Does anyone else besides me think it looks strange/weird to have the Baseball Operations Center right smack in right field? It seems to give the stadium a claustrophic look too.
I don’t think it will look bad. It will fit with the look of the other buildings in that area. There are only so many spaces to build.
Plus, the look beyond the right field wall hasn’t been aesthetically pleasing anyway.
And my understanding is that the initial image proposal has been changed to look more like the rest of the ball park. The original image was not done by the company which will build the new center.
Any idea when they plan to start construction?
I don’t think that has been determined. The general timeline I have heard for groundbreaking is late summer or fall.
Will the home Dugout move to the First Base side as has been discussed?
I think there will be a new game-day locker room built inside the stadium as part of the construction, so there is a chance the team will stay in the same dugout. Based on a conversation about a month ago it did not sound like that had been finalized.
Why are they not adding more boxes with the great demand. Seems like that would help with amortizing cost.
I don’t think they’ve figured out a place to put more boxes that is cheap enough to make it worthwhile. The thought is to build loge seats. There would be a demand for those, too.
When the coaches move into the new building, one or two suites will open up. The coaches’ offices now currently are in suite areas. There also will be some premium seating options built into the new facility - probably loge boxes, but that had not been finalized at last check.
Matt Hobbs told me he has a huge wish list for the new technology center. I think he’ll get everything he wants and Arkansas will then have the most extensive lab for pitchers. He said everything on his list is expensive, but he’s been told to expect to get it. Nate Thompson said that in itself will be “huge” for recruiting. I asked Nate what he wanted for hitters. He said there will be more hitting cages and probably some added behind the dugout, but he said his big piece for recruiting hitters is already here – the indoor facility. It’s still the best in the country.
After the latest additions are completed, is there anyone in the SEC with better baseball facilities?