Brad Myers

The News Journal

Baynard Stadium will have a different look when McKean meets St. Elizabeth in the first game of the high school football season on Sept. 8.

The bleachers on the south side of the Wilmington facility were condemned in May following a structural engineering assessment. They were demolished last month, and a much smaller set of temporary bleachers are being installed in time for the fall sports season.

But officials believe Baynard Stadium, which opened in 1922 and received its last major facelift in 1972, also will need new north side bleachers, expanded locker rooms and bathrooms, a new track, improved lighting and perhaps an artificial turf field to remain functional into the future. With budgets stretched thin and two government entities involved with the stadium, who would pay for a major rebuild?

The stadium has been the site of some of Delaware’s greatest high school football games, along with hosting numerous track and field meets, soccer and lacrosse games and other events. Salesianum, Howard, Delaware Military Academy and St. Elizabeth currently play home football games at the stadium.

The stadium is owned by the City of Wilmington, but is part of Brandywine Park and has been managed by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) since 1998. DNREC Secretary David Small believes a public-private partnership may be needed to pay for the upgrades.

“We need to have that conversation with the city about its role, and whether there are other potential funding sources we could look at outside the government world,” Small said Wednesday. “Are there opportunities for partnerships there? Some of those conversations have started, but I don’t know quite what that looks like at this point.

“But we certainly understand and respect the history and importance of the stadium to the city and the schools that have used it. It’s an icon, and we would love to find a path forward.”

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Baynard Stadium sits right across the street from Salesianum, a private high school that has demonstrated an ability to raise significant funds for athletics. The school raised $7 million through alumni and private donations to build the Anthony N. Fusco Sr. Athletic Center, a renovation and addition to the school’s existing athletic facilities, which opened in 2012.

But Salesianum president Brendan Kennealey said it is too early to involve the school in any talks about stadium improvements.

“It looks like the city, state, DNREC are working on getting stuff together,” Kennealey said Wednesday. “If we can play a role in that, I think we’re open to that. The end goal is for Baynard Stadium to be a great community asset.

“It’s pretty early in any of those kind of discussions. It’s not like there’s a real plan or anything. It’s just kind of trying to explore options.”

First things first

The most pressing issue is the south side bleachers. Susan Staats, DNREC’s park superintendent for the Wilmington State Parks, said the stands were condemned after engineers discovered cracks in the concrete foundation and rusting in the steel columns that caused breaks in some support structures.

Cindy Todd, construction project administrator for DNREC’s office of design and development within the Division of Parks and Recreation, said nine sets of temporary bleachers - 10 rows high and 21 feet long – were fabricated by Southern Bleacher Co. of Graham, Texas, and will be installed by the end of this month.

“The idea is to get something there before the fall season starts,” Todd said. “Then we’re going to be figuring out from a design standpoint what the next steps are, what is going to be going in there in the final. For now, we’re calling them temporary bleachers, but they’re very nice bleachers.”

The temporary bleachers are expected to hold 900 people, far less than the 2,500 capacity of the condemned bleachers. With the 2,500-seat north side bleachers still in place, Baynard Stadium’s seating capacity will be reduced from 5,000 to 3,400.

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The emergency work was done through a $200,000 appropriation passed through the Bond Bill at the end of the legislative session on June 30.

“I’m just happy to do what I can to get some funds to do this,” said State Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington North, who chairs the Joint Finance Committee. “We really need to keep that. It’s a community institution. It’s very good for a lot of things.

“It all came up rather suddenly, toward the end of the fiscal year. By the time we were alerted to it, we didn’t have enough time [for additional funding].”

McDowell broke down the $200,000 appropriation as follows: $50,000 for demolition, $50,000 for utility work and wiring, $95,000 for fabrication and installation of temporary bleachers and $5,000 for a temporary press box.

Ray Bivens, director of DNREC’s Division of Parks and Recreation, said the south side bleachers deteriorated more quickly than expected.

“The bleachers that we had to demolish had been on our watch list, but they went really fast,” Bivens said. “The bleachers on the other side are certainly of concern as well. Our engineers come out every three years and study them, and we’ll do whatever is necessary. The bleachers we had to demolish, there were no fixes that could be done to them.”

Bivens said City of Wilmington officials have been engaged and cooperative throughout the process. Leonard Sophrin, director of Wilmington’s Department of Planning and Development, was not available for comment Thursday.

“They’ve been out with us on site, and they were key in talking with the state delegation about the needs and what we saw in the Bond Bill,” Bivens said of city officials.

The big picture

McDowell is satisfied with the temporary solution, but knows much more is needed.

“We’ve got to get this worked out,” McDowell said. “This $200,000 is a Band-Aid now. We’ve got that, we’ve put the Band-Aid on, and hopefully we’ll get through this year and get to work on a larger picture.”

But that larger picture comes with a much larger price tag. Baynard Stadium received its first facelift in 1956, and aluminum bleachers were installed in 1972. That was the last major upgrade to the facility.

“The locker room facilities are woefully inadequate,” Staats said. “If you’re putting that kind of investment into the stadium, could we make improvements to the locker rooms, the rest rooms, the field, improved lighting, those types of things.

“At halftime, you’ll see some of the players outside the locker rooms because there isn’t enough space inside to have everybody in there.”

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Staats also said the north side bleachers are not compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Now, spectators in wheelchairs stay on the track during football games.

“Our division has done some looking at the site, and between the track, the antiquated restrooms, the bleachers, we’re in the $10 million to $12 million ballpark,” Bivens said. “Not all in one year, but to rehab Baynard Stadium for the next 30 years that’s what my planning staff has told me.”

Bivens said the latest estimate also considered larger locker rooms, but not an artificial turf field that would allow the facility to be used more frequently.

McDowell said a public-private partnership involving Salesianum is intriguing, but an agreement would have to be reached to continue to allow others to use the stadium. In addition to the three other high schools currently playing home football games at Baynard Stadium, Staats said Padua, Howard and Salesianum host track and field meets, along with CYM, YMCA and City of Wilmington groups. The city also uses the stadium for a flag football league, and Ursuline Academy has played soccer games there.

“They would like to take possession and/or responsibility for the stadium and actually fundraise for it,” McDowell said. “But concerns have been expressed that that might shut out the other people there.”

But Kennealey, the Salesianum president, said the school has no current plans for trying to play an increased role at the stadium.

“Salesianum wants to see Baynard Stadium continue to thrive and be a home for the community,” Kennealey said. “It was and is a great community asset. I think our incentives are similar to a lot of other folks who care about the place, just to make sure it can be a home to lot of different things – schools, community groups, whatever – for a long time.

“We rent it just like anyone else does,” Kennealey added. “It just happens to be right next to us. That has been a very good situation for us. But we’re not trying to come up with a new vision for Baynard Stadium at this point.”

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ