DAYTON — Dayton Public School District’s newly renovated Welcome Stadium will open to the public Thursday night for the first time since the multi-million-dollar renovation.
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The stadium is owned by the school district and is used by its high schools to play football games and host track meets. However, over the years it has been used for other events like the Ohio High School Association competitions, Cincinnati Bengals practices, and University of Dayton football.
Vice President of Dayton Public Schools Will Smith said the district wanted to preserve the original design while renovating.
“This was the original design and what we wanted to do was preserve that historical quality while really updating and renovating everything inside,” Smith said.
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In August 2021, DPS received approval from the school board to renovate the stadium, and the project began in June 2022.
According to a previous NewsCenter 7 report, the stadium last saw renovations in 2008 when a new turf field and two-tier press boxes were added.
Upon construction, the DPS school board estimated the cost to be somewhere between $11 million and $27 million, but NewsCenter 7 previously reported that it was recently estimated to cost $44 million.
Additionally, the cost had some relief as the district used some COVID-19 funding, $9.2 million from ESSER, and $11 million from the settled Ohio Department of Education lawsuit to get the project started.
Smith said the total cost came out to be around $30 million, which is significantly lower than the $44 million estimate in February 2023.
“I think what was good about the way we were able to fund it internally, was that it didn’t take away from the education process or anybody in our district,” Smith said.
>>PHOTOS: Renovations continue at Welcome Stadium in Dayton
The project has seen ups and downs as the district fired the contractor in charge of the renovations because, “the district now has personnel in place to oversee the day-to-day work of this project. Therefore, having an outside company manage this project became unnecessary,” ex-superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said in February 2023.
The $44 million funded various improvements some of those being a renovated press box, a new turf field, updated locker rooms, and a ‘walk of fame.’
The grandstands were also renovated with refurbished steps and new ramps, making them more accessible.
“We put new ramps in, added seats on both sides of the stadium so that people with wheelchairs and their guests can actually have seats,” Smith said.
The plans for the stadium won’t come to an end when the football season starts, instead, DPS Interim Superintendent David Lawrence said the district plans to continue to better the athletes in the area.
>>VIDEO: Beam raising for new press box as part of Welcome Stadium renovations
“So, an athletic complex is the big vision. So, the athletic complex is what you see us beginning the fundraising portion for,” Lawrence said.
Tonight will be the first game the stadium will host. It features Thurgood Marshall High School and Dohn Community High School out of Cincinnati.
The school district hopes these renovations will attract new tournaments and activities to the area. Lawrence said they want to make the stadium a place for the community.
“We want that to be another space where we can have athletic performance, training, meetings there, the public… a place where you can meet there,” Lawrence said.