Stadium plan given the all-clear by Bloomington

Football, soccer will have permanent homes away from Bloomington Stadium

Kennedy Activities Director Jon Anderson, a Jefferson grad and former teacher and football coach at Kennedy knows the impact of an on-campus stadium can have on not only the student body but the community at large.

“Everyone at Kennedy is really jacked up for this to be happening and for us to play home football and soccer games at a stadium like this and then in the spring with lacrosse and host a home track meet,” he said. “We’re just really excited for what it could mean for the Kennedy community, both schools actually and Bloomington overall. It’s a place where we can gather as one community.”

Anticipated to open in time for the start of the 2025 fall season, the upgrades to the stadiums at Kennedy and Jefferson high schools will include more seating, lighting and infrastructure to create a new home-field advantage for the Jaguars and Eagles.

The teams will play one more fall football and soccer season before moving on from the natural grass at Bloomington Stadium to home sites at the high schools.

Bloomington Stadium, formerly known as Lincoln Stadium, near the intersection of 90th Street and Penn Avenue has been the home for sports for all three high schools since the mid-1950s when Bloomington High School opened the 90th/Penn Ave campus in the fall of 1957.

The final hurdle for the plan was approval from Bloomington City Council, who approved the proposals during its meeting on July 1.

The Planning Commission approved the proposal during its June 6 meeting, although a group of citizens appealed the decision, which lead to a public hearing in front of the council.

The current stadium has been the site for many memories like Friday Night football played under the lights with the respective marching bands, cheerleaders and energized fan bases. To exciting crosstown rivalry soccer, football, lacrosse and at one time track meets.

Track-o-Rama was the modern equivalent to the State True Team meet where the best teams in the state gathered to get a feel for the level of competition at one spot during the regular season.

The track was removed when the field was recrowned in the mid-2000s creating ample space on the north and south ends of the stadium for warmups or gathering spots before teams were introduced.

Bloomington Stadium

“Bloomington Stadium had the benefit of being centrally located, but that means a couple of miles away from Kennedy and Jefferson,” Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse said during the weekly Council Minute recap on July 3. “The stadium is starting to show its age in the seating areas and amenities, especially on the playing surface.”

The school district has invested funds over the years in upkeep and improvements, but those fixes are becoming increasingly frequent and expensive, Busse said.

Meanwhile, investments in track and artificial turf fields at the respective high school campuses have allowed more sports and activities to take place within the school campus.

Sitting on the bleachers at Bloomington Stadium for a game is still as comfortable as it was in the 1970s, but things like permanent toilets and a viewable scoreboard during the day are two points of emphasis to look elsewhere for the next generation of Eagles and Jaguars.

Infrastructure upgrades needed to bring Bloomington Stadium up to code would have cost millions and a new scoreboard would have added significantly more funds to the total bill.

Another reason for moving varsity sports away from the central location off campus was parking constraints as the school district does not own the parking lots and the lease ran out decades ago, meaning the district’s contract with the lot ownership ran out and they would not be able to use the available space without a new contract.

Jefferson Activities Director Chad Nyberg is excited to have the spectacle that is high school football and soccer return to campus in 2025.

“It is going to be a great experience for our students and fans to have the stadium on site,” Nyberg said as residents around the Jefferson campus will continue to experience the daily marching band practices along with pregame, halftime and postgame performances during the four home football dates.

Long time coming

For over a year, the school district has worked on plans to improve the turf fields at Jefferson and Kennedy High Schools.

Those improvements include added seating (up to 2,500 capacity plus meet American Disability Act compliance), concessions area, entrances, lighting and permanent sound systems.

Busse added the school district and stadium supporters believe that new stadium facilities will ultimately benefit the schools and community. “They believe stadiums at the schools will enhance school spirit, improve athletic programs and provide improved educational opportunities.”

Mayor Tim Busse concluded his July 3 Council Minute recap video:

“On a personal note, I firmly believe the stadiums will benefit the students, schools and ultimately Bloomington.

“I also appreciate how supporters and opponents approached this whole process. They did so respectfully, passionately and with an obvious understanding that while the community sometimes disagrees on an issue, we can still be a community.”