The news story over the construction of a $62 million football stadium in the Atlanta suburb of Buford, Ga. might have been a bigger story if it wasn’t too common.
Yes, many school districts spend a fortune on sporting arenas and venues. It’s not just football stadiums, but also basketball gymnasiums, baseball fields and even Olympic-size swimming pools. I was amazed when I was working at the Wagoner Tribune that a small town like Fort Gibson, Okla., with a population of about 3,800 give or take had a huge Olympic-size pool for diving and swim meets.
Hell, I didn’t even think they had a swim and diving team or even enough students interested in being on teams. I can understand this being more common at schools outside major metropolitan areas, like Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle and especially New York City. Yet, Fort Gibson is just outside of Muskogee, Okla., which in itself could hardly be considered a metropolitan area. It’s 50 miles from Tulsa if you take the Muskogee Turnpike all the way there.
Still, it’s quite a facility. And I’m talking about 15-20 years ago. I’m sure it’s been improved since then. Even my own alma matter, Calhoun High School now has facilities for the swimming and diving team. They didn’t when I graduated in 1997 but they built it about 10 years ago. And Calhoun, Ga. is bigger in size than Fort Gibson but it’s still a small town. It’s also located halfway between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn. so its a bedroom community for those cities.
Buford, Ga. is about 100 miles from Calhoun. And it really doesn’t sound like the town that would have the means to construct a $6.2 million stadium nonetheless one 10 times that much. Both towns are about the same size in population around 17,000. However, Buford High School has won a few state championships in football, so I guess that means a lot.
Regardless of where the money comes from, I’m almost certain many taxpayers have paid for it in some manner. They say it was from funding through municipal investments but that makes it even more hinky. I’m sure a lot of private donors invested. The White House staff are using the same ruse as they discuss the construction of a $200 million ballroom. I’m sure a lot of cronies will get the contracts.
In Buford, other funds came from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) which if you’ve ever lived in Georgia, people can’t pronounce correctly and call it “splosh.” It would always make me cringe when I would hear it and if you’ve lived in Georgia half your life, you cringe a lot. Not to say Oklahoma is any better, it just has less traffic.
Needless to say within days of a Republican candidate seeking a seat in the U.S. Senate misspelling the state as “Georiga” in an announcement, you have to wonder how much money is being spent on education. And seeing how the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down which help bring us educational programs on PBS, it’s no surprise people are more than willing to throw money at something that leads to personal physical injuries and CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) in its players. So, why do teenagers need an education when they’ll be acting like Herschel Walker by the time they’re 30?
And yes, the SPLOST on paper is a good thing because the sales tax is from tourists’ dollars, they’ll say. But the theory doesn’t always hold up. I don’t look at a lot of people coming from all around the world to a town named Buford to spend hundreds of dollars. For something like this, most of the people in the Buford area were being charged for its construction especially as gas and food prices were on the rise following Covid.
But the kicker is, it is totally off limits to the public unless they pay a price to see a game there. I’m sure local construction companies were used and local vendors were used for supplies. I’m just wondering who is going to get all the nice comp tickets to the suites and who will have to pay to see a game. The worst part is it’s like that everywhere. Many colleges and universities still charge their students to attend the games and there’s only a limited number of tickets.
I guess I was lucky when I attended Georgia Southern University when they would allow us in only with our student I.D. cards as we were already paying fees. Now, if you’re caught in a “public” facility unauthorized, even though you helped pay for it by “shopping local,” you can still face trespassing charges and/or be banned for entering. As Don King would say, “Only in America.” The sad part is that if many of these schools just did away with their athletic programs, most students wouldn’t even bother attending at all. So, it’s a necessary evil education especially in the 21st Century has to contend with.
The ironic part is all those nice seating areas and building structures don’t make the team play any better. I’ve seen the best teams play in arenas that were huge and still lose. It’s funny how everyone loves the scene in Hoosiers where Gene Hackman’s coach has the basketball players measure the court dimensions at Butler Fieldhouse to show that it has the same dimensions as other schools.
Nowadays, Butler would be too small of a facility for even a basketball court at Fort Gibson. I should know. I’ve been there many times.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 