Texas High Schools Are Spending Millions on Indoor Practice Facilities

It’s all about keeping up with the joneses.

By Michael MarksDecember 12, 2016 3:15 pm,

Football is a game that requires quite a bit of equipment to play. Regulation football requires pads, helmets, a ball, at least a hundred yards of space, and – if you ask some Texas high school athletic officials – a multi-million dollar indoor practice facility.

There are more of these edifices in Texas than anywhere else. And more of them – with bells and whistles like attached weight rooms and coaches offices – are built every year. School districts are taking on millions of dollars in debt to do so.

Corbett Smith, reporter for the Dallas Morning News, says Texas schools are trying to keep up with the joneses.

“If a neighboring school district has a facility, I think a lot of teams will look at that and say ‘hey, why don’t we have that facility as well?’ so districts get in this competition.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– What happened with new stadiums in Paris, Texas

– Why it’s all about competition

– How expensive these facilities get

– Should these communities be spending so much for these facilities?