Good chance for fall games at S. Elgin High

The Elgin Area School District U-46 board has approved a bid for permanent bleachers at South Elgin High School — clearing the way for it to host athletic contests as soon as this fall.

The school board this week approved a bid for $493,294 from M/M Peters Construction of Aurora. The next highest bid was about $30,000 more.

The project will be paid for out of U-46’s capital fund. The South Elgin Boosters will deposit the money for the bleachers in the fund.

In an effort that has little precedent in the suburbs, the boosters are trying to fund a new $3.2 million stadium at the high school solely using private donations.

The boosters have raised about $500,000 so far, with the lion’s share of that sum coming from the Wisdom Family Foundation of Elgin and the Hoffer Foundation of South Elgin.

The original plan was to put that sum toward the bleachers, a brick walkway and natural turf. But the bleachers will end up costing more than expected — swallowing most of the funds raised so far.

“It came in well over budget,” boosters vice president Mike Bersani said. “That took up all the money we had raised. That meant we couldn’t do a press box, and the brick pavers had to wait.”

The bleachers, though, were a critical first step.

“If everything does work according to plan, we would be able to shift some of our home games at Streamwood (Millennium Field) to South Elgin” in the fall, South Elgin High Principal Melanie Meidel said.

The boosters expect to break ground on the bleachers in June, after school is out, and finish sometime in August. In the meantime, U-46’s grounds staff will make sure the field, which currently is in use for some matches and practices, is kept up to playing standards. And the boosters plan to install an electronic scoreboard in time for the fall season.

“Our big focus now is to complete that scoreboard and get as many advertisers as we can,” Bersani said.

The boosters are running a raffle this month as part of the stadium fundraising effort. Tickets are on sale in the high school’s main office.