Albee Stadium, Bud Cloney Field undergoing renovations until 2026

Eureka High School’s Albee Stadium and Bud Cloney Field are undergoing massive renovations expected to be completed in 2026.

Eureka City Schools cited storm drain damage as the reason behind their renovations.

“That original football field was put in back in 1925. So almost 100 years, it survived in the configuration that’s been in. So over time, the storm failed. The storm drain failed, causing sinkholes and other issues of safety,” Eureka City Schools Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Paul Ziegler said.

Sinkholes and other structural failures can have catastrophic results – especially on a sports field where kids run around.

“You’re out on the field, and all of a sudden you encounter a sinkhole. And that’s not good for anybody. In some instances you can see where that’s happening,” Ziegler said. “And you can kind of avoid it, I’ve noticed. But there are certainly circumstances where the ground could have given away without notice.”

As part of the project, both the stadium and field will get new restrooms, snack shacks, and all-weather turf.

For the 2024-2026 seasons, students will have to play elsewhere.

“We are in the process of upgrading the the field there and Jacobs, the old Rotary fields. We’ll be doing some upgrades at our middle schools as well to be able to expand and do some practices there,” Ziegler said.

When it reopens, Eureka City Schools will continue the public access to both areas via keys.

“One of the reasons that we wanted to go with the all-weather turf is to be able to open it up to the community right now, because of the storm drains and the way that the the water pools down there,” Ziegler said.

These projects come on the heels of the latest addition, the Jay Willard Gym at Eureka High School, which opened last year.

“The reaction has been fantastic. It’s been really wonderful to see the amount of people coming in and taking advantage of the new facility. From an educational perspective, being able to use that for physical education and programs that we have, that’s been a real boon to us as well.”

The $24.5 million for the projects comes from Measures S and T.

Measure S allows bond money to be used for repairing deteriorating schools. Measure T puts money toward fixing health and safety issues at schools.

Eureka High School’s commencement will be held at Albee Stadium next month.

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