(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD has officially released its architectural designs for the new Matador Stadium.
The $17.3 million rebuild of Matador Stadium was among the projects included in the $64.7 million bond issue approved by voters on May 4.
Sharing the renderings of the new facility with members of the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees was Robyn Popa, of Pfluger Associates Architects. Popa says much time, effort and energy went into providing and collecting the information necessary to draw up the designs for the stadium which will be rebuilt at its current site on the Seguin High School campus. She says the series of elements included in the stadium’s design not only address needs and safety, but it also pulls together a whole new look for the Seguin ISD community.
“So, this is the layout and the site plan of your new Matador Stadium Complex and what this design does it solves a number of issues. It improves your entry points into the facility from both the visitor and the home side. We have brand new restrooms with the correct plumbing counts. We have improved concession facilities. We have a reconstructed track and field and reorganized field and track events. We have new grandstand bleachers. We have enhanced the perimeter security of the complex and we will reconstruct a new press box,” said Popa.
Addressing the entry ways, Popa says the location of its ticket booths and front grates will serve as the anchors for the facility — better defining a front facade for the stadium.
“Those improved entries are angular with an orientation facing toward Cedar Street. We believe that is important because it promotes visibility toward the main entry of the complex. The last thing that you want from a security point of view is to have people who are unfamiliar with the area just walking around aimlessly trying to find a way into the complex and we know from our discussions with district staff — even though there’s parking in front of Goldie and parking around the high school, a large majority of spectators actually park here in this facility and then walk across Cedar to go over to the complex. So, we felt that angling those entry points toward Cedar was important,” said Popa.
She says there are also several other improvements being added to both the home and visitor sides of the stadium.
“On the home side, the ticketing booths have three ticket windows to kind of facilitate getting a larger volume of spectators into the facility and we have also included the provisions for a sports store. This is where the booster club is selling their sports paraphernalia. The visitors’ side also has a comparable ticket booth but only with two ticket windows,” said Popa.
The stadium’s entrance is also expected to highlight the new concession stand. Popa says the space is an added bonus for the Seguin Sports Booster Club, which will continue to be responsible for handling that space.
“If we take a closer look at the concession stand on the home side, there are six transaction windows so we are matching the same number of transaction windows that are out there at the concession building today. We have the windows oriented towards the main point of entry so it’s very obvious where the concession sales are. There’s dedicated storage specifically for the concession and booster program. We have a hand washing sink and a dishwashing sink proximity to outside because we know that grilling is a favorite feature of the booster club. I’ve heard lots and lots about the pork chop and as a part of all of the systems, we are providing a grease trap that so we are being a responsible stewards toward the sanitary sewer system in this area and we have had multiple conversations with the booster club and have gotten the list of equipment that they intend to outfit this space with so that we can make sure that we are providing adequate electrical provisions for that equipment,” said Popa.
Safety, of course, remained on top of the district’s list as it helped draw up the plans for the new stadium. Popa says securing the perimeter was priority.
“When we look at perimeter security, one of the feedback comments that we got from the coaching staff was that the problem with the stadium now is that it is not secure so even though we want to promote community use of some school facilities, when the community is not being responsible stewards of that, sometimes the better approach is to secure it. So, all around the stadium, we have an eight foot tall fence and for three of the four sides, it’s a chain link fence. The fence or the barrier that’s going to be along Cedar Street is actually a masonry wall so that it will encourage people to come into the complex, purchase a ticket and support your Matadors in an appropriate fashion and don’t stand outside of the fence and get a free game from the street. There’s also a four foot tall fence to further separate spectators from athletes so that nobody who is there for a game accidently wanders onto the field,” said Popa.
Popa says even the field itself will undergo some very important changes.
“Moving on to the track and field — what we did do is we widened the field so if you got out to the field today, it is a little narrow. It’s a little difficult to play regulation soccer on that size field so we widened it so that you could have a regulation soccer field on that new and improved turf system. By doing that, we were also able to design a proportionally shaped track. The track that is out there now is a little long for today’s track standards. We also provided space in between the track and the bleachers so anybody who has ever been running or walking on that outside lane, it is not very comfortable walking right up against the fence and the wall line that is right at the bleachers so we have about six feet of space in between the edge of the track and where the bleachers start and we did move some field events inside of the complex,” said Popa.
Other key components for the new stadium is a seating capacity of 8,210 seats. The number is a little less than the current capacity but has been leveled to better serve the home and visitor sides of the stadium. The stadium will also include a 2,678 square foot, two-story press box with elevator.
Now, what might be the most shocking element of the new stadium is the number of restrooms that are required to be constructed. When it’s all said and done, the new stadium will be equipped with a total of 123 restrooms — 54 women and 28 men on the home side and 27 women and 14 men on the visitor’s side.
The new stadium is expected to be completed and ready to go by the start of the 2020-2021 school year.