Dunwoody organization raises $1.5 million to renovate football field, bring home games to campus

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Dunwoody High School is one step closer to hosting varsity football games on campus.

“It’s been a dream for maybe 20 years or so,” said Steve Fortenberry, president of the Dunwoody High School Community Association and a 1984 graduate.

Fortenberry and the association led an effort to raise $1.5 million to transform the school’s current football field into a stadium.

“The goal is to host Friday night football games,” Fortenberry said. “Friday night lights.”

The fundraising campaign, called “Bring It Home Dunwoody,” reached its $1.5 million goal last week, just a year after it began. Fortenberry said there was no set timeline for reaching the goal, but the money was necessary for the planned renovation to move forward.

“It was a grassroots campaign,” he said. “We had over 800 families take part in this, ranging from $5 contributions to thousands of dollars.”

The funds will be added to a previous donation from Dunwoody High’s most famous graduate, Ryan Seacrest, Class of 1992. The stadium will be named Seacrest Family Field.

The current field lacks restrooms and concession facilities and has a capacity of about 1,000 people. While it can host soccer and lacrosse games, it has not been equipped for varsity football.

“We’ve not had a varsity Friday night game,” Fortenberry said.

Fortenberry hopes construction will begin later this fall. The improvements would expand the stadium’s capacity to about 3,000 and allow Dunwoody to move its football home games from North DeKalb Stadium, about 10 minutes away.

“The ability to just walk to a game — there’s that community feel,” Fortenberry said. “It’ll really help attendance as well.”

If the project stays on schedule, Dunwoody could begin playing varsity football games at Seacrest Family Field by late 2027, potentially becoming the first DeKalb County school to play home games on its own campus.

“This is great,” Fortenberry said. “This is awesome.”

Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.