Friday Night Goes Dark as Texas School Shuts $60 Million Football Stadium
Source: Reuters
DALLAS — One of the most expensive high school football stadiums in the United States has been temporarily shut due to structural problems less than two years after it opened in the Dallas suburb of Allen.
The $60 million stadium has developed cracks of nearly an inch wide in the concrete of its elevated concourse that could make it unsafe, the school district said this week.
In Allen, as in many parts of Texas, high school football games are some of the most important events on the calendar. Texas high school football is such a cultural phenomenon that it has inspired a book, movie and TV series, all called "Friday Night Lights."
The eye-popping price for the 18,000-seater stadium that includes a $1.3 million scoreboard, was financed as part of a voter-approved $119 million bond package.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/02/28/us/28reuters-usa-stadium-texas.html
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What's a Texan to do? 
If that is the elevsted concourse in front of the brick buildings then this will be
a very tough fix. It could be bad concrete, not enough steel re-bar in the concrete,
or a design flaw or flaws but no matter what it is the fix will not be easy or cheap.
I wonder how much the school district is spending on math and reading?
Last edited Sat Mar 1, 2014, 09:20 AM - Edit history (1)
.... between the brick buildings and the bleacher seats they might
have to rip the whole thing down and rebuild it. It could be a design
flaw .... look @ the architects and or the engineers ..... it could be
a bad pour of concrete or the make up of the concrete was bad ....
or the steel re-bar inside the concrete was bad .... or the structural
steel framing was bad for one reason or another but it looks to me that
the area under the concourse is used for locker rooms or other things
and so if you don't want pieces of concrete falling on Coach Jones' head
they might have to rip it down and build it again.
You might be right about the columns but I don't see how they could
carry the load.
I wonder if somebody or a group of people didn't do their do diligence
and tested the soil and sub soil before the thing was built.
BTW if I was in a position in Allen Texas I would be finding out who
was at fault and telling "them" the city and or school district is not paying
one dime to fix the problem.
Football reigns over everything. At my daughter's last school, which was brand new, every teacher hired had a connection to sports. Their main goal was making district. In fact, each football player had three helmets, but the auditorium had no lights. The theatre department had to perform in the cafeteria. 
...that those cracks are the result of fracking.
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K&R
