NILES, Ohio — Niles City School District will replace the playing surface with new artificial turf at Bo Rein Memorial Field at Niles McKinley High School with help from a grant through the NFL Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation Grassroots Field Grant Program, the Cleveland Browns announced Tuesday.
The grant for Niles totals $200,000, and the district was one of 26 recipients across the country, Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen said when the award was first made public in September. Browns representatives presented the check at the stadium during a homecoming game.
The field will be used for high school and youth football as well as recreation and arts programs across the school, giving thousands of students and residents a safer place to play. It is the 20th field project for the Browns since the team began its long-term field effort in May 2016.
A second grant from the program goes to Akron Public Schools. At Flossie Stadium, on the Buchtel Community Learning Center campus, that money will pay for new restrooms, a concession stand and a press box in place of outdated ones.
Thigpen said the district had known the old turf needed to be replaced, and that the partnership with the team goes beyond the field. The Browns also plan to hold a summer football camp for 200 students each year.
The NFL Foundation and LISC have worked together for close to 30 years on community football fields. The program has sent more than $70 million to schools and community groups nationwide and helped build or refurbish nearly 500 fields. LISC finds local nonprofits and agencies that want to build or fix fields, and those groups handle construction, upkeep and programming.
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