- November 28, 2024
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Home of Seabreeze and Mainland high schools' football teams, the stadium will be the site of the NAIA playoffs the next three years.
BY WAYNE GRANT | STAFF WRITER
A jumbotron showing replays and interviews, along with brighter lights for TV broadcasts, may be on the way to Municipal Stadium, at 3777 LPGA Blvd., in Daytona Beach, home field for both Seabreeze and Mainland high schools' football teams.
Officials believe the improvements would attract more TV coverage and championship match-ups to the venue.
Percy Williamson, Daytona Beach leisure services director, got the OK from the Daytona Beach City Commission Jan. 8 to request a grant from the Daytona Beach Racing and Recreation Facilities District to pay for the improvements. The district board is made up of members appointed by the Daytona Beach City Commission and Volusia County Council and uses land lease payments from International Speedway Corporation to put on car shows and provide grants to area organizations.
Williamson said better lighting is needed for TV broadcasts. The lights at the stadium now provide 19 foot-candles and TV production needs 75 foot-candles, he said.
“We had two high school football games broadcast last year, and Bethune Cookman (had one), but they didn’t look good,” he said.
The games were Brighthouse Network “Games of the Week,” and the Bethune-Cookman University game was broadcast by ESPN.
Improving the stadium would be a “natural progression,” Williamson said. In 2010, artificial turf was installed at a cost of $900,000, of which the racing district provided $300,000. Part of the funding also came from an ECHO grant.
“We’ve spent 1.3 million on upgrades since 2009,” Williamson said.
New stadium lights would cost $225,000, and the jumbotron would cost $450,000. The jumbotron would be similar to the one at Spec Martin Stadium, in DeLand, but the display would be bigger.
Williamson said he hopes to have it all installed by next football season.
Skip Saunier, assistant football coach at Seabreeze, said the improved facilities could draw more games to the stadium.
“High school playoffs would be great,” he said.
More football is already planned for the stadium.
“We just won rights to the NAIA championship next fall,” Williamson said.
NAIA is the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is in the NAIA Division II but does not have a football team. B-CU is in NCAA Division I.
According to Alan Grosbach, manager of communications for NAIA, the 2014, 2015 and 2016 NAIA Football National Championship will be hosted by Daytona Beach at the stadium. The first of the three title contests will be played Dec. 20.
The state of Florida previously held the football national championship from 1957 to 1960, in St. Petersburg. Since 1960, the championship has been held in 19 different states.
