Lake Travis football is finally coming home. After more than a year playing “home” games away from campus while their own stadium was torn apart and rebuilt, the Cavaliers return to a dramatically expanded Cavalier Stadium this Friday to face an undefeated Cedar Ridge squad in a District 25-6A showdown.
The Friday matchup, which district officials have dubbed a “soft opening” for the newly renamed Leif Johnson Ford Field, caps a project that began with voters approving a $143 million athletic bond in November 2023, according to KVUE. That bond initially set aside $26.3 million specifically for upgrading Cavalier Stadium.
Costs climbed well beyond that original figure. The Lake Travis ISD Board of Trustees approved a Guaranteed Maximum Price contract of $48.3 million with general contractor White Construction in July 2025, as Community Impact reported at the time. To cover the roughly $22 million gap between the voter-approved allocation and the final contract, district leadership reallocated savings from other bond-funded athletic projects, the outlet noted.
What Fans Will Find Inside the New Stadium
The rebuilt complex, located on Lake Travis High School's campus in Austin, now seats 11,090 people, up from a previous capacity of 7,400 — an increase of nearly 4,000 seats, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Beyond the added seating, the project included a three-story women's field house, a new press box with a film deck and scoreboard operations room, visiting-team locker rooms with direct field access, new concession stands, restrooms, and a spirit store, per the same Community Impact report.
Head coach Hank Carter revealed the renovated stadium to the Statesman ahead of Friday's game. Carter, who took over the program in 2010 after joining as defensive coordinator in 2008, has racked up more than 150 career wins with the Cavaliers, according to Sports Illustrated.
A Year of Away Games at Home
Cavalier Stadium has kept Lake Travis off its own campus since September 2025. Yahoo News reported in October 2026 that the team played a game at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex.
District officials designated Friday's game against Cedar Ridge as the stadium's soft opening and have issued game-day guidance on traffic, parking, and seating ahead of a community-wide “RED OUT,” according to the Lake Travis Independent School District. Officials have asked fans for patience while new facility systems are tested live for the first time.
The celebration will be brief. Per the Statesman, Lake Travis will play only one more home game at Cavalier Stadium this year before construction resumes on the site for a new facility.
Part of a District Bond
The stadium overhaul is one project funded through the district's $143 million athletic bond.
Friday's reopening follows the death of Lake Travis player Odin Hensley after a medical emergency at practice.
