Derry Township School District is hoping its new sports stadium will be ready in time for the 2026 football season after the board heard a proposed plan for the new digs at its Monday, Jan. 13, meeting.
The project, which comes at a price tag of between $2.7 and $2.9 million, will feature home and visitor bleachers that will seat a total of 2,000 people, a press box and a building that will house bathrooms and a ticket booth.
During the meeting, the board heard a presentation from Mark Schrift of the engineering firm Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT), which is designing the stadium.
Schrift said, if approved, bidding would go out for the new stadium in September of 2025, and construction would begin following the football season in November.
Construction, Schrift said, would hopefully be completed by July of 2026 in time for Hershey football’s first home game.
Schrift noted that the stadium would likely still be under construction, but useable, for sports teams during the spring of 2026.
“I think the schedule actually works out pretty well in that we’re hopeful that we won’t have to relocate any of the sports’ teams and we can work around their schedules,” Schrift told the board.
The new stadium is a project that has been in the works since August of 2024 when the district received notice from Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company that it wished to end its partnership with the district for use of the Hersheypark Stadium within three years.
One month later, Hershey football played its first game in decades on the Derry Township School District Campus, at the stadium, now dubbed Hershey High School Stadium.
The district rented bleachers and brought in food trucks, and by all accounts, things went off without a hitch.
Hershey went 4-0 in its new home and finished 7-3 overall, losing in the first round of the District 3 playoffs.
However, the new confines would be an upgrade from last season’s make-do stadium, with upgraded bathrooms, a canopy to keep guests out of the elements while they wait in line at the “entry plaza” and a brick walkway, adorned with the names of the donors to the new digs.
“I think the people will be excited about it,” district superintendent Stacy Winslow said of the brick walkway. “I also think we can designate some space for it to expand.”
Winslow also noted that the Michael Horrocks memorial, which is located at the current stadium, would remain but will be be re-located to the entrance.
The new stadium would be funded by cash reserves, and the district would not incur any new debt, according to board president Lindsay Drew.
The board said it would likely vote on whether to proceed with JMT’s stadium design at its next meeting, Monday, Jan. 27.
Read more at https://news.thesunontheweb.com/articles/the-new-hershey-stadium/