But otherwise, Badin President Brian Pendergest told the Journal-News this week, the massive construction work – which includes a turf practice field now being laid out next to the stadium – is proceeding without a hitch.
Once the Lanni Family Stadium at Matandy SportsPlex is ready sometime in June, Pendergest said a public grand opening and tour will be made available to the thousands of alumni, Badin supporters and community members interested in the high-profile development rising up on its west Hamilton campus.
“They (construction crews) should be completed by the end of May but that is weather and (building) materials dependent,” said Pendergest as he walked around on the newly laid stadium track.
Pendergest also made his way over to take his first look at the artificial turf practice field being installed next to the stadium.
Only a handful of southwest Ohio high schools can boast of having both a main sports field of synthetic turf along with another faux-turf field for sports practices for their teams.
It will all be a major change for Badin’s boys and girls outdoor athletics and track teams starting at the beginning of the next school year in August as all previous teams never had a home field. Badin’s outdoor sports teams have played at various leased stadium sites in the area during their 60-year history, including at Hamilton and Fairfield high schools.
Pendergest credited private donors large and small for raising so far all but about $200,000 of the more than $15 million price tag for the sports complex, adding “we are extremely blessed with a lot of support for this project.”
Dirk Allen, spokesman for Badin High School, described the project as “a great game changer” for the school, which is the only Catholic high school in Butler County but draws enrollment from throughout the region.
Allen said the coming 2025-2026 school year will be the school’s sixth decade of existence and “we finally have our own stadium and people are thrilled.”
“The crowds are going to be very big in the first year and on-going,” said Allen, in reference to the first double-header soccer games scheduled for Aug. 15 and the first home football game, against Edgewood High School, Sept. 5.
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