🏈 BOT Approved the $30 million baseball stadium today...
- Thread starter Brandon Van de Graaff
- Start date
planomateo
Member
Plan now is to play around construction.
There was some initial interest in playing in Hoover but it never really got beyond that.
Supposedly it might be Jan or Feb before they have an "official" unveiling of the plans. At least, that's what an athletic dept. official told us at BWW a couple weeks back. Can't wait to see them.
planomateo
Member
Some more details.
http://alabama.247sports.com/Article/Alabama-will-build-a-new-30-million-baseball-stadium-149191
TUSCALOOSA _ University of Alabama baseball fans had their wish come true Thursday afternoon when the Board of Trustees voted to go forward with the construction of a new stadium.
Although the project has been tabbed a renovation of Sewell-Thomas Stadium, every part of the existing structure will be replaced minus the ongoing construction of the adjoining Sarah Patterson Champions Plaza along the right-field wall.
At a proposed cost of $30 million, the next stage is for the plans and architectural designs to be completed and brought back for board approval in a few months. Construction is slated to begin at the end of the 2013-14 season and be completed by August 2015.
For now, the plan is to have the Crimson Tide baseball team play around the construction during the 2014-15 season, if possible. Otherwise, the school has numerous alternatives for home games, although according to Mike Lanier, project manager for UA construction projects, there’s no set Plan B yet.
“It was the time to do this,” Lanier said.
Funding will be through a combination of gifts, the Crimson Tide Foundation, term debt, and/or future revenue bonds. Davis Architects, which was been involved in numerous athletic projects including both end zone expansions of Bryant-Denny Stadium, Champions Plaza, and the recent renovation of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, has been tabbed to provide architectural/engineering services.
“We looked at this for several years in going through this process, “ trustee James Wilson said. “At the end of the day, the plan that we’ve come up with was by far the best alternative that we had for brining the baseball stadium up to the standards of the University of Alabama. This is the right location for this project, because of all the synergistic qualities that we have there.
“It’s going to be on the level with everything else that this campus has renovated. It’s going to be a great family atmosphere, a great spectator atmosphere, great for our student-athletes, and great for our students.”
With the aim of putting Alabama on par of some of the Southeastern Conference’s most impressive venues, including LSU’s Skip Bertman Field at Alex Box Stadium ($37.8 million), and Carolina Stadium ($35.6 million), the new facility will feature new sight lines, new seating, and a concourse with concessions and food service kiosks.
It’ll also include seven skyboxes, a refined Crimson Tide suite, three club lounges, a center field berm, and a student section. The new outfield walk will connect with the concourse.
The players will also have a new team locker room and lounge, meeting room, weight room, bullpen, and improved access between the field and player areas. It will also include four new batting cages.
The proposal -- which stated: “The existing stadium does not meet current standards and training methods and does not have sufficient space to support equipment and other function need” – also includes an estimated annual operating and maintenance cost of $1.049 million.
Originally called Thomas Field in honor of former Alabama coach Frank Thomas, the stadium opened on March 26, 1948, and had a capacity of 2,000.
It’s undergone two major renovations, in 1996 and again in 2001, and made more changes in 2010 with a new clubhouse, meetings rooms, coaches’ locker rooms and team room.
Although Alabama has ranked in the top 10 nationally in ticket sales 12 of the last 13 years, last season it attracted just 107,222 fans, the lowest turnout since the 1996 renovation.
http://alabama.247sports.com/Article/Alabama-will-build-a-new-30-million-baseball-stadium-149191
TUSCALOOSA _ University of Alabama baseball fans had their wish come true Thursday afternoon when the Board of Trustees voted to go forward with the construction of a new stadium.
Although the project has been tabbed a renovation of Sewell-Thomas Stadium, every part of the existing structure will be replaced minus the ongoing construction of the adjoining Sarah Patterson Champions Plaza along the right-field wall.
At a proposed cost of $30 million, the next stage is for the plans and architectural designs to be completed and brought back for board approval in a few months. Construction is slated to begin at the end of the 2013-14 season and be completed by August 2015.
For now, the plan is to have the Crimson Tide baseball team play around the construction during the 2014-15 season, if possible. Otherwise, the school has numerous alternatives for home games, although according to Mike Lanier, project manager for UA construction projects, there’s no set Plan B yet.
“It was the time to do this,” Lanier said.
Funding will be through a combination of gifts, the Crimson Tide Foundation, term debt, and/or future revenue bonds. Davis Architects, which was been involved in numerous athletic projects including both end zone expansions of Bryant-Denny Stadium, Champions Plaza, and the recent renovation of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, has been tabbed to provide architectural/engineering services.
“We looked at this for several years in going through this process, “ trustee James Wilson said. “At the end of the day, the plan that we’ve come up with was by far the best alternative that we had for brining the baseball stadium up to the standards of the University of Alabama. This is the right location for this project, because of all the synergistic qualities that we have there.
“It’s going to be on the level with everything else that this campus has renovated. It’s going to be a great family atmosphere, a great spectator atmosphere, great for our student-athletes, and great for our students.”
With the aim of putting Alabama on par of some of the Southeastern Conference’s most impressive venues, including LSU’s Skip Bertman Field at Alex Box Stadium ($37.8 million), and Carolina Stadium ($35.6 million), the new facility will feature new sight lines, new seating, and a concourse with concessions and food service kiosks.
It’ll also include seven skyboxes, a refined Crimson Tide suite, three club lounges, a center field berm, and a student section. The new outfield walk will connect with the concourse.
The players will also have a new team locker room and lounge, meeting room, weight room, bullpen, and improved access between the field and player areas. It will also include four new batting cages.
The proposal -- which stated: “The existing stadium does not meet current standards and training methods and does not have sufficient space to support equipment and other function need” – also includes an estimated annual operating and maintenance cost of $1.049 million.
Originally called Thomas Field in honor of former Alabama coach Frank Thomas, the stadium opened on March 26, 1948, and had a capacity of 2,000.
It’s undergone two major renovations, in 1996 and again in 2001, and made more changes in 2010 with a new clubhouse, meetings rooms, coaches’ locker rooms and team room.
Although Alabama has ranked in the top 10 nationally in ticket sales 12 of the last 13 years, last season it attracted just 107,222 fans, the lowest turnout since the 1996 renovation.
He's better than who we probably would have ended up with... but I'm interested in seeing how he does now that UA has made a commitment to facilities. Regardless, now when/if a change is made, the new stadium will help us lure a better coach than it would have a year ago. That's way premature though... I think there is still a chance Gaspard can get us back where we need to be.
When hearing the word renovation I wondered if the foundation for the current structure would remain in place and if they would build on top of it...sounds like it's getting razed and rebuilt.
I'm guessing during the season they are working outside the outfield fences on the players facilities...
This is great news; I agree with the 247Sports poster that said he's surprised that they're only building 7 suites (sounds odd too; no pun intended). If they did have to find a home away from home for a year I think it would be cool for them to play at Rickwood Field. If you're not familiar with Rickwood it's the Baron's old park pre-Hoover Met near Legion Field, and the Baron's still play a game a year there. See pics http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/rickwood/pictures.html
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