Stadium could be retired

Greyhound Stadium, the longtime home of Eastern New Mexico University football located on Highway 70 at Blackwater Draw, may be about to be retired.

The school has begun looking into prospects for building an on-campus, multipurpose facility which would serve for home events in football, soccer and track. The stadium would be on University Avenue, next to the Greyhounds' current football practice facility.

ENMU president Steven Gamble said the wheels have been set in motion for the project which, if approved, would probably take at least two or three years to come to fruition.

"We're considering the feasibility of it," Gamble said. "We know Blackwater Draw is aging. We're going to have to get out of Blackwater Draw before long.

"We've met with the student senate. They passed a resolution saying they would be in support of this."

The proposed project will cost $8 million. Half would come from an increase in student fees over a 25-year period — athletic director Jeff Geiser estimated it would be in the neighborhood of $2.65 per credit hour — with the remainder coming from private donations or economic development money.

"President Gamble has always had the concept of having a stadium on campus, if we can afford it," Geiser said.

ENMU football coach Josh Lynn said a new facility would provide a boost, not only to the football program, but to Portales in general. Portales High currently shares Greyhound Stadium with ENMU, but would be able to move its events to the new facility.

"It's time," said Lynn, a former ENMU player and assistant coach who was hired in December 2012 as the head football coach. "We're not talking about just a football stadium, we're talking about a facility the entire campus and the community can use.

"We need to do it. We need to get our students and the town of Portales on board."

Portales High football coach Jaime Ramirez said the Rams have been comfortable with Greyhound Stadium, but acknowledged an in-town facility would be a good thing.

"What a great situation it would be for Eastern to play their games in Portales," he said. "If we were able to do that, it would help support for our program also."

As far as the playing field is concerned, Ramirez said ENMU has always kept it in good shape.

"The field is very nice," he said. "(But) I always thought if we could have our games at our high school, that would be awesome."

The ENMU student body is expected to vote on the proposal sometime in the fall. Should it not pass, Gamble said the university would look into ways to improve Greyhound Stadium, including putting in artificial turf.

"Our alternative would be to put maybe $1 million into Blackwater Draw to make it serviceable for another decade or two," he said.