Topic: Do you think a new AD can get a baseball stadium?

[MU42]

Because they deserve one.

Other than the 30-30 record last year Waggoner hasn't really improved the Herd's record too much, but since he has been here we did have the 30 wins and made the C-USA finals last year. We beat the number 1 ranked team in baseball this year. I don't know if we have ever done that, and we have a very young team. We are going to lose Lape, Yeager, and 3 others, but we return 25 out of 30 guys. 19 of which are sophomores or freshmen. We return our top 2 hitters in Valle and Gomez, as well as the 4 pitchers who have started the most.

I know that Waggoner has his flaws, but he is way better than Piepenbrink ever was. If I were him I don't know if I could continue to put up with all of the disadvantages he has. I don't know why any kid would want to come play here.

Anyway, back to the stadium. I have never been to a game at the Kennedy Center, but I have been to a few in Charleston. Is there any chance that MU would consider buying the field from the YMCA and upgrade it? Because it keeps looking less and less like MU baseball will ever see a stadium in Huntington.

[bbcard1]

Don't count out Kayo getting this done before he rides off into the sunset...the reason it is not done is certainly not his fault.

[greenanwhite]

If we get a stadium I believe it must be located in Huntington at any cost.  I was talking to OH-Herd-CR yesterday coming back from the Tulane game and how great it would be to have a facility in Huntington.  She mentioned the University of Arkansas stadium.  While we wouldn't need anything near the size of it, it does have one unique feature.  It is dug below the exisiting grade to allow for a grassy tailgating area in the outfields.  

My thoughts on attendence.  If we can fill up the small seating area we have at the Kennedy center, against Little Miami, on a Tuesday afternoon, then why would we have a problem filling up several thousand seats for a game against say #18 ECU, or #1 Rice, or really any given year you could exchange those rankings with several of our conference mates, on a Friday evening or Saturday/Sunday afternoon.  I truely believe if we could get a Stadium with 3,000 seats, make 1,200 of them chairbacks, and the remaining bleachers.  You could charge $5 at the gate (obviously have season tickets), and do as App Power park does with if you get in the stadium and want box seats charge an extra $3. On a weekend against say ECU or Rice a sellout would not be out of the question, so your looking at $15,000 just from the sellout of 3,000 seats (not including the season tickets), and $3,600 from box seat sales.  Then where it gets interesting, you could sell the outfield 'tailgating' spots say 30 or so (not sure how you could charge these spots, but maybe make it $20 flat rate, and allow people to reserve spots for the entire year).  

I guess what I'm pointing out is that baseball is not a completely money draining sport.  Yes it would take a while to pay off a new stadium, especially since we wouldn't sell out every home series.  However, if you get a better stadium in place you can possibly get better OOC teams to play here, which could also be a big draw for fans.  If you could average $10-15k per game in sales (seating, concessions, merchandise) and have 20-25 games per year that is at minimum $200,000 per year in just sales alone, that is not including revenue from advertising, and 'special events' that could be held there throughout the summer and fall.  Sure there is up-keep on it, and I would have no idea what that kind of figure might be, but if it were over the minimum of $200k I would be suprised.

[richmondherdfan]

Kopp talked to a marshall board that I am on last year and somebody asked a question about the possibility of a new park. He is pretty adamant that a new park is not on the top of his lists of things to get done. He has a lot of academic expenditures that he'd like to see before money is used for a new park. He threw out the figure of $500,000 a year for stadium upkeep. Seems pretty high to me, but that's what Kopp said. I think unless there is a city/marshall collaboration, don't look for it to happen anytime soon.

[mr_ash_1995]

I think unless there is a city/marshall collaboration,

I wish MU and Huntington would work together to build a baseball stadium.  It would take STRONG leadership and GREAT communication to accomplish such a thing...IMHO

[richmondherdfan]

I wish MU and Huntington would work together to build a baseball stadium.  It would take STRONG leadership and GREAT communication to accomplish such a thing...IMHO

Strong leadership and great communication don't seem to go hand-in-hand in the State of West Virginia. That is why I am not holding my breath on a new ballpark. It would be awesome to have minor league baseball back in Huntington, but remember, some of the Power owners have local Huntington ties and probably wouldn't go for the added competition.

[ru4mu2]

Strong leadership and great communication don't seem to go hand-in-hand in the State of West Virginia. That is why I am not holding my breath on a new ballpark. It would be awesome to have minor league baseball back in Huntington, but remember, some of the Power owners have local Huntington ties and probably wouldn't go for the added competition.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the people from Huntington are affiliated with the Power any longer.

[luvherd]

What ever happend to the field at St Clouds? Not on campus but the foundation is there for a renovated stadium, field, parking etc.

[biggreenarms]

The next AD needs to make this top on their list. I do hope it ends up near campus.

[marshall fanatic]

Oh I don't know maybe a 3rd party person would come in and build the stadium and bring in a minor league team. And that would offset the cost on Marshall since they would not be owning the field. But that just sounds to stupid.

[richmondherdfan]

What ever happend to the field at St Clouds? Not on campus but the foundation is there for a renovated stadium, field, parking etc.

I could be wrong, but I think Mike Kirtner (voice of marshall hoops) is one of the majority owners. He also runs Kindred Communications (93.7 the dawg, among other ventures). He lives in Culloden, but close enough.

[luvherd]

I coached LL and Babe Ruth for quite a few years there and it seemee it could be easy to renovate. I have not been there for a decade so maybe things have changed but it was a huge underutilized facility.

[Herdmeister]

I coached LL and Babe Ruth for quite a few years there and it seemee it could be easy to renovate. I have not been there for a decade so maybe things have changed but it was a huge underutilized facility.

I always heard that water was a poblem at St. Cloud.

[greenanwhite]

water problems at st. clouds plus add on that it has really gotten pretty bad (was there last year for a softball tournament).  IMO we should start fresh somewhere else

[greenanwhite]

half a million just seems like a huge amount of money for a facility that wouldn't really be used that much (that is unless they were creative in other ways to generate revenue like holding high school games, having the outfield open during football season (see UC).  

[Oh Herd CR]

I just did a search and found that I saw the top two college baseball facilities this fall.   ;D

Baum Stadium -- Arkansas
Baum Stadium is the palace of college baseball stadiums. Though many schools now are building new stadiums, they still are playing catch up with the Razorbacks. When Baum Stadium was erected in 1996, it was the class of college baseball. Not much has changed, as the capacity currently is 10,500 and luxury suites extend from the left-field foul pole to the right-field foul pole. Arkansas fans also pack the house rain or shine and provide a premier home-field advantage for their baseball program. Everyone aspires to have a facility like the University of Arkansas.


Reckling Park -- Rice
When the Owls decided to build a new stadium in the 1990's, little did we know that it eventually would be one of the nation's best facilities. Well, it is. The Reck, as Owls fans call it, has a cozy feeling and is nestled in the middle of the West University and Medical Center areas of Houston. Reckling Park has a capacity of 5,300 and recently had renovations that included a new playing surface, outfield wall and state-of-the-art videoboard and scoreboard. The Reck also includes a plush press box and several luxury suites. Reckling Park is a great place to watch a game.

***
My niece and nephew (twins) are going to be seniors at UofA next year.  When we went to visit in Oct. I insisted that the baseball facility be a part of our tour.  It is away from the main part of campus but still seems to be a part of everything. 

What impressed me was the enthusiasm for the sport and the tailgaiting area.  How much could it cost to have a grassy area past the outfield where fans can just hang out and tailgate?  UofA (Baum Stadium) has grills built in every 10 feets or so.  We don't need grills built in, we can bring out own.  :)

I can imagine how intimidated the center fielder of the opposing team might be.  :)  I don't know if this will work, but here is a picture of the tailgate area.

http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?ATCLID=187022&SPSID=32016&SPID=2415&PALBID=11881&DB_OEM_ID=6100&PAGE_ID=9&ZID=583778

Go Herd!

[Marshallguy04]

But Rice is known nationally for its baseball. It's a contender for the NCAA World Series annually. Also, they have an endowment so large they could buy Huntington and Marshall...re-name it...paint the school colors pink...then pay everyone who goes there to accept the changes. Hell, they could buy wvu too...re-locate their school to New Jersey...do everyone a favor.
I wouldn't have expected Rice to have anything less than the best when it comes to baseball.
I think funding has completely gone out the window at this point. One thing i have always been frustrated with Marshall was their choice of funds...where they'd go. They go to the wrong things!

Kopp...is not so smart. He keeps putting the money into academics...commendable, but if he expects Marshall to be a Notre Dame then he's on crack. There's no way our insitution is going to be academically oriented in opposition to football...it just won't. I don't want Marshall to be a Harvard.
What makes Marshall awesome is it has some pretty respectable and high ranking departments...Journalism is one i can think of. Forensics is another but we don't need to have every %^&* thing to be top 5!
He needs to quit putting the money into academics and more into sports. I guess he forgets that sports...if you're good...generate revenue consistently. A baseball field would be so much more effective than another dorm we don't own. I'd love to put it where the eye-sore projects are...cause Rice has theirs in the same area as the Medical School. It would be easily accessible and around great eateries. Not far from campus either...just up the street. How nice would it be for a recruit to come into the city and the first thing he sees next to that nice hospital is a 3,000 seat baseball field?
Credits to our team for putting up with such %^&* from the president.