Tiger Stadium progressing toward completion
Published 4:17 pm Wednesday, May 10, 2023
The new Tiger Stadium offers reserved seating for over 400, total seating for 5,000 fans, state of the art restroom facilities, and concessions for both home and visiting guests.
Home fans may purchase reserved seating for the best vantage point to view Greenville HIgh School home football games.
Tiger Stadium will be one of only three high school football stadiums visible from an interstate highway.
Tiger Stadium, constructed on the Greenville High School practice field, will host the school’s first home football games beginning this fall.
Home fans may purchase reserved seating for the best vantage point to view Greenville HIgh School home football games.
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Greenville High School students and families are on track to enjoy something they have never had before – a true home football game.
Greenville High School’s new Tiger Stadium, set for completion on the school’s campus in mid-August or early September, replaces the nearly 70-year-old off-campus stadium, and will provide the Tiger’s first real home field game.
“Our children, athletes and football players, never truly have a home game,” said Butler County Schools Superintendent Joseph Eiland. “Regardless if it’s a home game, they [currently] have to pack up their pushes, pack up all the equipment, travel across town, unpack all that equipment, and then do it again to go back to Greenville High School. So, for me, this [stadium] is a huge plus to have on the campus.”
According to Butler County Schools Maintenance Director William Love, the stadium will be one of only three in Alabama which can be viewed from the interstate, in this case U.S. Interstate Highway 65. The nearly $7 million project broke ground in January and according to Love, is coming along at a good pace.
“The bases for the poles of the digital scoreboard will go in next week, weather permitting,” Love said. “All the buildings are up and are being bricked at the time. All the bleachers are up also. The press boxes have been installed and the front entrance markers have been laid, the entrance facing the interstate has been blocked up and they are ready to brick.”
School system officials hoped the stadium would open for the first home football game, however fabrication of the artificial turf will delay the project.
“Initially, we hoped to have our first game there,” Eiland said. “But now we are looking at homecoming. Our alumni are very supportive. They come from miles away to come back for that.”
Once completed, Tiger Stadium will hold around 5,000 fans and boast a digital scoreboard for showcasing student organizations and local businesses as well as modern restroom facilities.
“It will be really exciting to have those things going on during the game,” Eiland said. “Restrooms at the old stadium were just really poor and we will have very large, spacious rest rooms and concession stands located in areas that do not cause congestion.”
The new stadium will also feature better parking, and parking fees will pay for regular upkeep and parking lot maintenance.
“It’s going to be really good to have some additional parking in the years to come on the east side of the school,” Eiland said. “There is room to add additional parking later.”
Eiland said providing athletic facilities close to school campuses is important to the Butler County School Board, who hope to eventually build a baseball and softball complex near the stadium.
Other system schools, like Georgiana School, currently hold softball games on city fields. Eiland commended city officials in Greenville and Georgiana for allowing schools to use city facilities, but said the school board hopes to bring those games onto campuses through future building projects.
