Stadium work to continue after 2023

Editor’s note: this is the final part of a three-part series about the ongoing renovation project at Eggerss Stadium. The first part explained the legacy naming rights program and second part provided information on Phase I of the renovation project.

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The Van Wert Cougars will kick off the home portion of the 2023 high school football schedule on Friday, August 25, at the newly refurbished Eggerss Stadium.

Fans attending will notice a number of improvements, including artificial turf, hand rails on the home side, a much better and brighter look to the home side stands, a refurbished scoreboard, new fencing, and a restored Cougar Pride Wall. However, a long list of other improvements awaits and will be done during phases II and III of the restoration project.

During a brief media tour at the stadium on Monday, Superintendent Mark Bagley outlined what’s been done to this point, including some phase II work that was moved up to the first phase.

He also provided a glimpse of some of the things to come, including a new look at the south end of the tunnel, near the main entrance. A small grassy area there will become part of an expanded locker room, which will include a training room, film room and meeting room.

“Where our visitors now go, in our Cougar Pride locker room – we’re going return our home team to that locker room,” Bagley stated. “That will be done next year and it’s going to be a really nice locker room. We’re going to put our visitors where our home team is now, in the Goedde Building…we’ll have the visiting bus pull up and they’ll only have to walk 10 feet into the locker room, so it’ll be a nice scenario for them.”

He noted the visiting football team currently walks through Van Wert fans under the stadium and said it’s a concern for control, and he added the change will be better for all concerned.

Phase II work will also include renovated restrooms under the home side and the removal of asphalt, then regraded and leveled under the bleachers, with concrete replacing the current blacktop.

Phase III of the massive renovation project will include a new ticket booth at the main gate and new band bleachers behind the south end zone. One of the last things on the list is a new press box, which will allow more room for coaches, game day personnel and the media.

“It’s going to be larger and bigger with more room, but we’re a couple of years away from that part of the project because our main focus right now is what affects the most people,” Bagley said. “The press box, although its very important for our coaches and media to be up there, it affects fewer people than the restrooms underneath, the locker rooms underneath, the concession stands underneath and just a nice walking surface.”

Bagley added that an elevator remains in the plans for handicapped fans, media and coaches.

The renovation project is being paid for by a 20-year, 1.15 mill bond issue that was approved by voters in May of 2022, and Bagley said school officials are mindful of the dollars required to complete the project.

“We asked our voters for $5 million and it’s going to be tight as we get to phase II and III,” he said. “That’s not the reason why we want to have legacy funding (see previous story), but it obviously will help because people are asking us ‘how can we help?’ in addition to what’s going on.”

Eggerss Stadium was built in 1936 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s government-funded Works Progress Administration.