POCATELLO — Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 plans to no longer host football games and athletic events at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena come this fall once its facilities projects slated for this summer are completed.

School District 25 Athletic Director Tonya Wilkes said during an Outdoor Facilities Committee meeting on Monday that the Pocatello High School Stadium at Lookout Field, outside of Hawthorne Middle School in Pocatello, is expected to be usable in time for the district’s 2022 fall sports season.

All three high schools in the district will each have their own stadiums this year after years of playing at Holt Arena. The change will be significant for Pocatello High School, which has never had its own stadium, and for the district as a whole as it will be able to put more athletics revenue into its own programs.

While the use of Holt Arena has been appreciated during Idaho’s cold winters, the facility has long been an effective blockade on Century, Highland and Pocatello high schools making money on their varsity football games, which are considered the biggest funding source for high school athletic departments.

When playing at Holt, the schools had to rent the venue every week, split the gate equally among the teams playing and pay for maintenance. Plus, because ISU kept all the profits from concessions at Holt and took a cut of all ticket sales, the high schools lost out on thousands of dollars every week.

The Pocatello stadium at Hawthorne already has lights, bleachers and a ticket booth that were completed in summer of 2021, but this summer will see the addition of a turf field, more bleacher space, concessions, restrooms, locker rooms and a new video and sound capable scoreboard.

The project is expected to be finished in early August, according to the district.

At Century, a video and sound scoreboard, and bleacher space for about 1,200 more spectators will be added this summer. The engineering process to add concessions and restrooms there will also be underway this summer. The stadium field is expected to be converted to turf in the summer of 2023.

Wilkes said she’s excited that the district’s schools will now all get to experience their own stadiums and feel a sense of pride for their outdoor facilities.

“That facility being yours is school pride,” she said. “I’m so excited.”

While Wilkes admitted there will be some “growing pains” associated with the facilities additions and upgrades, ultimately, they will be a positive development for District 25 and its expanding athletic programs, she said.

ISU President Kevin Satterlee said of District 25 no longer using Holt Arena regularly for athletics that the university is “100% in support” of the decision.

“Idaho State and the school district partner in many ways, and that partnership continues across a diverse array of programs,” Satterlee said, adding that the “university will always stand ready to support local schools and secondary education in the ways that we can.”

ISU Athletic Director Pauline Thiros said the university has been “very pleased” to offer the school district the Holt Arena experience over the years. Thiros said her department has “no objections” to the change.

Courtney Fisher, a spokesperson for District 25, said she thinks there will be ”a little bit of grumbling” about some of the changes, such as spectators having to now prepare for outdoor winter weather when attending a Friday night football game. But she said it will eventually turn into enthusiasm.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of enthusiasm generated,” Fisher said. “It’s been a remarkable process so far to see what’s been accomplished, and I think these changes will generate more enthusiasm than we even imagined.”