For nearly 15 years, the 9th Ward has been promised a state-of-the-art football stadium, a home field for George Washington Carver High School that could also be used by kids from the neighborhood and across New Orleans.
Despite significant donations and community support, the project never materialized. But after recent federal and state funding allocations and a $1 million donation from the New Orleans City Council this week, the stadium might be closer to reality.
The 3,000-5,000-seat stadium, estimated to cost around $8 million, is just over $1 million from reaching its fund-raising goal and supporters hope construction can begin next year, 9th Ward Stadium Project board members told New Orleans City Council on Wednesday.
A new stadium that seats 3,000-5,000 people has been proposed on a site at George Washington Carver High School in New Orleans.
“This project has been a long time coming,” said Ann Duplessis, a 9th Ward Stadium Project board member and former state senator. “The people who make up the family of Upper 9th Ward, Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans East, we deserve this. This is one of the good things that will help to turn the tide.”
Closer than ever
After raising more than $1 million in donations and holding a groundbreaking ceremony in 2015, the group ran low on money and the stadium remained a dream. A new volunteer board recently revitalized fund-raising efforts, City Council President Helena Moreno said at the meeting on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, secured $3 million for the project in a Congressional appropriations bill and the state Legislature allocated $3.8 million to the project. Moreno, who said the council’s donation comes from a fund created by the settlement of Entergy's paid-actors scandal, urged local businesses and private donors to step up and close the remaining gap.
Advocate staff photo by MATTHEW HINTON--George Washington Carver cheerleaders and band members perform during a ground breaking event for the Marshall Faulk Field of Dreams Stadium, previously called the 9th Ward Field of Dreams, in New Orleans, La. Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Former G.W. Carver football player and NFL Hall of Famer for the St. Louis Rams Marshall Faulk spoke at the event.
“It makes all the sense in the world to make this investment," Moreno said, adding that would be an economic boost for the 9th Ward.
The stadium will be built on the Carver campus, but will be used by students across the school district, as well as NORD. Carver is run by Collegiate Academies charter network.
At the City Council meeting, Mary Lodge Evans, a 1962 Carver graduate and president of the alumni association, presented a $4,000 check for the stadium. Evans, who was flanked by several Carver alumni, all wearing orange and green, challenged other alumni, clubs and businesses to donate.
“Remember — Rams forever,” she said.
Jazzmene Burkes, student government president of Rosenwald Collegiate, another charter school run by Collegiate Academies, said Rosenwald athletes practice at “a random field” because the school doesn’t have a gym or a field.
“Nola can be recognized for multiple negative things such as the murder rate or even the Katrina damage and I want to say that can make me and my classmates feel forgotten, like things can’t be fixed sometimes,” she said. “I want to say the stadium is the start to the turn.”
Carver, which opened in 1958 as an all-Black school, sustained major damage Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Like most New Orleans schools, Carver does not have its own athletic field or stadium.
Artificial turf, eight-lane track
Mark Ripple, an architect whose firm Eskew Dumez Ripple designed the project pro bono, said the stadium includes a football field with artificial turf and an eight-lane track. It can also support sports including soccer. The stadium will seat 3,000-5,000 with off-street parking.
So far, the board has $6.55 million committed for the $9 million project, Ripple said. The group is seeking commitments from corporate partners in return for naming rights, he said. Of the budget, $8 million will go toward the building and $1 million will go toward an escrow fund for regular maintenance, Ripple said.