Revised seating capacities shouldn’t be an issue for the proposed stadiums at New Iberia Senior High and Westgate High, despite seating reductions for both stadiums approved recently by the Iberia Parish School Board.

The newly proposed stadium capacity for Westgate High School reduced the number of seating from 1,568 to 1,200 on the home side. Westgate will continue to utilize its existing visitor’s section, which seats 775 fans. Seating for NISH went from 2,339 on the home side to 2,000. On the visitor’s side seating was reduced from 1,047 to 850.

“Reducing the seats helps with the cost of plumbing,” said architect Perry Segura, who presented the changes to the IPSB for approval. “Judging from the previous attendance, these numbers are pretty accurate. There should be plenty of space.”

The record attendance for NISH in the last decade was a district championship game against Acadiana when 2,100 tickets were sold, still 750 tickets shy of the maximum seating capacity at the projected stadium at NISH.

Westgate’s largest crowd last season was 962 fans, both visitor and home.

Westgate’s largest crowd in the past decade was a playoff game against West Monroe High School in which 1,688 tickets were sold for both home and visitor seating, still 287 seats shy of the maximum seating for the proposed stadium.

Currently, both schools share Lloyd G. Porter Memorial Stadium, which has a maximum capacity of 5,000 people, according to Iberia Parish maintenance supervisor Harry Lopez. Lopez said the calculations are based on a current code that measures every 18 inches of footage as one seat.

“The code is based on every 18 inches will be deemed one seat. When you think about it that’s not a lot of space,” Lopez said.

Lopez said the current codes by the Board of Health factored into the planning of seating at both NISH and Westgate’s stadiums.

“The codes are always changing and it seems like they always get more stringent,” Lopez said. “It’s always a concern that we have to look at the applicable code changes and how it affects cost.”

The health code requires a certain amount of bathrooms per seating, which can drive the overall price of the bids up, Lopez said. NISH’s stadium will have nearly 40 toilets to comply with codes.

A reduction in seating is just one of the changes being made for the new stadiums at both schools. The size of the athletic buildings were reduced as well.

“The biggest reduction is in the athletic building which had to have complete locker rooms and showers,” Segura said. “So what we’re doing now is moving the athletic building towards their school so we don’t have to duplicate putting in new lockers to replace the old ones.”

The IPSB received four bids in early June for the stadium project for both schools with a budget of $5.18 million. Minvielle Lumber Co. was the apparent low bidder with a bid of $6.9 million, still way over the school board’s budget.

Iberia Parish School Board member Kenneth Lockett said he understands cutbacks were necessary, but didn’t want the cuts to become a safety issue.

Lockett said he had an issue with visitor and home fans sharing bathrooms and concessions stating, “There should be more space so the two crowds don’t have to mix.”

Only NISH’s concession stands would be shared by home and visiting fans in the new stadium.

The stadium project was part of a $50 million bond issue to cover renovation and improvements at schools in the parish. New stadiums for NISH and Westgate were meant to alleviate parking issues as well as scheduling conflicts when both schools played a “home” game at Lloyd G. Porter Memorial Stadium.

“They had that Cadillac version,” Lockett said, referring to the stadium’s initial plans. “They had maximum size, maximum everything and it came over budget.”

Lockett said he understood the reason cuts were made and is still satisfied with the projected stadiums.

“The new changes are still modern so it’s like we’re getting a Maxima. We won’t get the Cadillac version, but it’s not like we’re getting a Ford Focus,” Lockett said, jokingly.