Is This the Nicest High School Football Stadium in the Country?

This high school is going viral for the grand opening of its opulent new football stadium.

At $62 million, Buford High School’s Phillip Beard Stadium is the most expensive high school football venue in Georgia history. 

Buford, Georgia, was once a small community outside of Atlanta, but recently, the growing suburb has become a football powerhouse. The population of the town more than doubled between 1990 and 2000, and with more folks came more opportunity on the gridiron. The school had one state title before the year 2000. Since then, they’ve won 13. Nine of the school’s 11 undefeated regular seasons have come in the new millennium as well. With the grand opening of its new stadium over the weekend, Buford High School hopes to bring in as many fans as possible as the winning continues. 

The extravagant stadium seats 10,000 fans, includes 1,100 premium seats, and holds 15 suites.  Its new scoreboard is one of, “if not the largest,” for a high school in the country, according to Buford Athletic Facilities Director Tony Wolfe. 

It Begs the Question: Who’s Paying For All of This? 

Buford is a public school, and the stadium is actually owned by the city and leased to Buford High. The $62 million comes from the city’s general fund, per WSB-TV Atlanta. The entire bill is fronted by taxpayers. 

The roster includes multiple top 100 players in Georgia, including Class of 2026 defensive lineman Bryce Perry-Wright, the No. 6-ranked player in the state. Dayton Raiola, the younger brother of Nebraska star quarterback Dylan Raiola, is the team’s starting QB. 

According to a report from Front Office Sports in 2024, the state of Texas has six high school stadiums more expensive than Buford’s. The most expensive, however, is Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Built in 2017, the stadium cost $175.8 million (adjusted for inflation). 

Aside from Canton’s stadium, which is a part of the greater campus for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, everything is bigger in the state of Texas. Allen High School, outside of Dallas, routinely goes viral for its stadium, full news studio, food court cafeteria, and other amenities. Football is a religion throughout the South, and though many regions may not be able to fully compete with the Lone Star State, states like Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana punch well above their weight when it comes to producing NFL players.

What Does This Say About the State of High School Sports?

Amateur sports are beginning to look a lot more like pro sports. Starting at the collegiate level, schools are doing whatever they can to bring a competitive advantage for players. Amenities are getting so lavish that some players may experience disappointment when heading to the NFL, because their college locker rooms were better than their pro team’s. College Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals are rampant, but the NIL world is growing at the high school level as well, adding to a multi-billion-dollar industry. Youth athletes are signing deals with brands that seek to secure athletes before they become household names. 

With growing club sports leagues, social media, and luxurious stadiums, branding is more important than ever. The school a player attends, their presence on social media, and their highlights can help them raise their profile for big-name colleges. Often, big-name youth athletes attend private academies that focus primarily on sports performance, like IMG Academy. However, public schools like Buford high can also compete despite being unable to specifically recruit players from around the country the way a private school can.

Although large football stadiums aren’t a new phenomenon, the money in the industry is bigger than ever, and can pay dividends on the gridiron. We’ll see how this stadium pays off for Buford.