Ryan Seacrest-Backed Stadium To Open Next August.

Seacrest Stadium at Dunwoody High School in suburban Atlanta is expected to be ready for games in August 2027 after the Dunwoody High School Community Association reached its $1.5 million fundraising goal, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The money will supplement a sizable donation from media personality and Dunwoody High graduate Ryan Seacrest and his family. The project will add 2,000 seats, new bathrooms, a concession stand and a press box to the existing stadium.

“We’ve been wanting to do this for 20 years,” says Steven Fortenberry, President of the Dunwoody High School Community Association and a 1984 graduate of the school. Fortenberry taught finance at Dunwoody High for 27 years before retiring last year. “This will bring the community together. Kids can walk to games.”

About 800 households contributed to the fundraising campaign, with several donating more than $15,000, Fortenberry said.

“It was very much a grassroots effort,” Fortenberry said. “We think it will also be a great recruiting tool for the high school.”

The stadium currently has about 1,000 seats, making it too small for Dunwoody’s football team to host games. The Wildcats instead share 6,500-seat North DeKalb Stadium with Chamblee High School, about four miles away.

The renovation will allow Dunwoody to play home games on campus, making it the first DeKalb County high school with its own on-campus home football field.

Seacrest is host of “On Air with Ryan Seacrest,” which airs live weekday mornings on iHeartMedia’s “102.7 Kiss FM” KIIS-FM Los Angeles. It’s syndicated nationally by Premiere Networks in midday and afternoon drive. Seacrest, who also hosts “Wheel of Fortune,” “American Idol” and the ABC New Year’s special, graduated from Dunwoody High in 1993.

“Through all of life’s adventures, Dunwoody continues to be home for me and my family,” Seacrest said in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year. “It’s a place with so many special memories and a rich community that has given us so much. It is a true honor to know generations of Wildcats will get to enjoy this space and experience some of the magic that makes our city one that keeps us coming back.”

When Seacrest’s donation was announced last November, the organization had hoped to have the stadium completed by the start of the 2026-27 football season. Fundraising, permitting and construction planning took longer than anticipated.

Fortenberry said renovations are now expected to begin next month, with construction scheduled to be completed next summer in time for the first game in August. No taxpayer money will be used for the project, he said.