Snider football coach Kurt Tippmann said heapps heard a similar response again and again in the weeks since news broke of a proposed athletic stadium on Sniderapps campus: appItapps about time.app
appItapps always been a conversation in the program, why donappt we have a home stadium? It comes up every so often, appI wish we could play a home game here,appappapp Tippmann said. appWeappre out practicing on Bowser Field, and weappll bring up, appHow cool would it be to play a game here?app To finally get news that it could possibly come to fruition I think is really, really exciting.app
On Monday, the Fort Wayne Community Schools board moved forward with a $55 million facility improvement plan, with Sniderapps 4,000-seat stadium, turf field and track at the center of the project. In addition to football, the new stadium could play host to soccer, track and marching band events, as well as other activities. If all goes according to plan, the new stadium is expected to be ready in the fall of 2026.
Currently, Snider plays its home football games at Northropapps Spuller Stadium.
appYou have a group of kids who are currently playing. You have two classes who wonappt get to play in (the new stadium), theyappre excited for the two classes of kids that will get to play in it,app Tippmann said. appThe alums are really excited, those former players. Last Friday, we had an alumni golf outing and there were over 300 former players there that couldnappt stop talking about it, wanted to talk about what it would look like.
appWeappre with multiple athletes in the summer, not just football players, and itapps not just football thatapps excited about it. Itapps something that we can call our own.app
Given all of Snider footballapps success through the years app the Panthers claimed their third state championship last November, and they rank third in the state with 29 sectional titles app it might be easy to underestimate just how challenging it is to play every game of the year at least a few miles away from home.
For one thing, itapps pretty awkward to share a home field with your biggest rival, as Snider does at Northrop.
appWeappre rivals, but they have to share a stadium with us. We have to store a bunch of equipment there that takes up room where they could share their stuff,app Tippmann said. appItapps not our press box. We donappt have access to everything. We have to wait for somebody at Northrop to unlock everything, we donappt have keys to everything. Itapps never been as nice as it will be when itapps on your campus, where you already house all your equipment.
appItapps simple things, like if Iappm a coach, and it starts to rain, and I didnappt bring that necessary equipment, Iappm out of luck.app
Tippmann also predicted that an on-campus stadium could improve attendance, since a large portion of Snider students and fans live very close to campus, in some cases even within walking distance.
Traveling to every game also increases the amount of wear and tear on the equipment hauled to every game, and cuts into the time that assistant coaches can dedicate to the freshman and JV teams on Friday afternoons.
appBecause of the amount of things that go into hosting a football game, we had to buy a trailer that we have to put all of our equipment in that. We have to load up, hitch up to a truck, and we have to drive that trailer to our home game, unpack a whole trailer full of equipment to use on Friday night, and then load it up at the end of the game and haul it back to Snider,app Tippmann said. appItapps costly, too. That trailer costs $15,000, and we had to finance that ourselves. Itapps a huge added cost.app
Tippmann, who played football at Snider in the late 1980s, said there have been pushes to build a stadium for the Panthers at various times over the decades, but itapps exciting to see a plan with the support it needs from the district.
appWeappve gone through superintendents who have different philosophies of the value of building a stadium for Snider. Some superintendents thought that was something that was needed, and some thought that it wasnappt needed,app Tippmann said. appI think weappre in a time now where Dr. (Mark) Daniel and the board think Snider should have one just like everybody else.app
Note: Blackhawk Christian football announced Thursday that the Braves will be playing their games at Concordiaapps Fred Zollner Stadium appfor the foreseeable future.app Blackhawk Christian played its inaugural season of 11-man football last fall, using Sniderapps Bowser Field for their home contests.
