Knights get nod for game at Rawson Field

The Glacier Knights, Kalispell’s semiprofessional football team, will play their first true home game this spring, thanks to a school board vote Tuesday night.

Kalispell Public Schools’ board of trustees voted unanimously to allow the Knights to play at Legends Stadium June 11. The vote will allow the team to rent Rawson Field, which until now has not been available for lease.

Previous lease agreements for Legends Stadium included options for renting the track with or without the press box, renting the practice fields and track and a “night use” option written specifically for overnight events such as Relay for Life.

The new lease agreement includes an option for renting Rawson Field for $1,137.

That price tag includes $400 for using the field, sound system, scoreboard, field markers, goal post pads, bleachers, restrooms, concession stand, admission booths and officials room. Renters may use the field for four hours; every hour after that will cost an additional $100.

To cover the cost of paint and labor to stripe and mow the field, the district is charging $537. Game day preparation and cleanup will cost $120.

The district is also charging $80 for “game management.”

“We felt strongly we needed to have an administrator attend the contest, and we included a fee for that,” Todd Watkins, the district’s director of operations and business services, explained to the board.

The Knights may not have to pay the full rental fee, Watkins added. The team has offered to help with striping and setup, and the field already will be mowed for a game that takes place the day before.

That could bring the rental fee down to around $700, close to what the Knights have been paying to rent the high school field in Columbia Falls, Watkins said.

The Knights have played home games in Columbia Falls for the last several years, although they have been asking for four years to use Legends Stadium. School officials repeatedly denied the request; between two high schools using the field and the area’s unpredictable weather, they worried the field might get torn up.

That was why Rawson Field never before was available to rent, Watkins said.

Concern for the field’s health also led to a caveat in the new rental agreement. If the weather is foul in June, the Knights might have to relocate.

“We told them we’ll make every effort to let them use that field, but in the event of a bad storm, we reserve the right to notify them as soon as possible and move them to the middle school or to Glacier High School and adjust the fee accordingly,” Watkins said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.