TETER-designed stadium coming soon to COS Visalia Campus
Excerpt of article originally printed in The Sun Gazette Newspaper on March 23, 2022 by Reggie Ellis
Sequoia Stadium will be the new home of Giants football, soccer, and track and field beginning in fall 2023.
VISALIA – College of the Sequoias has announced plans to build a new stadium on its Visalia campus.
COS Athletics made the announcement March 15 on its social media accounts:
“Sequoias Stadium is coming to COS in the Fall of 2023! Sequoias Stadium will feature…a video board, state of the art entry plaza, concessions, restrooms, and a place to enjoy events on the COS campus. Go Giants!!!”
COS’ existing field for football and track and field on Woodland Avenue will be converted to Sequoia Stadium, a 3,500-seat stadium with a video/scoreboard, restroom and concession facility, a permanent sound system, and related site improvements.
About 2,200 seats will be in permanent bleachers with about 1,300 in temporary bleachers. Currently, COS football games average about 2,500 people.
Three existing tennis courts on the southeast corner of the existing track and a portable storage/utility building along the west side of the track will be removed to make way for the stadium. In addition to athletic events, a stadium setting will provide the district with an exterior facility to host large gatherings, including annual commencement ceremonies.
“Providing soccer and football programs with a ‘home’ field will promote inclusivity and increase community participation on the COS Visalia campus,” the college stated in a March 14 report.
At the March 14 meeting, the board approved a $1 million contract with JTS Modular, Inc. of Bakersfield to build the 2,400-square foot modular concession/restroom building.
In spring 2021, the Board of Trustees approved the transfer of one-time funds to the district’s capital projects account for a stadium improvements project. The community college’s football, track and field and soccer teams have traditionally hosted games at Mineral King Bowl and Riverway Sports Park but both locations have proven to be very challenging, from both contractual and logistical standpoints. Mineral King Bowl is owned by Visalia Unified School District and is a shared facility for football, soccer and track and field for Mt. Whitney and Redwood high schools. Riverway Sports Park is owned by the city of Visalia and hosts youth and community soccer leagues, flag football and other events.
“In recent years, COS has experienced an increasing desire to host home contests for the COS soccer and football programs,” the December 2021 stadium master plan stated.
