Updated Press Box Planned

Conifer Lobos Unified Boosters hopes to modernize outdated viewing structures on football field

Erich Bohn, Reporter|April 17, 2023

Image Courtesy of the Conifer Lobos Unified Boosters.

These posters were put on the Orange Buckets used in the Orange Bucket drive on April 7, which raised several thousand dollars for CLUB and its efforts. This is only one of the ways the organization has been attempting to procure funds. “We are also trying to get a grant from the Gates family foundation,” Zalfa said.

The current CHS Press box stands barely above the new bleachers and is not quite able to give those inside the view that they need to announce, spectate, and comment on the game occurring on the field below. This is why Conifer Lobos Unified Boosters, also known as “CLUB” is currently raising money to replace it with a top-of-the-line press box, completing the series of renovations and additions to Conifer’s sports fields that the group has been implementing for the past decade.

 

“The first part was the lights, the second part was the bleachers,” CLUB Secretary Dawn Zalfa said. “Now it is the press box.”

 

The press box is expected to cost $110,000, $68,000 of which has already been raised. The new 24 by 8 foot press box is planned to include a three room interior and a filming deck, and will be elevated 40 inches above the ground, allowing those inside to easily view the field. It is to be installed in the summer of this year if the funding goal is met on time.

 

“We had a hunt for the best quality press box we could get for the high school,” CLUB president Samantha Prince said.

 

The box is a prefabricated building, meaning it will be relatively simple and easy to install. The easy installation cuts down on the labor costs needed for the building, allowing for the budget to be spent solely on the press box itself.

 

A rough sketch of what the press box is expected to look like. The CHS sports field has undergone vast changes since the school’s founding, and former students hope to continue to improve the quality of the facilities. Samantha Prince used to attend CHS and had to deal with the lack of lighting, lack of seating, and lack of concessions. “What you have now, I wish I had when I used to go there,” Prince said. (Courtesy of the Conifer Lobos Unified Boosters.)

“We all have a common goal at CLUB,” Prince said. “To improve the facilities at Conifer High School.”

 

The completion of the press box will take donations and time. CLUB is conducting a series of “Orange Bucket” drives to raise the funds, which consist of volunteers asking for donations while carrying Orange buckets with the relevant information on them. This and the donations already provided by local businesses, such as Shirley Septic and Conifer Gutters, are expected to help CLUB finish funding for the project in the coming months.

 

“It will be there for years to come and, most importantly,” Zalfa said. “It looks much better than Evergreen’s.”

Information on how to donate to or support the construction of the new press box can be found here.