The City of Chelsea is investing $5 million dollars into Chelsea High School. The city will cover upgrades like, new football stadium seating, an expansion of the visitor's locker room, added concessions and restrooms, a ladies softball batting facility, and a jumbotron board on the football field.
Playing football is a passion for Chelsea High School football players Owen Key and Jaxon Shuttlesworth. They believe a jumbotron board would change their game day experience.
"Jumbotrons gonna be nice. Most of the schools that we go to and play against have a jumbotron and it's cool to be able to see like their walk-up songs and their intros. It adds a lot of character to the football game. It makes it more than just a game. It makes it an enjoyable experience," said Key, a junior.
Shuttlesworth, who is also a junior, said, "it's always cool to look up and see what you did, see the intro to you walking out on the field, the adrenaline rush you get. It's just unmatched and a jumbotron will just help with that a lot."
Chelsea High School head football coach Todd Cassity said the 15–20-year-old bleachers are dated and need some repairs. He believes the upgrades would keep Chelsea High School competitive against other schools.
He explained the importance of the upgrades and said, "just to stay on par with other schools in the area. The projects we're doing here, it's gonna make our facilities up to a 7A level."
Last summer, Chelsea residents voted no to the city forming its own school system. Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer said funding the multi-million-dollar athletic upgrades was always Plan B.
He said Shelby County Board of Education is funding projects at the high school like building more classrooms and extending the cafeteria. Mayor Picklesimer said the city is doing its part by funding projects with the high school's athletic department.
"This is a way that we can conserve our citizens through serving our students at Chelsea High School and it's also a way for us to use the one-cent sales tax that we collect from our citizens. That money is designated for use at the schools," he said.
Mayor Picklesimer said this is not the first nor the last time city council will fund projects at schools in Chelsea. He said youth athletics is a big deal in Chelsea.
"Our city is very young. Our average age was in the thirties at the last census. So, when you have a city that is made up of that many young people and young families, sports activities is very important," said Mayor Picklesimer.
Mayor Picklesimer said engineering, designing and state approvals are the next steps in this project. He said after that, the projects will be sent out for bid to contractors.
He expects the batting facility to be the first project complete. The goal is for it to be finished before their spring season. He anticipates the locker room expansion and stadium seating projects to be done by the 2025 football season.