Football stadium light project delayed by over three months

File photo: The Vanguard Knights run onto the field before their game against South Sumter during a football game at Booster Stadium in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
The completion of lighting upgrades for high school football stadiums across the county has been delayed, in an effort to minimize disruption to football and soccer schedules.
Marion County Public Schools approved a $2.2 million project last June to replace the lighting for every football stadium across the county’s eight stadiums.
Originally anticipated to complete in December of 2024, the project has now been extended by 95 days and is anticipated to complete on Feb. 7.
“Marion County Public Schools is in the process of installing district-wide stadium lighting upgrades. Work needed to be paused to accommodate the schools’ football playoff and soccer schedules,” according to MCPS.
Construction is intended to take place from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
“The football stadium lighting systems around the district consist of metal halide and metal sulfide lamps which cannot be purchased anymore and therefore cannot be maintained,” according to MCPS.
Each light fixture will be replaced at each pole with the LED light fixtures, new ballasts and drivers, according to MCPS.
“This will allow a quicker start on the lights once turned on, will produce more lumens thus making the field brighter, and will result in a much longer life span of the lamps,” according to MCPS.
The district also said it intends to make the same improvements to the lighting at each baseball and softball field. Funding has not yet been secured for those fields, so the lighting replacements will be completed in a separate phase.
The work is being done by Scorpio Corporation, the district’s annually contracted construction managers, according to MCPS.
The last stadium to be completed will be Dunnellon High School, which is slated to start on Jan. 16 and finish on Feb. 5.