Cost to Build a Basic Football Field

[cren22]

I am looking to get info on the cost of building a small football stadium for a small private six-man school. All the recent builds in my area have been much larger than I need/way out of my budget. I was hoping that some of you might have knowledge about costs.

I am looking to have a 300 seat capacity (250 home, 50 visitor) , small (5-6 seat, separate compartment for Home Coaches and everyone else) press box with film deck on top, a basic football scoreboard, and some kind of platform behind the visitors stands for visiting coaches to use. Lights are optional. I would also need to sod/reseed the grass.

I live in a hilly area. Half the field area (50 yds x 20 yds) is relatively flat. The rest would have to be graded. I would like to know if it would be cheaper to dig the home stands into the side of a hill that is abutting the playing field with the press box sitting on top of the hill. This is a very common practice up here.

Without accounting for the sod, I've estimated that the bleachers, press box, scoreboard, platform, and goalposts would run me about $40,000. I would like to know how close or far off I may be and if there's anything I may be able to do to cut the costs down (anything I can get used, government grants, NFL Facility Grants, etc...) Thanks in advance,

- Colin Renner

 

[Dogface]

Man Colin, you're awesome!!
Well, It sure would help,
in a lot of different ways,
to know some good welders.
They could build the goalposts,
pressbox, film stands, consession etc.
And the bleachers cut back into the hillside
sounds WAY cool!
Not positive,
but it sounds like the dozer work,
and sod may be your biggest expence.
Go find someone who works for the
street dept., and ask them
to take a look at your place
and figure how much it would cost to grade it.

 

[CowboyP]

How much area needs to be graded? How much elevation difference is there between the flat area & the area that needs work? If you can get me those numbers, I can estimate how many yards of dirt need to be moved & an approximate cost. I'll also need to know where the field is, because cost varies from place to place.

 

[cren22]

Man Colin, you're awesome!!
Well, It sure would help,
in a lot of different ways,
to know some good welders.
They could build the goalposts,
pressbox, film stands, consession etc.
And the bleachers cut back into the hillside
sounds WAY cool!
Not positive,
but it sounds like the dozer work,
and sod may be your biggest expence.

I actually have a contractor who has kids at the school who has offered weekend use of his equipment when it is available. I still need fill dirt and sod, which should be the biggest expense. It's a pretty significant grade, so I'll need some drainage work to make sure the water runs properly.
I found a company that sells used scoreboards, and have contacted them to ask about their inventory to see how much I can save vs. buying new. Looking into getting everything welded is a great idea Dogface, it will save me a lot of money. A family friend runs the metal shop at the County Vo-Tech HS, he's had his students make things for us before, so I'll see what he can do as far as the bleachers, press box, etc...

As for the bleachers cut into the hill, there are 2 main ways to go about it. One of the local private schools very uniquely decided to build a terraced stadium, no bleacher seats at all, just levels of grass terraces going down the hill, you bring your blanket or lawn chair and take your favorite seat. The other much more common way is to build a proper stadium into the hillside, with the press box sitting on top of the hill. Here is an example of the second from a county high school, the press box is actually sitting on ground level at the top of the hill:

I would look to build something like this, except with just the middle couple sections, and no track

Edit: Updated with better picture.

 

[cren22]

How much area needs to be graded? How much elevation difference is there between the flat area & the area that needs work? If you can get me those numbers, I can estimate how many yards of dirt need to be moved & an approximate cost. I'll also need to know where the field is, because cost varies from place to place.

Thanks Cowboy P,

The field is in Westminster, Maryland.
I need to grade about 70 x 40 yds to give me enough room to keep kids from running down the hill every time they go out of bounds.
The equipment/labor I can get donated, but I need to buy the fill dirt.
The elevation difference is about 8 feet (we're in the mountain foothills)

Let me know if you need anything else,
- Colin

 

[CowboyP]

If it is 8 feet to the lowest point, and the slope is reasonably consistent, you'll need 4000-4500 cubic yards. You may want to consider lowering the overall elevation of the field, as long as you can maintain drainage. You can take some of the dirt from the flat area. Another option is to check with crews on construction sites near you. If they have extra material, they will normally haul it to you for free so they don't have to pay to dump it.

 

[freeagent]

Just be sure that any free "fill dirt" you get isn't laden with junk, etc.

I know of one school who got lots of "free dirt" to fill in their football field. Years later, people were still pulling rocks and such out of the field. In fact, I remember playing a game there and thought there was a piece of wood in the field near the goal line. Found out it was a landscape timber/railroad tie about 6 feet long..