BILLINGS — The 2025 high school football season at Daylis Stadium will look a lot like it did in 2024 — with the battered west-side grandstands condemned and off limits to spectators.
But a major renovation is coming.
The original announcement for planned improvements was made last fall, and Billings Public Schools activities director Mark Sulser told MTN Sports last week that he expects crews to begin work on the 96-year-old venue on Dec. 1.
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"Through this process we've come up with a plan that will allow us to put on quality events here — safe seating, safe entrance, restrooms, concessions, and looker rooms for visiting teams and all three of the home teams," Sulser said.
"At this point now we're in the process of selecting a contractor that would be approved at the August board meeting, and once we get the contractor on board, then it's time to really race to the finish."
The plan is for the renovation to cost $12.5 million with School District 2 covering half the expense. The other half is being privately raised, and Sulser said millions have been collected beyond the district's $6.25 million contribution.
A portion of the private funds will come from to-be-determined naming rights deals; the venue's official title has been Wendy's Field at Daylis Stadium since 2006. Yet there's still more to do.
"The momentum is good and we're really, I would say, on time from a fundraising standpoint. But we're not done," Sulser said. "Every additional dollar that gets us to our number and beyond is only going to enhance the stadium.
"I think the community would agree — let's do it right the first time. Let's create a facility that will be a multi-use facility for all our students and fans and stakeholders."
To that point, the master plan should greatly enhance what has become a ramshackle venue.
Recapping the blueprint, Sulser said the remodeled Daylis facility will include a new west side grandstand with a 3,000-seat capacity complete with a new press box/announcer's booth, four locker rooms, a concession area, five times the number of restrooms of the current facility, a ticketing area and rooms for information technology, mechanical needs and storage.
The lighting will be enhanced, Sulser said, though the lightpoles themselves will remain, as will the scoreboard on the south end. The current turf is also expected to remain for now. The east side bleachers — last updated in 2005 — also won't be replaced.
But a badly needed new track will be laid to replace the crumbling surface that exists now. The new track should feature at least eight lanes all the way around and include a 10-lane straightaway on the west side.
Field events for track will also be repurposed; the long jump, triple jump and high jump will remain inside the stadium itself, while the pole vault pit will be placed in the southwest corner closer to Senior High School and the shot put, discus and javelin areas will be consolidated in the northwest corner of the facility.
The plan is to preserve as much open field space as possible outside the stadium to preserve practice areas, Sulser said.
Sulser also said the district's soccer matches, for the most part, will remain at Amend Park, except for playoff or championship matches for which extra seating may be needed.
Sulser said the hope is for the new Daylis facility to officially open on Sept. 1, 2026.
"The ability to come in and have a facility that's ready to go with very few gameday changes or preparations, knowing that the kids are going to be on quality surfaces, that fans are going to have easy access, they're going to have great concessions, they're going to have restroom facilities ... all of the things that a really first-class venue has, we're going to have that," he said.
"The fact that it's going to be a turnkey facility, it'll be great for everybody. All of those things are going to be better for everyone."
The facility opened in November 1929 as Billings Public Schools Stadium. It was renamed in 1947 in honor of Fred Daylis, a principal and coach at Billings High School (now Senior High) who died that year.
