PORTAGE — Upgrades to the Portage Area football stadium should be completed in time for the 2024 football season, according to Denise Moschgat, the district’s executive secretary to the superintendent.

During a regular school board meeting Wednesday night, Moschgat said the board heard updates from the EADS Group about a renovation project the district started after discovering damage to concrete under the grandstands at the end of the 2022 season.

Moschgat said the estimated cost to repair the stadium and add new locker rooms is $1.2 million. The historic football stadium was built in 1939 as part of the Works Progress Administration project to jumpstart the economy during the Great Depression, she said.

“It’s a unique structure with arches made of Italian-cut stone,” Moschgat said, adding the home and away side grandstands are in the process of being rehabilitated. “So far, it seems to be coming along well.”

The contractors told board members the outside work has been completed and now they are beginning to work inside the stands, underneath the seating.

After hearing from architects and engineers, Moschgat said the school board decided the best course of action is to build a separate locker room facility instead of putting locker rooms back under the grandstands. She emphasized that the new facility is for locker rooms only and is not a field house.

“Bidding for this new structure should be going out soon with bids due in February,” Moschgat said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.