News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Jackson County Football League is asking for the county’s help to improve its operations.
Vice President Cody Wright said that youth football has struggled with sharing facilities with Jackson County Middle School and High School. He said their biggest ask from the county is to find a piece of land that could house a new field.
“The complications of multiple people trying to vie for the same piece of real estate all at the same time, taking that out of the equation, and let it be known that this isn’t purely for football,” Wright said. “It could be a community field. It’s just another county, local facility that could be used to house the sports.”
Wright said that ideally the land would be about three acres, and could eventually house goal posts, a scoreboard, and stadium seating. He said that based on current estimates, all aspects could total some $200,000. Wright said the baseball fields at the old fairgrounds could serve as a suitable location.
Wright said that he believes there could be a large return on investment. He said not only would this benefit the county, but it could also have a huge positive impact on the kids who participate.
“My big thing is I want to instill something in these kids, I could care less if we won a single game, we didn’t win one last year, but it was a success,” Wright said. “Because I know, I met a lot of those kids early in the summer, they didn’t know who I was, didn’t know my kids, didn’t know the other kids on the team were. We’ve got kids from Dodson’s Branch, from here in Gainesboro, we started taking kids from Baxter and Cookeville because they’re full. Kids that want to play sports, didn’t have an outlet for it.”
Wright said they are currently looking for grants and other funding to cover costs. He said right now, they only make about $1,000 a year off of league fees.
The County Commission took no action on the presentation.
