"Number one revenue maker," Debate over Bixby's new athletic center

An update to a sports facility at Bixby Public Schools made waves on social media with parents in the district.

BPS released renderings for its new 'Home of the Spartan' athletic facility for the football team. The project is already under construction. The building houses the football team’s locker room and administrative offices.

Bixby Public Schools

However, parents are expressing concerns over the allocation of the funds. They commented on the school's post with renderings to vent their feelings.

Many of the comments focused on the state of the other athletic facilities and the improvements that are needed.

2 News spoke with Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller about the building's new additions.

"We needed a facility that was high quality that the boys and the team deserved," said Miller.

He said the current building was set up to support 60 student-athletes at a time. The roster for the 2023-24 football team exceeded 100 players.

"So, this was one of those urgent needs that we went to the taxpayers within 2022, and said we just got to bring this up to the level that we are," said Miller.

The district said while it is currently making state-of-the-art improvements to the football facility, other facilities could follow suit. It is a matter of bond issues and when the improvements are brought to a vote.

The new facility increases locker room size and adds bathroom space. Miller said the cheer team is also going to benefit from the expanded building. The funds for the expanded building were voted on in a 2022 bond.

Superintendent Miller said revenue from the football team helps fund the other athletics.

"It’s certainly the number one revenue maker in our athletic department. The revenue that comes from our football programming supports almost all of our other athletic events," said Miller.

Other projects the district is working on include:

• New large academic building
• New administrative building.

The district and contractor are working to get this project completed by the fall of 2024.

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