Friday night lights will take on a new dynamic with the new Prosper Independent School District stadium, which opens Aug. 1, 2019.

The stadium can pack in 12,000 students at a cost of $51 million, and it will accommodate both high school and middle school games.

“Right now, football and soccer games will be played there,” athletic director Valerie Little said. “We will also let some sub-varsity football play there, like freshman and JV.”

The facilities include a natatorium, a banquet hall, and the largest video board in a Texas high school football stadium, which goes beyond serving sports.

“While we know it’s a football stadium, really it’s way more than that,” assistant superintendent Dr. Bradley said. “There’s a lot of cool things we can do out there. We’ve talked about having movie nights there for kids.”

The stadium contains a banquet hall, which will be used for sport banquets, luncheons and other community activities.

“It will hold 500 lecture-style seating and 350 people at banquet tables,” Little said. “It’s not a huge facility. But, for our community, it’s all we need.”

In addition to the stadium, the natatorium will host swimming and diving competitions.

“It’s a 25-meter pool with a diving well,” Bradley said. “It will also have an intro pool to teach swim lessons and hopefully open it up to the community.”

Compared to Eagle Stadium, which was built for a 3-A school, the new stadium can serve four high schools.

“Rockhill and Prosper High will both use it,” Little said. “We won’t look at building another stadium until we get to our fifth high school.”

Junior running back Reid Applewhite said Eagle Stadium has a hometown feeling. But, nevertheless, he said he’s still excited for the new stadium.

“I know it’s going to be packed for the opening night,” Applewhite said. “We are all pretty excited for it. We think it’s going to attract big talent to come here.”