How is Meridian preparing its stadium for the Rocky Mountain game on Friday night?

MERIDIAN, Idaho — Idaho's top two 5A football teams, Meridian (6-0) and Rocky Mountain (6-0) are facing off on Friday night at Meridian at 7 PM.

In anticipation for the numbers expected at the game, Meridian is adding standing room only sections in each end zone for the fans.

Many factors pushed the school to do this. As the team has become better in the last few years, and the Treasure Valley has grown in size as well, more people have started to come out to the Meridian games.

That, factored in with this Friday's game being one of the most anticipated games of the year, pushed Athletic Director, Mike Graefe and the rest of the district, to add the extra accommodations.

"We played Mountain View a couple weeks ago, it was packed over the on the visitors side," Grafe Said. "We were telling folks when they were coming in, not only was there no sitting room, there was no standing room, so we knew we had to do something and hopefully this will alleviate that and everybody will have a good experience."

Standing room was the second choice, though. The school looked for bleachers all across the Treasure Valley but couldn't find any that would work for the game.

Graefe did say the district will be looking into additional temporary seating in the future so that they could be used throughout the district.

One thing Graefe and Meridian can't do is making temporary parking. People who are coming to the game are urged to carpool to help alleviate the stress in the parking lot and in surrounding areas. He reminds people to be respectful of the communities if they choose to park in residential areas.

The school is also trying to make sure that no side, regardless of who wins rushes the field. He says that in that situation, the crowd becomes unsafe and uncontrollable.

The school is selling tickets online in hopes to reduce stress and lines at the box office. You can get tickets online here.