NEW BEAR DEN READY FOR THE SEASON




 

 

When Burke County faced the Wilkinson County Warriors two weeks ago for their first home game of the season, the Bears’ longtime stadium announcer, Earl Huddleston, welcomed fans to the “new and improved” Bear Den.

It was an apt description as those in attendance had their first opportunity to see firsthand the newly renovated stadium.

The roughly six month and $3 million project included substantial upgrades to both the home and vistors’ side stands, new and expanded press boxes, as well as the addition of over 1,300 seats, LED lighting and a new scoreboard with audio and video capabilities.

Burke County Superintendent Rudolph Falana said in a statement that the stadium renovations addressed multiple needs across several areas.

“No renovations have been made since the football stadium was constructed 30 years ago. We now meet the seating requirements for our school classification which enables us to host all-region championship play-off games. The renovations also made our stadium more handicap accessible. This is about our kids and the future of our school system. The school board and I hope this is a facility that we can all be proud of,” he said.

Paul Williams, Facilities & Maintenance Director for the school system, explained that the footprint of the home side stands was extended in length and width as well as height. This expansion allowed for the addition of 1,319 additional seats, including 36 handicap-accessible seats and spaces for wheelchair-bound fans.

Once complete, the home side will include an elevator for handicap access to these seats as well as for elderly fans or families with small children to access higher level seating.

Williams said that building codes required either an elevator or a chair lift to access the new press box because of its increased square footage. He said the decision of the elevator over the chair lift was an obvious choice from an efficiency standpoint, allowing fans to use it for access as well.

Burke County High School Athletic Director, Wade Marchman, said the additional seating ensures that Burke County could host all future region championship play-off and Georgia High School Association (GHSA) championship games. GHSA regulations require AAAAschools’ stadium occupancy to be at least 4,000, a figure the Bear Den fell short of prior to the renovations. Marchman said the new seating level would also be enough to host all events should Burke move up to AAAAA-classification in the future.

Bears’ head coach, Eric Parker, said the renovations to the stadium are something that every fan and citizen can be proud of. “I think it’s awesome. A lot of people in this community come out to the games and this makes for just a really great atmosphere. All the way around, it’s first class,” he said.

Williams said construction began in May with the demolition of the old stands. A tight timeline was made worse by an unusually wet beginning to summer and material delays.

Those delays forced an Aug. 16 scrimmage, scheduled for the Bear Den against Jefferson County, to be moved to the Warriors’ home field.

While there are still construction items being finished, Williams said the State Fire Marshal granted the stadium a 60-day temporary certificate of occupancy. Once all items have been completed, he said the school will schedule a final inspection for a permanent certificate of occupancy.

Marchman explained that the stadium’s expansion also allows for an obvious, but often times, misunderstood necessity: athletic revenue.

“The average person probably doesn’t realize that our athletics aren’t funded with tax dollars. We don’t have a set operating budget,” he said.

Instead, monies to purchase uniforms and equipment as well as pay for supplies, offi- cials and game-time personnel like security and ticket-takers are all paid for through the Athletic Department.

Marchman said his department has three main avenues for raising those funds: Athletic Club corporate sponsorships and donations, sales of Silver Bear Club and reserved football tickets; and gate revenue from the sales of tickets on game nights.

According to Marchman, those sponsorships and reserved ticket sales have averaged around $35,000 in recent years. The rest of the budget depends on home game ticket sales and those numbers are greatly affected by the number of home games you play, the level of your opponent or the willingness of their fans to travel and, ultimately, the weather.

Marchman added that sports like football, boys’ and girls’ basketball – as well as softball and baseball to a lesser degree – raise the bulk of the revenue that is used to support other sports like tennis, golf and volleyball.

While it may sound easy to raise such revenue, Marchman said the costs to fund these extra-curricular activities add up fast. It costs roughly $600 to outfit a single football player, including the helmet that runs about $300.

In addition to these newest renovations, in recent years the Burke County Board of Education has approved renovations for both the baseball and softball fields, the conversion to artificial turf on the football field and the construction of a multi-purpose facility that houses both auditorium and meeting space for teacher learning as well as new athletic locker rooms, a weight room and an additional practice gymnasium. School officials say they are planning upgrades to the BCHS auditorium and media center in the next year.

Williams, whose staff has the task of maintaining all of these improvements, said, “Our board does a good job of giving us the resources to keep these facilities up. If there’s a need, typically they’re willing to give it to us, and they expect us to keep it up.”

The Bears’ next home game will be Friday, Oct. 4, against the Statesboro Blue Devils. This game will be Burke County’s Homecoming and Parker expects to see a full house in the Bear Den.

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