Albi Fix Could Benefit High Schools

The remake of Joe Albi Stadium - phase one, anyway - was accomplished in a summer.

The redefinition will take a good deal longer.

It could have started with a soccer game or a circus or even a swap meet - the visionaries won’t rule anything out, so we can’t - but high school football has been the big guy’s most reliable tenant, so high school football it is.

The 1996 Albi - with a wider wheelbase and re-engineered for better grass mileage - gets its first test drive tonight with the opening Greater Spokane League doubleheader of the season.

Warning: Objects on the field may be closer than they appear.

Some 7,000 seats in what used to be the lower 8-10 rows have been ripped out to make room for the wider field soccer demands. But the floor has also been raised more than six feet, so the sight lines have been altered ever so slightly - to say nothing of the sidelines. The days of being able to reach over the rail and tap your buddy the backup tight end on the shoulder pad are over.

What with the sophomore class no longer inches from his ear hole and the turf slicker and spongier underneath, the player figures to be impacted the most initially - though if this project has any legs, that will change.

And if the first games get out of hand, the spectator can allow himself to be distracted by all the railings being the same color “maybe for the first time ever,” mused Dawn Antonelli, the woman in charge on event nights.

But this isn’t about a coat of paint and a new rug. Albi has been attacked by cosmeticians before, though none with an eye or much of a budget.

This is about re-inventing Albi Stadium.

Until this project was hurried into place, it’s hard to say how much thought ever went into that. As far back as 25 years ago, you had to look no further than the op-ed page to see Albi described as a white elephant and a money sump. We dolled it up when Washington State University needed it, then swallowed the rejection and the bill when the Cougars took their football back to campus where it belonged. Since then, it’s been padlocked roughly 340 days a year.

Then Bobby Brett convinced the city the joint could turn a profit as a home for both his soccer team, the Shadow, and the GSL and as the centerpiece of a more comprehensive recreational development that could include indoor soccer and ice facilities and more youth soccer and baseball fields. This $1.9 million tummy-tuck (seeded by $100,000 of Brett’s money and $400,000 from the Dist. 81 schools) is just the beginning; Brett envisions open-air skyboxes and box seats a la Seafirst Stadium, though just how far it goes depends on how heavily the private sector buys into it.

“Planned properly, there’s enough (land) out there for everybody,” Brett insisted. “And now that we’ve got this much in place, with every improvement it’ll be easier to raise money - whether it’s someone who wants a jogging track around the complex, or the Boy Scouts having some interest in the land, or the Hoopfest people we’ve talked with about basketball courts. It’s a long-term project based on what the demand is - but from experience here I know it’s really easy to add things when you know you can sell them.”

In other words, you need more than 2,000 people rattling around a 30,000 bowl. The Shadow must evolve into an attraction - and given the Brett organization’s touch with minor league baseball and hockey, that may not be far-fetched.

And now their touch - more of a caress at this point - will be felt by the GSL.

About time. The fact is, never have there been more spectators for sports in Spokane - for Chiefs hockey, Indians baseball, Gonzaga and WSU hoops. But attendance for high school sports has sagged.

“For a number of years, we’ve seen a decline in (spectator) participation,” said Mead athletic director John Miller, “and I believe one of the reasons is, schools have generated schedules and expected people to come to games. We know that’s not happening.”

Miller heads up GSL Athletic Promotions (GAP), which has as its mission “putting some excitement back into the games, turning them into events. We’ll try some promotional things, spirit things between schools with prizes involved - just make things more fun for spectators.”

There is a complication here. There are fewer high school spectators now because there are more high school participants. Girls don’t just have to cheer anymore - they have nine GSL sports of their own to play. Families are stretched for time tighter than ever.

There is also the specter of over-marketing. Fast-food giveaways for spirit competitions are great, but the pros and colleges have proven that it’s just a baby step from that to having Nike’s swoosh on the tailback’s chest.

“We’re pretty conservative,” said Dan Ryan, the GSL’s activities coordinator, “and yet we’re like everybody else. We produce the majority of our revenues off football and basketball and we have to run nine boys and nine girls sports off basically those revenues. We’re not that much different from a college program, other than a lot of zeroes after the numbers. But we’re not going to exploit high school kids.

“High school sports can be a lot of fun. It needs to be less crazy than pro and college sports, but it can still be a lot of fun.”

In any case, the remaking of Albi will have its share of subplots.

“I don’t know where it’s all going to end up,” admitted Brett, “but it is going to work.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review