About 100 people came to a community meeting at Joliet Catholic Academy, where school leaders on Wednesday detailed plans for an on-campus football stadium and other new sports facilities.

The football stadium was the main attraction, however, because of its potential to bring hundreds of cars into the neighborhood on Friday game nights.

“The big problem I’m seeing is the traffic on Friday nights,” resident Greg Piskur said..

JCA hopes to get approval from the city of Joliet for its plans by December and wants to begin construction in the spring.

But construction will start with a turf field and new tennis courts with stadium construction dependent on fundraising.

JCA president and principal Jeff Budz at one point referred to “the first game – maybe two years from now or sooner depending on fundraising."

The school is in the midst of a capital campaign that has raised $12.5 million with $5.5 million dedicated to the new athletic facilities.

School sports are played on campus with the exception of the legendary football program.

JCA football is played at Memorial Stadium on West Jefferson Street, an off-campus experience that has become increasingly rare in high school sports.

“We are the only Will County high school without a multi-purpose turf field,” Ryan Quigley, institutional advancement director for JCA, said.

The proposed JCA stadium would provide seating for 5,500 compared to 10,000 at Memorial Stadium.

Most JCA games draw crowds of 3,000 or less with the exceptions being games against Providence Catholic High School and Morris High School, Quigley said.

The biggest crowds in the past 10 years were a 2023 game against Providence that drew 7,500 and a 2024 game against Morris that drew 5,300, Quigley said.

“We live in a different world now,” Quigley said, pointing to crowds of 12,000 that came to games in the early 2000s.

Quigley said JCA plans to expand parking to the point that it will have more room for cars than what is available now at Memorial Stadium.

But neighbors were concerned whether JCA was taking into account the problems they already face from overflow traffic from the school.

“You need to know what we know,” said neighbor Joyce Cabay.

Cabay called the JCA plans “magnificent.” But, she asked, “Will you do your due diligence?”