{"id":168482,"date":"2023-08-01T03:50:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T08:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=168482"},"modified":"2023-08-01T04:05:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T09:05:16","slug":"phase-i-continues-at-vws-eggerss-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/08\/01\/phase-i-continues-at-vws-eggerss-stadium\/","title":{"rendered":"Phase I continues at Eggerss Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: this is the second part of a three-part series about the ongoing renovation project. The first part explained the legacy naming rights program and this part includes information on Phase I of the renovation project. Phases II and III will be covered on Wednesday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday marked the first official day of practices for the Van Wert High School football team and it won\u2019t be long before the Cougars take the field for the 2023 season. When they do, it will be on a brand new field at a much brighter and more fan friendly Eggerss Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phase I of a massive renovation project continues at Eggerss Stadium and a lot remains to be accomplished before the Cougars kick off the season. The renovations are being paid for by a 20-year, 1.15 mill bond issue that was approved by school district voters in May of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Bagley points to the spot where the football field was moved – about six feet. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Superintendent Mark Bagley met with members of the media on Monday and gave an update on the current portion of the project, as well as a look ahead to phases II and III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big part of the project was concrete restoration to the home side stands and the Cougar Pride Wall, along with a light gray paint that makes the stadium look brighter, plus sealing and waterproofing. In addition, stairs and aisles on the home side were widened, new goal posts were installed in each end zone, and the area where the turf will be laid down, the field itself, was moved about six feet to the south. The reason \u2013 the field was never centered in the stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt helps with some (player) safety,\u201d Bagley explained. We\u2019re away from the wall, we\u2019re away from the fence. Before, we had about five feet down by the Cougar Pride wall and we had no feet by the south end zone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work left to be done this month includes the installation of “Cougar Pride” using Aluminute material that will be anchored to the wall and upgrades to the scoreboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the panels (on the scoreboard) will be changed and it\u2019ll look brand new,\u201d Bagley explained. \u201cThe poles have been painted up and down\u2026they looked awful but you don\u2019t notice it now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black fencing will be installed all around and crews will finish a six-foot wide concrete sidewalk around the field. Two other major projects remain before the first game \u2013 the installation of hand rails on the home side bleachers and the installation of the turf itself, which has been delayed several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe turf could have come in really early but we cleaned the stadium for two full days,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cIt was 20 hours of cleaning and even though the benches (seats) aren\u2019t brand new they look brand new. It\u2019s probably the first time they\u2019ve been power washed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal is still to (have turf installed) by the Crestview scrimmage, August 11,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe know 100 percent it\u2019s going to be installed by Game No. 1. The installation part of the turf is easiest part. All of the work that\u2019s been done to this point, all of that stuff is done and ready to roll. The laying of the turf will only take 5-8 days and once they get here they\u2019re not leaving until it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagley said he\u2019s hopeful Maumee Bay Turf will begin the installation process later this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted earlier, aisles and stairs were widened on the home side to make them safer and more suitable for hand rails. Bagley said the change resulted in the loss of about 100 seats, but he noted once the band bleachers are installed behind the south end zone, those seats will become available again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow: phases II and III.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: this is the second part of a three-part series about the ongoing renovation project. The first part explained the legacy naming rights program and this part includes information on Phase I of the renovation project. Phases II and III will be covered on Wednesday. SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Monday marked the first official day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 06:47:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168482"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168519,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168482\/revisions\/168519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}