SAN MARCOS — Construction has begun on a new football stadium set to seat 3,700 spectators, according to Palomar College President Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey. The new softball stadium is set to seat 207 spectators.
These two stadiums are to be part of the first phase in Palomar College Athletics improvement projects. The softball stadium will be built to be four stories high and will even have a press box on the fourth story. The inclusion of a football stadium will now allow the Palomar College football team to host its own home games. Palomar College’s football team currently holds its home games at Escondido High School’s football stadium.
“These new stadiums are destined to be projects that will continue the great legacy of our Palomar athletics,” said President Rivera-Lacey at the groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 18, 2022. She continued, “The second phase of the project will consist of a new field house, of locker rooms, equipment rooms, weight rooms, athletic training rooms, and fitness testing labs.” These projects are being carried out to expand Palomar College’s Athletic Department as well as its Kinesiology program.
The projects that are being carried out are a part of Prop M (Maintain & Modernize Palomar College) which was approved by voters in Nov. 2006. The proposition was passed for $694 million to be given to Palomar College in a series of bonds to keep the college maintained and modernized. The Athletics and Kinesiology projects are part of the C and D series of bonds with a budget of $50 million for the facilities being built.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Athletic Director Daniel Lynds said this about Palomar College’s football team, “Palomar College’s first home football game was at Escondido High School on Oct. 4, 1947. After that, The Comets have moved their home games all around the county… We’ve been the traveling Gypsy squad for quite a while.” With the building of this new football stadium, The Comets football team will finally have a home for itself. “The development of the new football and softball stadium holds not just a place in my heart, but of all those involved in Kinesiology and Athletics.”
The two stadiums are being designed by HMC Architects and built by Erickson-Hall Construction Co. and are set to be finished one year from now in Oct. 2023.
