Midland Offers Astound Stadium to Midland ISD

The City of Midland released a statement on the conversations had with Midland ISD.

"For more than two decades, the City and Midland ISD has enjoyed a partnership at the Scharbauer Sports Complex. Astound Stadium provides participants and fans with a first-class facility for football, soccer, band, and other events. It is a facility we can all be proud of, and in looking to the future, we want to assure the citizens of Midland it will be well cared for and remain a top-notch stadium.

In planning for the future, the city is looking for the best solution for handling facilities, including those primarily used by Midland ISD. More recently, conversations involving representatives from both entities have included the suggestion of the city offering the football/soccer stadium to Midland ISD for minor consideration. For now, while the long-range planning and conversations occur, the lease agreement with Midland ISD includes an amendment/extension for use.

The city is certainly open to working on an equitable agreement that allows the school district, as the stadium’s primary user, to help fund the maintenance and operations of the stadium at a level needed to sustain its safety, usability, and appearance. We look forward to continued partnership to make it happen."

Midland ISD also released a statement:

"Midland ISD has utilized the stadium owned by the City of Midland through a lease agreement the past 21 years. We are entering our 22nd year leasing the stadium for football, soccer, and a separate agreement or fee for graduation in recent years and are fortunate to have such a nice stadium for our high school teams to play in and appreciate the City of Midland for making that happen years ago.

As we worked on the lease agreement for this year, our team learned that the city had proposed a new fee structure to the district over a year ago. For the first 20 years of the lease, the city and district had a 20-year lease structure. When that expired, there appeared to have been discussions about the need to restructure the lease, as the rates had not changed significantly during those 20 years. As we worked on the agreement for this year, we reviewed the numbers from a year ago, and our team found them to be reasonable. We asked for pricing for a one-year lease as well as a five-year lease. It was during the transition with the new city manager coming in, and he had not officially started with the City of Midland. It was at that time both entities agreed to the same terms we have had the past 21 years so that both teams would have time to work on a new fee structure and terms of the lease after this lease expires.”

Midland ISD is attempting to pass a bond for the school district to build two new high schools and improve other areas of the district. The bond includes more than $75 million for two new indoor practice facilities for Midland High and Midland Legacy. It is yet to be seen what the actual offer the city of Midland presented to Midland ISD or will present in the future, but the Midland schools are in for major changes moving forward.