Evansville football stadiums under renovation as school year begins

Three of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.’s football stadiums are in various stages of renovations as the 2025-2026 school year starts.

Improvements at F.J. Reitz High School’s Reitz Bowl and Benjamin Bosse High School’s Enlow Field include new seating and ADA accessibility, while a synthetic turf project is wrapping up at North High School’s Bundrant Stadium.

“[Reitz Bowl and Enlow Field] are widely used with their school’s athletic programs. In addition, both of those stadiums have a parochial high school that utilizes them when [EVSC does] not. So they get a lot of usage,” said Jason Woebkenberg, EVSC’s chief communication officer.

The Reitz Bowl, Enlow Field and Bundrant Stadium projects cost $7.2 million, $6 million and $608,000, respectively. All three initiatives were paid for with general obligation bond funds, which finance a variety of public projects such as streets, buildings and improvements. 

“When you have historic venues, you certainly have to invest in those structures to maintain them,” Woebkenberg said. “And being at the age they are, we want to make sure that they’re in top quality and top shape for current athletes and future athletes.”

Reitz Bowl

Both F.J. Reitz High School and Mater Dei High School host home football games at Reitz Bowl. The stadium renovation project, approved by EVSC in April, began after graduation in May. The work includes new seating to repair a product failure involving a paint covering from a previous project, which is still in litigation.

“While that was unfortunate, we needed to move forward and make sure these stadiums are creating great experiences for spectators who are there to support their student athletes and other programs that are taking place,” said Woebkenberg. “Now, besides correcting that product failure, we’re able to do some nice improvements.”

Steven Scheller, EVSC’s chief facilities officer, said the seat upgrade will provide more comfort for the fans.

“Some of the seating area at Reitz, you sat straight on the concrete. Now, it will all have aluminum seating with racks on it that cover the entire home side of the stadium,” Scheller said.

Adding ADA accessibility and handrails is also part of the renovation work taking place at the bowl.

“There was no ADA seating at the bottom of the stadium to get to the stands. Now, there’ll be a ramp where you can come in the lower lot, and there will be ADA at the bottom and ADA seating at the top of the stadium as well,” said Scheller. 

Woebkenberg said making the rise run up the concrete stairs will not only be code compliant but also safer for spectators. 

“Anyone who was at Reitz Bowl, they would know certain parts of it had some larger steps than you’re accustomed to using as you would be making your way down through the stadium,” said Woebkenberg.

A concession stand will be added to the visitor’s side, and two new ticket booths will make the ticket-selling process more efficient. 

“Because that’s part of the fan experience when you get there. You need to wait in line to purchase a ticket. And concessions are important because no one wants to miss half the game while they’re waiting in line,” said Woebkenberg.

Scheller said the new structures will match the existing architecture. In addition, the press box will be overhauled with new countertops, carpet and windows as well as a new HVAC system.

“We’re getting press coverage for big events, for large games. We want to make sure they have everything they need to adequately do their job,” Woebkenberg said.

Enlow Field and Bundrant Stadium

At Enlow Field, both Benjamin Bosse High School and Reitz Memorial High School host home football games. Since EVSC approved the renovation project in June, work remains in the pre-construction phase. Like Reitz Bowl, Enlow Field will get new seating as well as ADA accessibility and handrail upgrades. Bigger restrooms are also on the to-do list.

“We did have ADA-compliant restrooms there, but they were much smaller,” Woebkenberg said. “They were single-person bathrooms, two of them,” added Scheller.

The synthetic turf project at Bundrant Stadium was announced by EVSC in January and launched after the 2024-2025 school year ended. 

“All of our stadiums, we have done everything possible to keep up with maintaining the turf fields. And as they have reached the end of their life expectancy, we have replaced them,” said Woebkenberg.

With Central, Reitz and Bosse also having turf replacements in past years, Harrison High School’s Romain Stadium is the only field left to be upgraded when the time comes.

“Since we switched to turf fields, we’ve been pleased with the amount of time they have lasted,” said Woebkenberg. “We want to make sure those turf fields last as long as possible, and they provide a safe playing surface.”

‘Looking forward to football season’

As area high school teams get back on the gridiron, the Bundrant Stadium project is virtually complete except for some final work items on a punch list.

“It looks fantastic,” said Woebkenberg. “We’re looking forward to football season. We’re looking forward to North High School getting to play on their new turf.” 

Woebkenberg appreciates the contractors’ cooperation in working around the schools’ sport schedules since renovations at Reitz Bowl and Enlow Field will continue throughout the school year. 

“There certainly will not be any work that will prevent people from coming to football games,” said Woebkenberg. “And then hopefully everything continues to go well with both of these projects so that we can have them finished in time for commencements next May.”

Woebkenberg said the ability to attend events at these stadiums impacts not only the student bodies and their families but also residents in the region.

“Football games are not just school events, they’re community events, and they can draw large crowds. We want people to have the best experience possible when they’re there rooting on their student athlete or a student athlete of a friend or a neighbor,” said Woebkenberg.