HUTTO – Between sports, band, physical education and other classes, up to 1,306 Hutto Independent School District students used Memorial Stadium at Hutto High School regularly throughout the school year, according to a report from Athletic Director Bradley LaPlante.
“As far as our weekday practice and instruction, there’s a possibility that 800-1,000 kids go through there on any given day,” LaPlante said. “The excitement of opening this stadium still has not left. There are a lot of people behind the scenes. Everybody has really worked to make this venue shine.”
During the 2022-23 school year, the stadium was home to 178 district events including football games, soccer games and sports camps.
Attendance for the district events is expected to top 51,000 people, with over 30,000 of those showing up for football games.
Activities sponsored by groups outside the school district accounted for 143 days of stadium use, including Round Rock Soccer Club tryouts, Central Texas Youth Football league games and University Interscholastic League football playoffs.
Total attendance at these outside events was 14,745, though LaPlante says that number should really be much higher since it doesn’t count staff members and others who get free passes.
Concession sales for playoffs and non-district activities garnered $25,000 profit after expenses were paid. Rental fees for those events are anticipated to bring in $61,750 for the year after all events are completed.
The Spirit Store sold $66,674 in Hutto Hippo merchandise, with a net sales of $16,151.
With the 2022-23 school year being the first full year of operation for the stadium since its reopening, board members were pleased to hear that the venue was seeing so much community usage and also making some money.
“Obviously, it was a very big expenditure building the stadium and we’re certainly not going to make that back in a couple of years but it’s good to see that it is making money,” said Board Vice-President Amy English. “I think the imp thing also to take into consideration as taxpayers is even though the stadium is making money we can’t account for the people that are coming to Hutto, eating in our restaurants, staying at the hotels and buying gas at the gas stations. It is bringing in money that collects taxes.”
In addition to money coming in, the stadium has saved the district thousands of dollars by providing a venue for graduation ceremonies, according to Henry Gideon, assistant superintendent of operations.
Gideon said last year’s graduation cost the district about $35,000 just for renting the H-E-B Center to hold the ceremony.
“I think the biggest benefit is the youth of our community are being celebrated on their sacred ground,” Gideon said. “Parents and grandparents have plenty of place to sit and we’re cutting down on the safety hazard of putting that many people on the road to Cedar Park.” Over 10,000 people are expected to attend the upcoming graduation ceremony at the stadium on Thursday, May 25.
Hutto Memorial Stadium was re-opened in late 2021 after $17.8 million in renovations. The upgrades included increased seating capacity from 4,700 to 10,000, a new multilevel press box, new restrooms and improved disability access.
