Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — I like to think of Wellington as one big house.

Your house may have some issues: the siding is falling off, there are cracks in the ceiling, the door blew off in a Kansas wind storm, and now things are a bit chilly. Sometimes, though, you need a nice couch for the living room.

With the 25-year bond issue for the high school set to sunset, the school board is addressing what to do with Sellers Stadium. The proposal to build a new field at the high school is a hard no. My take was a weak no (link).

But should we drop the issue and continue forward with life? No. It’s time to invest some money in Sellers Stadium.

Of all the public works projects we have had in Wellington (fire station, pool, schools, parks. etc.), very little money has been thrown at Sellers football field. Much of the amenities you see at Sellers are either through the few funds available in the capital outlay budget or through the generous donations of our local banks/businesses and efforts through the Crusader Club. The lights, the ADA-accessible bleachers, the press box, the concession stand all were built sporadically using available tax funds through the last 20 years.

The Wellington community has done a nice job making Sellers Stadium a nice place to watch a game. But a taxpayers’ haven it is not.

Nevertheless, Sellers is certainly not an armpit, but it isn’t a field that leaves a lasting impression either. And it is sub-par to the competition we play.

The fact that we don’t have locker rooms for our guests is what Wellington school board member Pat Zeka aptly said, “embarrassing.”

I wish I had taken a picture of El Dorado football players in their underwear on the 9th Street baseball field a couple of years ago dressing for the game. I was embarrassed – not for them being in their underwear – but for us, that we couldn’t provide them a facility.

Whatever we do. Let’s get locker rooms built. That’s priority No. 1.

Now, let’s address the rest. Here’s my take, on what we should do with Sellers Stadium.

Cueball’s handy-dandy Sellers Stadium Improvement plan

Before we get started, I decided to look at a couple of other facilities. My main focus was on the Derby Panther football field.

Why, Derby? I was reporter one year for the Derby Informer, and covered the Panthers in 2002. Tom Young was still the coach. I was struck by how similar that football stadium was to Wellington’s. They had a grass field, the locker rooms were underneath the stadium, there wasn’t a lot of room for parking – landlocked on Madison Ave. just east of their middle school, former high school.

And like Wellington, Derby fans love their football.

The stadium complex has changed significantly in the 20 years since. Derby sunk a lot of money in their football facilities.

It is an impressive high school stadium – although not quite the Taj Mahal Andover Central just built. It most certainly is well put together: new entryway, stands, pressbox, state championship words prominently displayed on the side just in case you forgot they were awesome. Visitors are greeted with a “Welcome to Derby” sign, artificial turf, and plenty of seating. The locker rooms and restrooms are to the south. It had a huge paved parking lot to the south.

Ok. I’m going to get the obvious comment out of the way first. “We are not Derby.”

Yes, but I counter we aren’t Danville either. We are a decent sized 4A team and there is a way to make our stadium live up to our history without breaking the bank.

The southwest entry way

Two things we should address is the entryway and the field itself.

I don’t mind the original proposal of placing locker rooms/bathroom somewhere near the tennis complex. This could serve as a locker room for the Crusaders – a place to get dressed, hear the coaches give motivational speeches and then comeback at halftime. Maybe a small portion can be blocked off for a public restroom for those watching tennis or during the Wheat Festival throughout the year.

It would be a great place to gather before crossing the bridge.

I have never liked the front entrance of Sellers Stadium. It’s dirty, the bathrooms are in shambles, we have a ticket office (or call it box) and nothing that identifies itself as Sellers Stadium with something underneath like “Welcome to Wellington. We are going to destroy you.”

The first thing I would do is pave the parking lot in front and take it to 9th Street. Personally, I’d pave all the roads throughout the park, but that’s a different topic for a different time.

Maybe we could construct a red brick pathway for the players leading from the bridge to the football entryway. Then I would build a facade like Derby’s with a metallic Crusader head.

Then I would totally rebuild the entry way, ticket booths, new bathrooms and a concrete pad for people to gather in that specific vicinity.

Now about the turf

The athletic facility survey said 52.4 percent wanted to keep the field as grass, 19.4 wanted artificial turf and 28.1 had no preference. That to me says that nearly half of the people are open to the idea of artificial turf. That’s workable.

I’m a huge proponent for artifical turf – for so many reasons. Having traveled to many Class 4A facilities, I can only think of one other school that has grass. Of course, its Andale. But let’s make no mistake. Andale’s turf is in better condition and that is a state-of-an-art facility. Andale does everything well.

I read someplace where 30 of the 32 4A schools now have artificial turf.

The arguments about increased injuries are always a concern with artificial turf. But former WHS athletic director Brian Buchanan, who is now an AD at artificial-turf friendly Goddard school district, said that is no longer a valid argument.

“Injuries are all about conditioning,” Buchanan said. “The turfs today are nothing like the ones you would find in the 80s or 90s.”

Cost-wise the difference between artificial turf and natural grass are minimal, he said. Yes, you have to replace the turf every 15 years or so. On the other side, there is no longer watering or mowing to deal with or the fact one rain storm can tear up the field. I’ll never forget former Mayor Roger Stallbaumer and former golf pro Steve Gill working the field on a Saturday afternoon after a rainstorm had practically destroyed the field.

The field was reworked on a Saturday afternoon in 2018 after a significant rainstorm.

Regardless if we stay with grass or go with turf, we will need to address the topography of the surface. Sellers has developed a hill in the middle, due to years of wear and tear. It needs reworked and leveled. If we are going through that process, why not make the change then?

My biggest argument for artificial turf is about presentation. It makes any stadium look cool. We can paint a big Crusader head in the middle of the stadium have red end zones. I have always loved the newer turfs that alternate different shades of green every 5 yards.

People will argue that since Wellington has grass and everyone else is artificial turf then we have a home field advantage, like Denver has an advantage with its thin air. This is a lie. Wellington was 2-4 at home last season and 3-0 on the road. In 2021 we were 0-4 at home, 2-2 on the road. There was no discernible difference the previous three years.  In 2018, our best year since the state championship years and we were 8-3 – all three of those losses were at home.

And judging from history, Wellington’s turf has been a soap opera. Ten years ago it was a complete mess. Then the school board brought in Gill, who turned it into a grassy modern marvel. Since he’s left?… hmmm, maybe not so much. With grass, the football conditions, will always be dependent on the person in charge of maintaining it. With artificial turf you have consistency. You can budget it in and know that if God decides to dump an inch of rain on Wellington, you can play a game almost immediately after it is over.

The intangibles

I could go on. I haven’t touched where to build the visitor’s locker room. I couldn’t care less where they go. Just get them built. I would argue a larger football press box is in order since the last one was built on the cheap and never addressed the issue that there isn’t enough room for the scoreboard operators, coaches, videographers, radio broadcasters and reporters. It needs to be twice as big.

One last thought

Let’s remember this one thing. Several mills are coming off our tax roll in 2026. We can easily add back a mill or two to pay for something that gives Wellington a field it can use for the next 50 years, without seeing any jump on our tax bill. It could be less.

Wellington had a 15-year period — from the early 90s to the mid 2000s — when it progressively built itself a new school, police/fire station, 16th Street, Edgwood Drive, Aquatic Center, Worden Park and renovated its downtown. People will say it didn’t do a damn thing but raise their taxes. But I believe it made us a better community. These projects are for us.

We are living in this large house. Giving Sellers Stadium a facelift is much like putting that new sofa in the living room.

It is a small price to pay for giving the historical Wellington Sellers Stadium a future it deserves.

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