Prichard Mayor Carletta Davis says the long-idle Prichard Municipal Stadium could become more than a home for the “Battle of Prichard” rivalry game — she envisions it as a destination for youth athletics, once asbestos, lead paint, old cars and other hazards are cleared from the site.
Davis this week posted a video to her mayoral Facebook page explaining that a review by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and a potential brownfield designation could make the city eligible for state and local funding to restore the stadium. Speaking after Thursday night’s City Council meeting, Davis explained why the stadium could be considered a brownfield, a term usually applied to old factories and other abandoned properties believed to contain harmful chemicals. “There have been tires stored there. There were old cars stored there. They had paint stored there and herbicides stored there,” Davis said. “The building itself is very old. It was built prior to the lead paint law. We are sure there is lead paint and asbestos and all of those things there.”
Once ADEM’s review is complete, Davis said the city could pursue state and federal funding to remediate the site and repair the facility. She said a renovated Prichard Municipal Stadium would not only bring the Battle of Prichard game back to its namesake city, but could also host other athletic events. “We don’t have any athletic meeting spaces here in the city of Prichard right now, other than at our parks for our youth sports. We would like to have a soccer stadium, and we feel like we could host a championship soccer tournament there,” Davis said. “We could turn it back into a track and field area. We are looking at all the different possibilities, but youth sports tourism is a huge industry.”
The city-owned football field, track and bleachers, visible from Interstate 65, have sat unused since at least 2020, when Vigor High School announced its football team would no longer play home games there because of the facility’s “extremely embarrassing” condition. Prichard Stadium was long the site of the annual Battle of Prichard football game between Vigor and Blount high schools, a rivalry that has been played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile for the past three years due to the venue’s disrepair.
A Familiar Debate in Mobile
Prichard’s push for a brownfield designation and outside funding echoes a debate Mobile leaders wrestled with for years over Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The city of Mobile spent well over a decade covering maintenance and operating costs for that aging venue before selling it to the Mobile County Public School System under former Mayor Sandy Stimpson, ending the city’s direct financial responsibility for the facility. At various points, supporters argued Ladd-Peebles could draw major college football games and concerts to Mobile, with one school board member even floating the idea of a Margaritaville-branded attraction at the site. Today, Ladd-Peebles primarily serves as Murphy High School’s home field and hosts a handful of HBCU games each year in addition to the Battle of Prichard.
The stadium proposal also comes as Prichard continues to navigate other significant municipal issues, including discussions about the future of its police department, longstanding problems with the city’s water system, and a period of strained relations between Davis’ administration and the Prichard City Council — factors that have led some observers to question how much of the city’s limited attention and money should go toward reviving a stadium that has sat unused for roughly six years.