T-Mobile Names the Top 40 Finalists in the Race for a $1 Million Field Upgrade

The field is set. T-Mobile has narrowed this year’s Friday Night 5G Lights contest down to 40 small-town high schools, and now it’s up to fans to decide who moves on.
T-Mobile announced the finalists in its newsroom. The 40 schools are split into four divisions, West, Midwest, South, and East, with 10 schools in each. Just making the cut is a win, since every finalist gets $25,000 for its school plus a T-Mobile-hosted Home Game Celebration.
The stakes go up from there. Each division champion gets $250,000, a Gronk Fitness gym valued at $90,000, and a $5,000 student leadership prize, and stays in the running for the grand prize: a $1 million home field upgrade. Finalists were picked from thousands of applicants based on community impact, need, creativity, school pride, and social media participation.
Among the schools making local headlines are Lennox High School in South Dakota, Loachapoka and Dora high schools in Alabama, South Pittsburg and Cosby in Tennessee, and University High School in Waco, Texas.
Voting is open now, and fans can vote once a day, every day, through October 25. Patrick Mahomes and Rob Gronkowski are back as ambassadors to help drum up support.
If last year is any guide, the community that shows up wins. Dierks High School in Arkansas took home the $1 million upgrade last season, and “The Holler” just got its big makeover. So if your hometown school made the list, start voting daily, and rally your group chat to do the same.