Whitefish boosters explore sports complex

Supporters of Bulldog athletics are exploring the possibility of constructing a new, privately-funded sports complex.

Joe Akey, president of the Bulldog Booster Club presented the idea to the Whitefish School Board last week, saying a new sports complex is the next step for Whitefish Schools’ high-quality facilities.

“Obviously we have world-class schools, with this building and the Performing Arts Center,” he said, referencing the Whitefish Middle School where school board meetings are held. “The high school now is an amazing campus with the black box theater, it has unbelievable opportunities for kids and I think Muldown will be the same. I think this is that final piece for those facilities.”

Akey said the idea is to minimize the impact to the district and taxpayers, so the idea is to construct a new athletic complex solely with privately raised funds.

The athletic complex is proposed to be built where the track currently sits, east of the high school building. Akey said the track would likely be replaced and the field orientation rotated to run north and south, rather than east and west as it is currently. A practice facility could sit at the south end of the new track.

Early plans call for the facility to use a turf field like Legends Stadium in Kalispell, which would save on water costs and allow the field to be cleared of snow and used earlier in the season, he noted.

Akey said he and others who grew up in Whitefish are proud of the fields and track they competed on, but the facility is in need of improvements. He noted how bleachers at the football field have broken recently, and the scoreboard failed at a JV football game the night prior to the meeting. The track is also dated, he added.

“I’m extremely proud of that track. When we first started running on it that track was red rocks. Then my dad [Lin Akey], my boss [Tim Murphy] and Ron Rosenberg got together and put asphalt down and rubberized the track. I think that track is a wonderful thing; however, that was 25 years ago when they did that,” he said. “It’s time to start looking at something better.”

Right now Whitefish sports are scattered, with track and field using the existing track, soccer leasing out fields at Smith Fields for their games and practices and the football team leasing the outfield at Memorial Field for football games.

Likewise, a new facility would be more accessible than current facilities.

“If my grandmother, who was in a wheelchair, wanted to come watch us at a football game, it was very difficult for her to get there. Same thing with the soccer field. At some point you’re not compliant with ADA and that can really get you into a sticky situation,” he said, referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations for businesses and public facilities.

Akey said the new sports facility would house all Whitefish athletics that need it, as well as consolidate maintenance and repair costs.

In the fiscal year 2018-2019 budget, Whitefish High School will pay $5,000 to use Memorial Field, plus a $1,000 maintenance reserve, and $4,920 for Smith Fields.

“Right now we’re paying for maintenance and repairs on facilities we don’t own,” Akey said. “We’re still maintaining them, paying for custodians to go out there and maintain them, and we have no way of recouping any of those expenses.”

Akey said he’s reaching out to other districts that have taken a similar approach with a sports complex. In the case of Hamilton, Akey said they’ve been able to generate roughly $95,000 per year through ad sales within the stadium.

Akey said he hasn’t reached out to many Whitefish High School coaches yet, as he wanted to get the board’s blessing first, but the coaches he’s talked to have been interested in the possibility of an all-encompassing sports complex.

Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt said she’s happy to see the project brought to the board early on, and she thinks the board’s support could help leverage private donors down the road.

“I think this first conversation with the board is critical so that [Akey] and others can begin having those conversations out in the public without surprising the board,” she said. “If private donor are going to be willing and pledge some money, they want to know that the board is committed not only to the use of that land but to the ongoing maintenance and support of that facility over time.”

Davis Schmidt also brought up some parents’ concerns on the future of youth football and football in general, given the continuing flow of research showing the effects the hard-hitting sport can have on the brain over time.

Akey said the way football is being played is changing to accommodate new information about concussions and brain injuries, even at the youngest levels.

“I am fortunate enough to coach my Middle Guys football team and they play down at Flathead Valley Little Guy football. When you volunteer to coach, after a background check you have to go through concussion protocol, and you have to learn a new way of tackling,” he said. “It’s very different than it used to be. It’s much more of a rugby style, wrap and roll sort of tackle, rather than collision.”

Regardless, he noted the facility wouldn’t specifically be a football facility, and if one sport were to leave in the future then another could always take its place.

“Even if football went away, with this facility, then you pick up lacrosse and they can play here all day long,” he said.

Akey said the cost of similar facilities have hovered around $4 million-plus, though he won’t be able to have a concrete idea of the facility cost for a while.

In addition to ad revenue, the facility could also be a money-maker by hosting events.

Akey said a WHS business class conducted a study several years ago on the feasibility of hosting a state track meet in the future if the right facilities were in place. The study found an influx of $600,000 to $750,000 could come to the community from hosting the meet, and during Whitefish’s shoulder season.

“[That’s] in the shoulder season of a town that has more than adequate hotels, restaurants, all the things we would need. We are a destination,” Akey said.