A rendering of Dearborn High's new $2 million synthetic turf football field. The current football field can be seen in the upper left part of the image.

We thought it would be worth sharing color renderings of what Dearborn High School’s new football field will look like when the roughly $2 million project is completed this fall.

As a Dearborn High graduate, I’m actually saddened to see the football field move from the valley, where it was surrounded by trees and hills to give it that special outdoor bowl feel. Now the football field will be  the top of the hill alongside the rush of vehicle traffic on Outer Drive. The uniqueness of the Pioneer football field and its bucolic setting will forever be lost come the start of football in the fall of 2009.

But we all knew it was headed this way. Once Fordson High School had its synthetic football field installed in 2007 at a cost of  more than $1 million, followed by Edsel Ford in 2008 for its new football field, another cool $1 million plus, Dearborn High wouldn’t be far behind. No school wanted to be left behind. 

This artist rendering shows the new football field viewed looking toward the high school, just out of view to the top left of the image.

Natural grass, much like Michigan State University and U of M football use today, could have worked here at Dearborn High, even though the field is in a floodplain. The key here would have been to limit traffic on the field to just football so it wouldn’t get so torn up.

That would have meant a separate natural grass field for soccer and field hockey teams to play and practice on.  Such a field could have gone at the top of the hill now that new tennis courts have already been constructed behind the high school. Though we doubt the folks pushing for a fancy new synthetic grass field would have supported such an idea.

For those of you wondering,  Dearborn High’s graduation ceremonies still will be held down in the bowl.