Very cool. I also heard that LSU may soon be renovating it's baseball complex. Is it part of the same fiscal plan , and when is it scheduled to begin?
The new season ticket surcharge money is available starting this year. Short term plans are to: 1. Replace the West upper deck with a new one matching the new East deck and adding three club levels and a new pressbox. (underway) 2. Renovate the Pete Maravich Assembly Center including a new roof.(underway) 3. Renovate the older parts of the lower bowl in Tiger Stadium. (2005) 4. Build a new Football Center out on the Charles McClendon Football Practice Facility with football offices, weight room, training rooms, etc. adjoining the indoor football practice field. (2005) Longer term plans are: 1. Build a new softball stadium capable of hosting regional playoffs. 2. Build a new baseball stadium with additional capacity. Alex Box will be replaced, not renovated. 3. Build a new track & field facility capable of hosting NCAA championship meets. 4. Build a new Natatorium for swimming and diving teams
Too bad about the Box. There's some big-time nostalgia to that field...hope they can preserve the name and some of the history there. I played there in '78 and it rained several days prior to the tourney - the place was a real mudhole because of poor drainage then. We didn't take a trainer because of budget, so we all had to do our own laundry, 2x for the Sat dbl-header. A real mess :grin:
They will keep the name Alex Box Stadium, I hear. But it will be located about a half mile away, on the other side of the tracks past the Football Center. The baseball and softball stadiums will share parking lots. Its all a part of the campus master plan which involves a bigger footprint for the athletic department in the open area towards the river. Right now the athletic facilities are clustered in a small area around Tiger Stadium with no growth room.
I've heard that rumor since I was a freshman in '97. Altough it is more than a rumor it never seems to happen and I've seen more than one master plan for it.
Judging from the layout, that's going to make for some wicked sunshine for the right fileder to deal with in afternoon games. Sade on the infiled and glare in the outfield. Looks like a great plan overall though. Any idea what the pentagon shaped set of builings is to the North? Just curious......
On the drawing, the gray buildings are existing buildings that will be retained, The white ones are new construction. The Pentagon barracks are some of the oldest buildings on the new (1924) campus. They mimic the layout of the old Pentagon Barracks (1840's) that still exist on the site of the old campus downtown, which is now part of the state capitol complex. LSU was a military school until 1969 with mandatory ROTC for male students. The corps of cadets used the Pentagon barracks as a dorm.
