The Newest Texas High School Football Stadium
- Thread starter Y.A.G Si Ye Nots
- Start date
I think it's a little above 12,000.
The entire Dallas metroplex area is exploding. A town that had a population of 6000 twenty years ago is now over 150,000. You could have started kindergarten in one school that housed all elementary, middle, and high schoolers in the city, where every high schooler knew every single other high schooler, and after finishing college, you'd come back and have five different large high schools in your city. It would be like starting kindergarten in a city the size of Princeton, WV, then after graduating college, coming back to that city being three times the size of Charleston.
The city where this stadium was built had a population of 20,000 in 1990. Today, it is approaching 200,000. Other cities in the area have either already built similar facilities or have approved funding for them.
There are numerous former small-towns around Dallas, especially to the north towards where UNT is (Denton), that are growing at absurd rates. Many of them have the money and continued growth potential to build these types of facilities for their students . . . and not just in athletics but in overall student facilities.
The I-35 corridor which connects Austin to San Antonio is also exploding. That area includes major colleges like University of Texas (51,000 enrollment), Texas State University (39,000 enrollment), and UTSA (30,000 enrollment) all within about a 70 minute drive of each other. That drive is littered with smaller cities (Kyle - 40,000, New Braunfels - 74,000, San Marcos - 60,000, Buda - 20,000, Selma - 12,000) every 15 minutes that easily show how Austin and San Antonio will soon be one big urban sprawl. San Marcos was named the fastest growing city in the country in 2013 and 2014. Hayes County, which is home to some of those cities, was named the third fastest growing county in the region last year. And the college enrollments in those areas see similar growth. It's gone from 29,000 students to 39,000 students in one decade.
The crazy part about that region is that if you drive just ten minutes off of the interstate, you are in the middle of nowhere . . . tons of beautiful hill country land that is ripe for even more growth.
The entire Dallas metroplex area is exploding. A town that had a population of 6000 twenty years ago is now over 150,000. You could have started kindergarten in one school that housed all elementary, middle, and high schoolers in the city, where every high schooler knew every single other high schooler, and after finishing college, you'd come back and have five different large high schools in your city. It would be like starting kindergarten in a city the size of Princeton, WV, then after graduating college, coming back to that city being three times the size of Charleston.
The city where this stadium was built had a population of 20,000 in 1990. Today, it is approaching 200,000. Other cities in the area have either already built similar facilities or have approved funding for them.
There are numerous former small-towns around Dallas, especially to the north towards where UNT is (Denton), that are growing at absurd rates. Many of them have the money and continued growth potential to build these types of facilities for their students . . . and not just in athletics but in overall student facilities.
The I-35 corridor which connects Austin to San Antonio is also exploding. That area includes major colleges like University of Texas (51,000 enrollment), Texas State University (39,000 enrollment), and UTSA (30,000 enrollment) all within about a 70 minute drive of each other. That drive is littered with smaller cities (Kyle - 40,000, New Braunfels - 74,000, San Marcos - 60,000, Buda - 20,000, Selma - 12,000) every 15 minutes that easily show how Austin and San Antonio will soon be one big urban sprawl. San Marcos was named the fastest growing city in the country in 2013 and 2014. Hayes County, which is home to some of those cities, was named the third fastest growing county in the region last year. And the college enrollments in those areas see similar growth. It's gone from 29,000 students to 39,000 students in one decade.
The crazy part about that region is that if you drive just ten minutes off of the interstate, you are in the middle of nowhere . . . tons of beautiful hill country land that is ripe for even more growth.
You’re 100% right. Everything in Frisco looked brand new and there were McMansions for as far as you could see when I was there a few years ago.
My wife and I looked at houses in Round Rock, TX last year. I had a job offer just south of Round Rock. I still kind of regret not taking it but right now I love the Florida panhandle. With her having family in Texas I'd say we'll end up there eventually. I'd love to be in San Antonio or somewhere between there and Austin.
It looked depressing the last time I was there. Like a scene out of a bad apocalyptic Stepford Wives movie. #sonotosprawl
What area looked depressing and when were you there?
I've lived all over the country, and my year+ in the Texas hill country may be my favorite. The natural beauty of it is phenomenal. The mix of greenery, huge rocks, and brown in the hills looks a lot like the Hollywood Hills area in California. A lot of native Austinites are getting sick of so many Los Angeles transplants that have moved there over the last decade. You can be downtown in what many people claim is the best city in the country (Austin) that is home to 1 million people, but ten minutes later, you're in exclusive hill country neighborhoods that seem a world away from any noise . . . another ten minutes, and you're in the middle of nowhere surrounded by all types of animal noises at night.
Some of the resort communities being built around Lake Travis are world-class. Towns like Westhill and Lake Travis are the perfect blend of wealthy towns, elite high school football, great public schools, and privacy yet have quick access to a major city.
Bee Cave is great . . . Wimberley only has 2500 year-long residents but was started two decades ago by extremely wealthy Houston businessmen and attorneys who wanted an exclusive area for weekend homes. That town is phenomenal, only fifteen minutes from a big college town, a great downtown area, great outdoor activities, and natural beauty everywhere. San Marcos is home to a big university (they claim is the prettiest campus in the state), has exploded in population, and has a buzz and energy that is intoxicating. There is a crystal clear, spring-fed river that runs through campus and the downtown that stays 72 degrees year round. One park on it is packed everyday with hundreds of college students in the sun in their bikinis, playing volleyball, etc. Other parks are more family oriented where kids and adults are floating down the triple waterfalls. Literally thousands of people come to the river every summer day to float down it. It's absolutely a college town atmosphere but with tons of family oriented activities. Much like Austin down the road, it has a huge music scene. They have an annual music/waterfest that brought in a few dozen acts a couple of months ago including Lil Wayne, Snoop, and other big names.
New Braunfels is an upper-class town that also includes in unincorporated mini-town of Gruene. There are simply no words to describe Gruene . . . unique restaurants, bars, and live music mixed in with independently owned merchants of all kinds on just two streets . . . The views from some of the restaurants are great, and the second oldest live music hall in Texas is there which routinely has big names perform (Willie Nelson, Maren Morris, Dan + Shay, etc.). It's straight out of a Hollywood set of how you'd expect a tiny country music hall in Texas to look. Garth Brooks was a regular performer before he became big. The house band was a guy named George Straight. George lived up the road in San Marcos but would perform at Gruene Hall twice a week with his band. Finally, after years of doing that, some regulars at the Hall talked him into going to Nashville to see what would happen. He gave himself six months to see if he would have any luck. He told the regulars that after six months, if nothing happened, he was coming home and would find a regular job. YouTube "Gruene, Texas" to check it out . . . and keep in mind, as small as that little area looks, it is in a city of 70,000.
If anyone gets an opportunity to move to the hill country, it's something that is very hard to pass up. It's well worth a five day trip to spent at one of the lakeside resorts here and to visit, shop, and eat in all of the unique communities. As much as Austin has to offer, you can spend a whole week doing other things and never step foot in the city.
Flower Mound area. Just the same house, and same strip mall over and over again.
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