Superintendent Peter Licata told residents Fort Worth ISD can afford to spend a few more months reconsidering how to redevelop land around Farrington Field.
What the district can’t afford?
“Making the wrong decision or feeling tainted that we did something wrong or too quickly,” Licata said.
As state-appointed FWISD leaders restart a search for proposals for land surrounding the historic stadium, about 20 residents voiced their hopes and concerns for Farrington during a May 20 community meeting.
Their message was largely consistent: Slow down, protect public ownership and treat Farrington Field as something more than developable land.
Former state Rep. Lon Burnam, a Democrat and Western Hills High School graduate, urged district leaders to slow down.
“Once you lose publicly owned land, you will never recover that space,” Burnam said.
Former state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, speaks at a public input meeting about the future of Farrington Field at the Fort Worth ISD District Service Center on May 20, 2026. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America) The meeting follows questions from elected trustees, residents and real estate experts who worried the district may repeat mistakes of the 2020 sale of its former administration building, when FWISD sold the property for nearly $5 million and later spent about $1.8 million renting it back while waiting for its new headquarters to be renovated.
This time, the decision rests with a board of managers and superintendent appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath after the state took over Fort Worth ISD in March.
No managers attended the meeting to avoid potential quorum issues, Licata said.
District leaders will bring the request for proposals back, but wanted more community input before rewriting the request for proposals, Licata said.
“This is a true community effort,” Licata said, noting their comments will influence the process. “This is true transparency.”
Evan Farrington, grandson of the stadium’s namesake, said the district should develop a broader athletic vision for Farrington Field before selling or leasing individual parcels.
“I think the field must be improved first before the land around it has significant value,” Farrington said.
Evan Farrington speaks at a public input meeting discussing the future of Farrington Field at the Fort Worth ISD District Service Center on May 20, 2026. Farrington holds an original document from his grandfather about the foundation of Fort Worth ISD’s athletics department. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America) Farrington said the stadium could become an economic engine if marketed properly with the city and chamber of commerce, drawing lower-division college playoff games, soccer matches, youth tournaments and other events beyond Fort Worth ISD football.
Farrington Field, which opened in 1939, has long been one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. The stadium sits adjacent to what is now the Cultural District and has hosted generations of football games, track meets, band performances and community events.
District officials stressed they are not demolishing or disposing of Farrington Field. Students will continue competing there, said Kellie Spencer, deputy superintendent of district operations.
But the stadium needs major work.
An assessment around 2021 estimated about $26 million in needed repairs tied to accessibility, safety and other facility needs, Spencer said. Licata said bringing the stadium up to standard could cost between $50 million and $60 million.
“The problem is I don’t have $55 million. I can write a check, but it probably won’t clear," Licata joked. “But I don’t have $55 million to take from schools. I can’t do it. Our schools need it.”
That tension — preserving Farrington without pulling money from classrooms — is what led FWISD to consider selling or leasing surrounding land. The previous request for proposals sought private development around the stadium while keeping Farrington Field itself under district ownership.
Any development is tied to a city-approved tax increment financing district. Under the district, future property tax revenue generated by new development near the stadium helps pay for infrastructure and potential Farrington renovations. The idea is that if private development raises property values around the stadium, a portion of new tax revenue could help fund improvements without drawing directly from classroom dollars.
Willis Winters, an architect, president of Preservation Texas and a former director of the Dallas Park and Recreation Department, said Farrington Field has solid architectural bones and can be adapted for modern uses.
Winters compared the stadium’s potential to the Cotton Bowl, which he helped restore during his time with the Dallas Park and Recreation Department.
“If we were able to revive the Cotton Bowl through two capital campaigns, I can promise you that the restoration and renovation, adaptive reuse of Farrington Field can be an effortless project for Fort Worth ISD,” Winters said.
Several residents urged FWISD to avoid moving too quickly on decisions regarding the land surrounding the stadium.
Elected trustee Michael Ryan said one earlier concept involved bringing professional soccer to Farrington Field as part of a larger plan to renovate and preserve the stadium.
Any future deal should allow FWISD to keep control of the property, Ryan said.
Preservation advocates pushed FWISD to rewrite its request for proposals with more attention to the historic status of the stadium and the adjacent Billingsley Field House.
Jerre Tracy, executive director of Historic Fort Worth, said Farrington Field and Billingsley Field House are part of a 36-acre National Register Historic District designated by the National Park Service in 2020. Restoration work could potentially qualify for state and federal historic tax credits, she said.
“These two restoration resources need to be locally landmarked to protect them from demolition,” Tracy said.
Jerre Tracy, executive director of Historic Fort Worth, speaks at a public input meeting discussing the future of Farrington Field at the Fort Worth ISD District Service Center on May 20, 2026. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America) The meeting also surfaced legal questions about whether older deed restrictions could affect future development.
Carol Roark, a historian and archivist, said newspaper archives indicate the city once retained a reversionary interest in land surrounding Farrington Field. Under that language, she said, adjacent land could revert to the city if the stadium were sold or leased for a use other than recreation or athletics.
Spencer said the district's understanding is that the reverter was released before Trail Drive was built, but leaders will verify the documents and follow up.
Closing the meeting, Licata returned to the district’s financial challenge.
His first responsibility is educating students, he said, and he cannot justify moving tight capital dollars away from school needs to pay for the stadium.
But the meeting made a difference, he said.
“I think the value of what you said tonight is very important,” Licata said. “It gives us an opportunity to think about it.”
The stadium could still become a place where students, families and visitors gather for more than football games, Farrington said.
“It would be a real carnival atmosphere, a place that’s happy and our kids remember they loved going to Farrington Field,” he said.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
