DINUBA – Rather than being tucked away in between academic buildings and farmland, the Emperors’ new football stadium is set to complement the new Dinuba High School in the northwest corner of campus off Kamm Avenue.
The Dinuba Unified School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved the new placement of the football stadium, and with it an updated athletic facilities master plan, at its meeting on Jan. 15. With the revised layout, the school district was able to address some technical considerations related to field placement and also hopes to inspire more community spirit.
“I just can’t tell you how excited I am,” Superintendent Marti Kochevar said when bringing the item to the board. “We had a number of options to look at. Every group we took this to, this was the unanimous choice.”
The previous athletic facilities plan, approved by the board in September 2023, put the football stadium and track and field in the center of campus, bordered by performing arts buildings to the north and career technical education buildings to the east.
To access the football stadium for a game, community members would have to drive into the campus from Kamm Avenue, past soccer fields, tennis courts and baseball fields, and would have limited parking availability.
The new positioning of the football stadium, however, gives the community easy access to it. Visible right off the road, immediately to the west of the existing parking lot, Emperor alumni can feel a sense of pride and school spirit when they pass by. An additional parking lot to the west of the stadium will allow for ample visitors.
Kochevar told the board that this new plan will enhance the branding of the football stadium, giving DUSD the ability to showcase the school as an important part of the community.
“It’s a district facility, but it’s a 6,000-seat stadium that will also host a number of community events,” Kochevar said.
Along with easier community access, the stadium will be closer to the locker room, which Kochevar said was important to the athletic department as it ensures teams will be able to quickly get back during halftimes.
Kochevar said everyone who reviewed different options for the facilities layouts preferred the one presented to the board, and the board agreed that it would be a good change for the high school campus.
The only downside, DUSD Trustee Ron Froese noted, is that the original placement of the football stadium had the endzones on a north-south axis, meaning the setting sun wouldn’t be in players’ eyes. To make it fit on the campus, the new placement puts the stadium on an east-west axis.
However, Kochevar said the current stadium is positioned on an east-west angle as well, so players are used to it, and the proximity to the locker rooms was more important to the school athletics team.
Other facilities
Moving the football stadium and adding a parking lot meant that other elements of the original athletic facilities master plan had to move as well.
While the baseball and softball fields will remain in the southwest corner of the campus, the proposed aquatics center, tennis courts and soccer fields will move to the center of campus, south of the academic buildings.
This also brings along improvements, as the soccer fields will be grouped together and the aquatics center, which was previously positioned immediately next to Kamm Avenue, will be tucked away.
Kochevar said this is good because swimming pools can be an “attractive nuisance” and a liability to a school district. The aquatics center will have two sets of fencing and be more secure in the middle of the campus.
Kochevar said district staff were pleased to bring the new plan to the board, as it was the brainchild of the school district’s architectural contractors PBK and a team of employees within the district.
With the new plan, DUSD can continue to focus on securing funds for the athletic facilities and determining a timeline for construction.
