Texas High School Completes Massive $35 Million Football Stadium Despite Extremely Small Student Enrollment

Everything is bigger in Texas and that is certainly the case with high school football. When it comes to high school football, there are a few states, like Georgia, that rival the Lone Star State. None of them can match or surpass the level of intensity.

Take Melissa High School, for example.

Melissa, Texas is located an hour northeast from the heart of Dallas. It sits about 40 miles from the dead center of the state's third-largest city.

Image courtesy: Google Maps

Texas and its largest cities continue to expand, which makes Melissa one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the state. Nestled into Collin County, the town listed a population of 19,357 on the 2022 U.S. Census, which is almost five times its population from 2010.

As a result, Melissa is getting serious about its standing in terms of football. The Cardinal just moved up into the 5A-D2 level. It is expected to continue to that trajectory as the town continues to grow.

The divisions are determined by population sizes. Melissa is growing so it will keep moving up as it does.

To keep up with the growth, the school announced last April that it was building a brand-new, state-of-the-art football stadium and indoor practice facility that cost $35 million.

Melissa High School football stadium renderrings

Construction finished on the stadium and its facilities earlier this summer ahead of the team's preseason workouts and first game on Sept. 1. It is remarkable.

Here is a look from up top:

Here is a look from on the field:

The team meeting room is better than a lot of D-I programs.

The indoor practice facility, which was completed first, is state-of-the-art.

While there is no denying that the stadium and its facilities are remarkable, it is rather wild when you consider the total enrollment of the actual high school itself. During the 2022/23 school year, Melissa High School had 1,500 total students. In all four grades.

And now it expects to pack the stands on Friday nights in its brand-new, $35 million stadium when the entire town comes out to support the Cardinal. It just goes to show that high school football in Texas is a different beast!