by Bud Gillett
KTVT News
ALLEN - Football may be king in one Texas community but the palace appears to be cracking at the seams.
A new $60 million dollar football stadium for an Allen High School won't be hosting any games until the pedestrian concourse can be fixed.
The fear is it won't be able to support the thousands of people expected to attend the games.
"I'm very disappointed that we are even in this situation," Allen ISD Superintendent, Lance Hindt, said.
The telltale cracks revealed flaws no one expected.
The entire concourse didn't meet weight-bearing code in places.
Some areas 10-20% deficient, other areas as much as 70% deficient.
Hindt says the district did its part.
"This isn't a black eye for this school district, this is really a black eye for the contractor and the architect," Hindt said.
Still, he calls both firms -- Pogue, the builder and P-B-K, the architect -- reputable.
Both companies promise that Allen ISD won't be out any more money due to their work.
A preliminary report in February prompted the stadium's closing for graduation exercises in the spring.
While final recommendations won't be out until next month, school officials have already decided to play home games elsewhere, mostly down the road in Plano.
"Oh, it's been horrible; I've had many sleepless nights," Louise Master said.
Board president Louise master is also a parent. She knows incoming senior football players, band members and cheerleaders will be disappointed.
"But in talking to kids, they understand that it's not about the stadium, it's really about them and what they can do on a Friday night," Master said.
The decision caught other parents off guard.
"Very surprised; with that new beautiful stadium? That's such a letdown. That's going to be crazy for next year with no football," Resident, Simon Gervais, said.
Connie Hildebrand thinks the stadium was too expensive, with a price tag of 60 million; but now since it opened, "I just feel that it's ridiculous for a stadium that's less than two years old to be having these problems," Hildebrand said.
