I'm needing a question answered.

Why is it I can be out of an evening and see High School football fields with all the lights turned on with no events occurring.  This is not in a certain area. I have seen it all across the Commonwealth at different times of the year.

1 hour ago, 4 Quarters said:

I'm needing a question answered.

Why is it I can be out of an evening and see High School football fields with all the lights turned on with no events occurring.  This is not in a certain area. I have seen it all across the Commonwealth at different times of the year.

Depends on each school but teams have games and practices on the turf during the spring.  I know lacrosse has games on the fields and baseball teams use them for practice.  At least the ones that don't have turf baseball fields like Ryle.  Which I still wonder what we're waiting for on that one?

4 minutes ago, DTRaider said:

Depends on each school but teams have games and practices on the turf during the spring.  I know lacrosse has games on the fields and baseball teams use them for practice.  At least the ones that don't have turf baseball fields like Ryle.  Which I still wonder what we're waiting for on that one?

I've seen them on when the temps would be in the teens.

Lights like that usually run on a timer. Schools usually like having the extra light during baseball/track season also, as well as just to light up the area.

1 hour ago, 4 Quarters said:

I'm needing a question answered.

Why is it I can be out of an evening and see High School football fields with all the lights turned on with no events occurring.  This is not in a certain area. I have seen it all across the Commonwealth at different times of the year.

The school I work for has LED field lights that are turned on and off by an app on the AD's phone. Coaches schedule their practices and games through the AD. The AD sets the lights to come on 10 minutes before dusk and to go off when ever the coach says the practice would be over or a little past when the game would be over. This is all scheduled at least a week before if not more. If the practice or game gets canceled or changed and nobody tells the AD, the lights come on for no reason.

3 hours ago, DTRaider said:

Depends on each school but teams have games and practices on the turf during the spring.  I know lacrosse has games on the fields and baseball teams use them for practice.  At least the ones that don't have turf baseball fields like Ryle.  Which I still wonder what we're waiting for on that one?

Maybe money lol?

Could be on for possible field/grounds or complex maintenance.  

Some schools will light as much of the property as they can during an event, I.e., a basketball game. Lots of folks on campus, and more light = less shadiness for shady activities.

Some schools also like to "show off" their facilities.  If I were an administrator and had top notch facilities, I would have them on for every extra curricular event on my campus.

As a project manager, I built a small handful of stadiums on both the high school and college levels. In the process I've heard the sales pitch from Musco Lighting about LED stadium lights more than once. They always were saying that operation cost for their lights is about half of what the traditional high-intensity metal-halide lights cost. The last time I sat through their sales pitch I asked the salesman to give me an actual nuts and bolts number on what that cost looked like. He balked at it a little, but I pushed on him on it and he said he'd have to get back to me with an answer - I was surprised when he actually did.

He told me a 4-stanchion LED lighting setup for a single average-sized high school field would cost around 10¢ per minute or $6 per hour to operate, compared to about 25¢ per minute or $15 per hour to operate if the lighting is metal-halide.

I'm not saying that I don't agree with there being a time and place to leave your lights on to show off your facilities, and I certainly can see where it makes sense to have lights on across the campus facilities to prevent issues with shady activities and especially with vandalism to the school's property. But I've gotta admit that there's still the part of me who grew up in a household where leaving the lights on when you leave a room unoccupied is a punishable offense...and I've driven past campuses where they regularly have their whole field lit up like Christmas without a car in the parking lot and I can't help but think, "I sure don't want to be the one who has to pay for that."

Looks like Simon Kenton will be getting some new lights, last nights storm took down a light tower!

It's a safety thing mainly. High School campuses are large places with many dark spots. When events draw a large crowd to campus (games, musicals, fall fests, tournaments, etc.), the extra lighting makes a HUGE difference in creating a safer feel on campus. 

This is particularly prevalent in January and February, when basketball is regularly played, and the sun sets at 5. 

On 3/12/2026 at 6:02 PM, WSL-BIRDS said:

Looks like Simon Kenton will be getting some new lights, last nights storm took down a light tower!

Did the glass shatter on the turf?  If so I would imagine they will get new turf.  Wouldn't want glass pieces cutting kids.

On 3/17/2026 at 12:22 PM, okie1 said:

Did the glass shatter on the turf?  If so I would imagine they will get new turf.  Wouldn't want glass pieces cutting kids.

It did do some damage to the turf. Was told that a large section of turf will have to be replaced but the whole field won't need replaced. I guess we shall see.

On 3/18/2026 at 11:33 PM, WSL-BIRDS said:

It did do some damage to the turf. Was told that a large section of turf will have to be replaced but the whole field won't need replaced. I guess we shall see.

I was told by an SK parent tonight that the other 3 lights will need to be taken down as they have cracks in I assume the foundation. The football and baseball fields are closed, and I would assume the softball field, until the lights can be taken down.