Missouri State is in the early stages of updating its football facilities, and the construction of an indoor facility is on its wishlist as it looks to the future.

Patrick Ransdell, the school’s athletic director, said the university is weighing several options as it prioritizes the future of Plaster Stadium and the football program’s different operational needs.

“We’re in the process of having those discussions,” Ransdell said. “I think sometime over the next 12-25 months, we’re going to be able to roll some stuff out there and have some dirt being moved. But it’s going to take a long time.”

Indoor athletic facilities have been popping up at several high schools across the Ozarks. Most are funded via no-tax-increase bond issues, while Missouri State would raise money privately.

What is currently a higher priority for Missouri State football facilities?

At the top of the athletic department’s priorities, Ransdell is trying to satisfy the football program’s operational needs. That includes different meeting rooms, locker rooms, weight rooms, and offices.

Different options are being explored, such as repurposing some of the classrooms and the weight room in the building attached to Plaster Stadium’s west bleachers or renovating McDonald Arena.

Renovating McDonald Arena, built in 1940, would require upgrades to the building’s roof and air conditioning. There’s hope that the school could receive help from the state if it were considered a historic building. The idea would be to put a weight room and different meeting rooms inside, but renovating it could cost more than building something new.

What would a Missouri State football indoor facility look like and how much will it cost?

An indoor practice facility isn’t ideal for McDonald Arena, as it wouldn’t provide enough space. Coming from Appalachian State, Ransdell saw the football program try to navigate having a 60-yard indoor facility, which led to some complications when trying to practice both offense and defense simultaneously.

If Missouri State is going to build an indoor football facility, it will want one that’s an entire field.

Ransdell would also prefer the potential building to be free-standing rather than a bubble. Tulane recently announced a 65-70-yard indoor bubble for an unspecified amount. Former Missouri Valley Football Conference foe Illinois State opened a bubbled facility in 2023 for $11.5 million.

For reference, the full-football-field-sized free-standing indoor facility nearing completion at Nixa High School will cost $18 million.

“There are options and we just gotta figure out what’s best for Missouri State,” Ransdell said. “I would prefer something more permanent.”

Where would an indoor Missouri State football facility go?

Missouri State can want an indoor facility, but the lingering question about such a project is where to locate a large building. There’s not a lot of open space on the university’s campus.

According to Ransdell, the parking lot south of Grand, across the street from Plaster Stadium, is among the possible locations. The university owns just over 20 acres of land east of Dollison Avenue and west of National Avenue. About half of the land is parking, with another four acres of a detention basin.

The location would make logistical sense for the football program, especially if it constructs a building in the south endzone of Plaster Stadium with locker rooms and coaches’ offices.

While the current zoning of most of the property could allow for an athletic facility, it would have to conform to height limitations outlined in the Springfield City Code. There is no set maximum height allowable for the current Government and Institutional use district zoning, but all structures would have to be below a 30-degree bulk plane from the nearby single-family properties. That means the structure would have to be set further away from the residential properties to gain more height.

“We may need to start constructing more parking garages,” Ransdell said. “At the end of the day, space isn’t just a Missouri State problem. It’s a problem for a lot of people. What do you do with it, and how do you best utilize it? I think we’re having some discussions right now.”

Ransdell also mentioned another possibility: the former field hockey stadium, just north of Hammons Student Center, which hosts the club lacrosse program.

How would a Missouri State football indoor facility be paid for?

Ransdell reiterated that a potential indoor facility at Missouri State will take time. In a way, he said the school is backed up in its endzone and is looking to move the ball down the field when attempting to raise money for the various projects it’s pursuing.

Ransdell said it will take some creativity to create chunk plays. The school has ideas, whether it’s getting creative with its partnerships and potential deals with the city. Gaining 15 to 20 yards at a time is ideal. At some point, Missouri State will likely launch a capital campaign to advance the ball further, but Ransdell wants to see steps taken before then.

“I think, if you look over the next decade, it’s certainly a priority,” Ransdell said. “In the short term, we have to address a few needs with our football program specifically. With that said, if somebody wanted to walk in tomorrow with a $25 million check, all of a sudden, it becomes priority No. 1, and we’ll figure it out. It’s all about the direction of your fundraising and how well those conversations go with what becomes a priority.”

What will be new at Plaster Stadium at Missouri State this fall?

In the meantime, Ransdell is focused on preparing for the 2025-26 season and the changes the college sports landscape may bring with the impending final approval of the NCAA-House settlement.

Plaster Stadium is approaching the end of the installation of its new turf surface, and it will soon replace its current lights with LED. Behind the scenes, Missouri State has had to upgrade its fiber optics for ESPN broadcasts. The school is in the process of constructing an ESPN docking station outside the stadium for its trucks. It will also replace some of the bench backs throughout the stadium.

Plaster Stadium will also feature a renovation to Dr. Richard “Biff” Williams’ suite and at least one more, allowing the school to showcase what it wants to do with the remainder of the suites. Ransdell also teased that there will be “more visually pleasing aspects” to the stadium that will be completed by the end of the summer. He declined to give it away, but said that when driving west down Grand, “you’ll definitely know whose stadium it is.”

“This has been a pretty substantial investment from the university standpoint,” Ransdell said.

News-Leader reporter Marta Mieze contributed to this report

(TNS) — Missouri lawmakers passed a bill earlier this week requiring public schools to ban cellphone use during the school day.

When the bill was first filed, it called for a cellphone ban in schools during instructional time.

However, state lawmakers took a more restrictive approach, with a complete ban on cellphones during the school day, including during lunch breaks, passing periods and study hall.

Now, the bill is heading to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk.

PARK HILL CELLPHONE RULES

Last week, the Park Hill School District adapted a new cellphone policy with the help of a task force of 30 parents, teachers, administrators and students. The new rules tighten restrictions for high school students, restricting access during instructional hours but allowing students to use cellphones and Bluetooth devices during passing periods and lunch time.Kelly Wachelf, the district’s chief communications officer, said Park Hill will review the policy to ensure the district is complying with state law and will update it over the summer if needed.

Wachel said the district was already reviewing its cellphone policy not only because of the legislation but also because of parent and teacher concerns.

“This year in our middle school and elementary schools, we did not allow cellphone access or electronic personal device access,” Wachel said. “That was really born out of a lot of parental feedback. We were having parents approach us about helping limit access for their kids during the day so we could focus on classroom learning.”

CELLPHONES IN SCHOOLS

Andi Osborne, a junior at LEAD Innovation Studio in Park Hill, said she was more than willing to give up her cellphone during the school day, but she acknowledged she has a different relationship to her phone than many of her peers.

She didn’t join social media until last year.

For other students, Osborne said limiting phone usage in schools would be a challenge.

“It seemed like the only solution was we have to take (phones) away in some sort of way,” she said. “I think the students kind of realized that and we’re like, okay, if they’re gonna get taken away at least let me give a solution to what that could look like.”

Osborne, among the students who were part of the district’s process to craft a new policy, was surprised that several fellow students admitted in a survey conducted by the district’s task force that their phones were a distraction during school.

Through the survey and its 3,000 responses, the district found that 71 percent of students said they use their phones daily during instructional time for non-academic purposes.

The top four things students reported using their device for were:

• Texting/messaging
• Streaming/listening to music
• Checking social media apps
• Watching videos

Nikki Helling, a fifth-year English teacher at Park Hill South High School, said she’s noticed some of her younger students are affected by their phones, even outside of class.

As the student council sponsor, she sees students of all different grade levels interact. She’s noticed that when her younger students are in an uncomfortable or unfamiliar situation, they tend to use their cellphones as a crutch to comfort themselves.

As a younger teacher born in 1998, Helling said she’s not oblivious to the impacts of cellphones, but the research from the task force was able to help her make that connection clearer to her students.

“I don’t think I really made that connection that phone usage decreased the amount of face-to-face, emotional connection and time that students are having with their friends,” she said.

PHONE POLICIES IN OTHER DISTRICTS

During the 2024-2025 school year, Liberty Public Schools “expected” students to have phones silenced during the school day and asked students to “refrain from texting during instructional time, as cellphone etiquette is an expectation,” according to the district’s handbook.

While the district’s handbook does not explicitly ban cellphones, it does say that cellphone usage that is disruptive or interferes with the learning environment is prohibited.

North Kansas City Schools currently has a “bell-to-bell” cellphone policy that restricts students from using their cellphones during class time.

The student handbook says that students’ cellphones should not be seen, heard or accessed for any reason during class time. If electronic devices are needed for academic purposes, students should use their district-issued Macbook.

If Kehoe signs the legislation, schools will be expected to enact the total cellphone ban for the 2025-2026 school year.

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