A view of the new visitors bleachers at the football field at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
There will be changes at the Columbus East football facilities when the Olympians host crosstown rival Columbus North on Friday night.
A newly renovated press box and brand new bleachers sit on the visiting end of Stafford Field. It is only a fraction of a multi-million dollar project by the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. to make upgrades to those facilities, as well as a new softball field that will be fully turf with lights and a new baseball diamond with infield turf and lights.
Construction for the renovations began when the 2022-23 school year ended.
The orange color scheme for the football visiting bleachers is identical to the home side of the field. The bleachers also were pushed back a bit to create more walkway space for the fans. They were installed around the second week of July.
The press box now will feature three different entrances for the coaches, film crew and media. The new entrances should limit the traffic of coaches from both teams using the same stairway and entrance before the game, during halftime and the end of the game.
BCSC manager of projects Greg Ferguson said it will help separate the teams more.
“There’s quite a few people in here, and there is only one way in and one way out. It can kind of get congested in there,” Ferguson said.
There will be entrances on north and south ends, as well as a stairway entrance from behind the box that the East coaches can enter. The visiting coaches and media can enter through the north or south end of the press box. The visiting coaches can use the same stairway as before that leads upstairs.
The press box now is fully carpeted and has Internet access, along with heating and air conditioning. There will three separate rooms upstairs — one for each team’s coaching staff and the room in the middle will be for the film crew of each team.
“It used to be that both sets of coaches had to walk through the same set of stairs, which was not the best situation for home coaches to walk through the visiting coach’s space,” BCSC director of operations Brett Boezeman said.
For fans attending the North-East girls and boys soccer matches Wednesday and Thursday night at the BCSC Soccer Complex, there is a slight change in seating.
The old left field bleachers from the East baseball field were relocated to the soccer complex to create more seating. It will be a welcome addition for this week and for the postseason when it hosts the boys soccer sectional in October.
While the football bleachers and press box are complete, the new bathroom and concession facilities north of the visiting football bleachers will not be finished this season. There will be a restroom trailer and a concession trailer that will be similar to the previous East baseball concession on the south end of the track by the visiting ticket gate. The goal for those facilities and the baseball and softball field renovations is to be completed by the end of the calendar year.
There will be no admission at the north gate this season due to the construction. Fans are asked to enter on the south end of the field. There will be ticket stands at both the home and visiting sides at the gates.
The bleachers passed inspection last week, and the scoreboard and sound system also were given a test run to make sure they worked properly.
Boezeman mentioned that he and Ferguson had Friday circled on their calendars for many months as a way to make sure all of the goals were accomplished, and the football field was ready for the players and coaches and for the fans to watch.
“We didn’t want to put East in a position to where they weren’t ready to host a game or that game because the bleachers weren’t ready,” Boezeman said. “Everything has come together nicely. They’re ready to go for the football games.”
