Gates makeover coming soon
Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Football fans who attended the Arkansas War Cats'first home football game at David Gates Stadium recently might have noticed there are still signs and displays referring to it as the home of the Rogers Mountaineers.
By the end of the summer, that will no longer be the case, Rogers Public Schools business manager David Cauldwell said.
"There's about four or five places at Gates Stadium," Cauldwell said. "All references to Mountaineers will be gone."
He said the work would be done by the end of June or in July.
The overhaul will include the removal of several sign and labels including a "Rogers Mountaineers"sign on the north entrance of the stadium, a Mountie logo on the West entrance and a sign on the northeast hill near Blackie Bond Fieldhouse that reads "Gates Stadium: Home of the Rogers Mountaineers."
The top panel of the scoreboard at the south end of the stadium - which has two Mountie logos and "Mountaineers" - will be taken down. Also three scoreboard panels with "R"logos similar to the Mounties'football logo will be replaced, district athletics director Mark Holderbaum said.
Gates Stadium opened in 1978 and has since been the home of the Mountaineers. However, the Mounties will move into a new stadium at the high school campus around the first of August and the War Eagles of Rogers Heritage High School will call Gates Stadium home.
The stadium is used for football, soccer, and track and field. It is also the home of the World Football League's Arkansas War Cats.
Gates Stadium underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation last summer in preparation for the new high school, including a new press box and new entrance to the stadium.
The "R"at midfield and the "Rogers"labels in the end zones will remain on the field in an effort to maintain the district's identity, Cauldwell said.
"There is an effort that both schools are Rogers," he said. "One is Rogers High School and one is Rogers Heritage High School. That's an identity we're trying to keep and stay with.
"On the back of that scoreboard, it says, ' Welcome to Rogers'and we're not going to change that."
Cauldwell said there will be a concentrated effort to get signs and labels of the Heritage name and War Eagles mascot up around the stadium in place of where it used to say Mounties.
He also said there will be some additional painting being done this summer, adding highlights of orange - one of the War Eagles'colors - to the facility.
The War Eagles'first-ever home football will be at Gates Stadium on Sept. 12 against Oklahoma City Northwest Classen.
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