football).

    And then you have the occasional high school which shared a stadium with a mid-sized FCS/D2 program such as Stephenville High (about an hour and a half southwest of Fort Worth), which used to share Tarleton Memorial Stadium with Tarleton State (FCS) but will be moving into their own stadium this season, and Canyon High School (between Lubbock and Amarillo), which shared what used to be known as Kimbrough Stadium with West Texas A&M before WTAMU moved into their new stadium a few years ago.

    And, yes, bonds for athletic facilities are voted upon separately from bonds for other items in Texas' school districts (including school buses and general facilities upgrades), but they're not always automatic. It look my hone school district, Lewisville ISD, two tries to get a bond measure for "modest upgrades" (by Texas standards) to our five high school football stadiums passed by the voters.

  2. Brodie, as a long time follower I say this with all due respect, but the question put to the voters wasn't the question you asked, shouldn't we spend this money on educational facilities or libraries? The question put to voters in a very democratic process was, do you want to authorize bonds in order to build a state of the art football stadium and athletic complex? Perhaps we shouldn't overlay our opinions and "this is what they should have done" ideas on the citizens who voted for this bond. It's their money and they'll be paying for it through taxes for years to come. It's like asking Utahns "why don't you spend that $800 million on something else? It wasn;t approved for "something else", it was approved for an MLB baseball stadium.

  6. Those seats that run past the endzone are completely worthless for football. They should have built up the seats more on the sides. Nobody will sit in those seats on the end except for maybe track events. That is what, about $20M of seats wasted? It's at least a third of the seating capacity wasted.

  8. I guarantee you the community/public return will be far greater from the stadium than the millions of dollars wasted every year given to the teachers unions.

  12. They voted for it so there’s really nothing to say. I agree that the emphasis seems to be on the wrong syllable here, but if they are also taking care of everything else (teachers, school buildings, buses, etc) then it is what it is.

  13. A lot of the districts that can build these new large stadiums have an incredibly strong property tax base and near fanatical voter support to provide better facilities for their kids. They push these votes through not only for stadiums but for gyms, performing arts centers, entire new science campuses, complete remodels of half the district’s elementary schools, etc. See Allen high school as one of the more extreme examples

  16. the McKinney stadium mentioned, which I believe is for the school district rather than an individual school, also host the NCAA D2 final… so there is possibility of generating revenue beyond a handful of home football games

  18. Looks nice. If they can build that for “only” $56 million, I feel like they could build a temporary field for the Rays or A’s for under $100 million. Instead they are going to spend that much rebuilding a roof for a stadium that everybody hates, is in a terrible location, and will undoubtedly be torn down in a few years.

  20. Everything is bigger in Texas, Brodie. This $56M stadium will restore and enhance community pride. The video production suite would support live broadcasting of games and other events through streaming, local linear, and cable channels. The local regional sports network, Space City Sports, could pick a few games here and there during the season.

    The downsides are: 1) the stadium is too close to the bay, so it's at high risk and vulnerable to a Tropicana Field incident when an intense hurricane passes through the area; 2) there is a risk to the facade and infrastructure being damaged by its proximity to the sea water like the soon-to-be-demolished Aloha Stadium; 3) an inconic exterior facade would sold me 100%, instead of 80%.

  23. I was surprised when they build that Planet Ford Stadium in Spring ISD. It was only 40 million, but those teams never win anything so it was weird.. looks really nice though

Leave a Reply