For generations of Omaha North High School students, playing a true home game has meant something a little different.
North has produced championship teams, standout athletes and generations of proud Vikings. But unlike many high schools, North has gone without an on-campus stadium of its own.
That is finally changing.
Construction is underway on Gene R. Haynes Stadium, alongside a completely new Butler-Gast YMCA, in a major redevelopment near North High along the Ames Avenue corridor.
Together, the projects are known as Project Game ON, a partnership designed to create something bigger than a football field or a new fitness center. The goal is to create a place where students compete, children learn to swim, families exercise, neighbors gather and North Omaha has another community asset built for the future.
A Home Field, Finally
For Omaha North, the stadium has been a long time coming.
Longtime former North High principal Gene Haynes spent years advocating for improved athletic facilities for the school. Haynes served as North's principal from 2001 until his retirement in 2020 and spent more than four decades as a teacher and administrator in Omaha Public Schools.
In July 2026, the Omaha Public Schools Board of Education made the connection permanent, approving the name Gene R. Haynes Stadium for the new facility.
For current students, that means future Vikings won't always have to travel elsewhere to experience something that sounds simple: a home game that is actually at home.
North student and soccer player Skylar Linstrom described the difference a neighborhood stadium could make, noting that people in the surrounding community will be able to simply walk over and experience games.
That matters.
A stadium isn't only where the scoreboard lights up on Friday night. It can become a gathering place for alumni, parents, students and neighbors.
And this one is being designed to serve more than North High athletics.
More Than Friday Night Football
The stadium is planned for football and soccer, but Project Game ON envisions the field being used by the wider community as well.
YMCA of Greater Omaha President and CEO Rebecca Deterding has described a future where Friday night Viking football could be followed by YMCA youth sports on Saturday and community fitness activities at other times.
That's an important part of this project.
Instead of building a school facility that sits quiet when students aren't competing, the vision connects the stadium to a broader community investment.
And right next door will be another major piece of it.
A New Butler-Gast for the Next Generation
The Butler-Gast YMCA has been part of North Omaha for approximately 30 years.
Its old facility closed in July 2025 so construction could move forward on a completely new YMCA. The organization says the former building served thousands of individuals and families through youth programs, fitness, wellness and community activities during its three decades of operation.
The new facility is intended to carry that legacy forward with modern spaces for health, recreation and youth development.
For North Omaha families, that means the investment isn't only about athletics.
It's about health.
It's about children having places to go.
It's about families having affordable recreation nearby.
And it's about maintaining a community institution in the neighborhood rather than asking residents to travel somewhere else to find those opportunities.
The YMCA describes the new Butler-Gast as an investment intended to improve public health and youth achievement by providing accessible and affordable health, wellness and youth-development opportunities in North Omaha.
Students Won't Just Watch It Being Built
One of the quieter parts of Project Game ON may turn out to be one of its most interesting.
Students are expected to participate in aspects of the design and construction process.
Project partners say North High and Skinner Elementary students will have opportunities that can include job shadowing, presentations and other learning experiences connected to the development. YMCA members will also have opportunities to provide input about elements of the new facility.
Think about what that could mean.
A student might walk into the completed facility years from now and remember learning from the architects, engineers or construction professionals who built it.
Another might discover a career they hadn't considered before.
That's how a construction project can become an educational project, too.
A Partnership Behind the Project
Project Game ON brings together an unusually broad group of public, nonprofit and philanthropic partners.
Omaha Public Schools records identify collaborators including Omaha Public Schools, YMCA of Greater Omaha, City of Omaha, Lozier Foundation, Sherwood Foundation, NewStreet Properties, Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, Emspace + Lovgren and the Omaha Public Schools Foundation.
The OPS Board approved the project's funding agreement in April 2025 and its site plan and design concept in July 2025. District records state that the stadium portion is being funded by the project's funding partners rather than the school district.
Construction activities began in September 2025 after the former Butler-Gast facility closed and site preparation started.
The new stadium is being constructed on land immediately east of North High, with property arrangements between the YMCA and OPS helping make the combined development possible.
Why This Matters Beyond the Buildings
North Omaha has seen plenty of plans announced over the years.
So the significance of a project shouldn't be measured only by architectural renderings or the size of a construction budget.
The better question is:
What will people in the community be able to do because this exists?
A North High student will be able to play a home game at home.
A parent may be able to walk from the neighborhood to watch that game.
A child may learn to swim at Butler-Gast.
A senior may have a nearby place to exercise.
A teenager may discover architecture, engineering or construction through exposure to the project.
A family may spend Saturday morning at a youth game.
And generations of North High alumni will finally have a stadium on their school's campus where they can come home and cheer for the Vikings.
Those individual experiences are where a large development becomes a community investment.
The Name on the Stadium Matters, Too
There is another layer to this story.
The stadium won't carry a corporate name.
It will carry the name of Gene R. Haynes, an educator whose career became closely intertwined with Omaha North.
When Project Game ON was publicly announced, Haynes talked about the first game in the future stadium as a homecoming not only for current students, but for generations of former students.
That's an appropriate way to think about what's being built.
The steel, concrete, turf and swimming pool will all be new.
But the community around them isn't.
North High was already North High.
Butler-Gast was already serving families.
North Omaha was already producing athletes, educators, leaders and generations of Vikings.
Project Game ON isn't creating that legacy.
It's giving that legacy a new place to grow.
The new Butler-Gast YMCA is expected to open in 2027, although the YMCA says the exact opening date has not yet been determined.
And when Gene R. Haynes Stadium finally hosts its first true North High home game, the scoreboard will tell everyone who won that night.
But for North Omaha, simply having the lights come on may already feel like a victory.