Santa Barbara City College’s La Playa Stadium — with its towering, 84-step concrete bleachers and view of the Pacific Ocean — had a much-needed facelift this summer with a $2 million upgrade on the 11-year-old turf field and the damaged drainage system underneath.
The college’s new digs are being broken in by PE classes, the SBCC football team, and Bishop Diego High School football, which opened its season with a 52-0 trouncing of Oxnard on August 27 at the La Playa.
But for now, school officials say, the stadium is closed to the public, as it has been since the school first locked down in March 2020.