This is going to be my last point on here about this because it's getting away from basketball. The cost to renovate maybe upwards to 20 million-30 million dollars. That would include new grandstand and press box, bathrooms, concession stand ,dugouts, etc.  Now to fit all that in they may have to cut the berms back some.  But it is a guess

@USMCOWL.. I agree that baseball is not a big money sport, but every other school in CUSA and Sunbelt have far better facilities than FAU. Most even have real toilets. Tired of hearing about how baseball is not a money maker. Here is a suggestion, go ask all the other schools how they found the money. FAU Baseball Stadium is a joke. And baseball is still the most successful program on campus.

Local Owl said

@USMCOWL.. I agree that baseball is not a big money sport, but every other school in CUSA and Sunbelt have far better facilities than FAU. Most even have real toilets. Tired of hearing about how baseball is not a money maker. Here is a suggestion, go ask all the other schools how they found the money. FAU Baseball Stadium is a joke. And baseball is still the most successful program on campus.

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 1:51 PM #338120

Local owl I do love our baseball team. I was just pointing out to law owl that baseball is not a priority right now. Most of the funding for those stadiums came through private donations.  

GeorgiaOwl said

You would think with little option in S. FL now for MLB spring training that a good college team and game would draw many baseball fans, especially with lower prices than the MLB games.
Some here may not want to hear this but do we market to the local (Palm Beach and Broward Counties) seniors crowd for the baseball games - something like senior prices or days or even senior season tickets. More fans in seats means more revenue and a better shot at hosting post season games IF we are well attended!

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 10:55 AM #338116

Our facilities can't host anything post-season simply on a media level (They run the wifi from a Sprint, mobile router)

And USMCOwl Tampa Jesuit High School has some pretty impressive baseball alumni i.e. Al Lopez, Lou Piniella, Lance McCullers jr. (2012 first round pick) so they have some money and they built a 2.6 million dollar baseball complex and it looks great, no need for 20-30 million, but a well spent 8-10 million can make a more than adequate facility for post season interest and recruiting.

Heres the stadium: Jesuit High School Baseball Stadium : RYDOM Structures, Inc.

Jake said

GeorgiaOwl said

You would think with little option in S. FL now for MLB spring training that a good college team and game would draw many baseball fans, especially with lower prices than the MLB games.
Some here may not want to hear this but do we market to the local (Palm Beach and Broward Counties) seniors crowd for the baseball games - something like senior prices or days or even senior season tickets. More fans in seats means more revenue and a better shot at hosting post season games IF we are well attended!

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 10:55 AM #338116

Our facilities can't host anything post-season simply on a media level (They run the wifi from a Sprint, mobile router)

And USMCOwl Tampa Jesuit High School has some pretty impressive baseball alumni i.e. Al Lopez, Lou Piniella, Lance McCullers jr. (2012 first round pick) so they have some money and they built a 2.6 million dollar baseball complex and it looks great, no need for 20-30 million, but a well spent 8-10 million can make a more than adequate facility for post season interest and recruiting.

Heres the stadium: Jesuit High School Baseball Stadium : RYDOM Structures, Inc.

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 3:05 PM #338122

True…. but we probably wont see anything till athletics says anything. I think the priority for them is getting ready for the bowl game, and to see if football can get the new practice facility… but ever since the story leaked about the new practice facility, athletics has been pretty tighted lipped.

USMCOWL said

Jake said

GeorgiaOwl said

You would think with little option in S. FL now for MLB spring training that a good college team and game would draw many baseball fans, especially with lower prices than the MLB games.
Some here may not want to hear this but do we market to the local (Palm Beach and Broward Counties) seniors crowd for the baseball games - something like senior prices or days or even senior season tickets. More fans in seats means more revenue and a better shot at hosting post season games IF we are well attended!

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 10:55 AM #338116

Our facilities can't host anything post-season simply on a media level (They run the wifi from a Sprint, mobile router)

And USMCOwl Tampa Jesuit High School has some pretty impressive baseball alumni i.e. Al Lopez, Lou Piniella, Lance McCullers jr. (2012 first round pick) so they have some money and they built a 2.6 million dollar baseball complex and it looks great, no need for 20-30 million, but a well spent 8-10 million can make a more than adequate facility for post season interest and recruiting.

Heres the stadium: Jesuit High School Baseball Stadium : RYDOM Structures, Inc.

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 3:05 PM #338122

True…. but we probably wont see anything till athletics says anything. I think the priority for them is getting ready for the bowl game, and to see if football can get the new practice facility… but ever since the story leaked about the new practice facility, athletics has been pretty tighted lipped.

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 3:29 PM #338123

Oh I think it would be an ill advised expense to our budget.

Getting our football team profitable should be item number 1 and then with a little of our stadium paid off lets renovate and build a new practice facility.

AD Chun knows what the expense would be, but the team needs a newer practice facility along with a larger weight room, and academic center. but he is tring to get the money through private donors, and not add the expense to the budget if he can help it.

He needs private donors because the football team is still a financial burden. The lack of success has made season ticket sales difficult, regular ticket sales difficult, and we are so in debt that any expansion to other facilities is darn near impossible Lets face it, since we built the stadium , our football program has been spinning its wheels. I would love to know the total cost of our football program. Bet it's scary.

Local Owl said

He needs private donors because the football team is still a financial burden. The lack of success has made season ticket sales difficult, regular ticket sales difficult, and we are so in debt that any expansion to other facilities is darn near impossible Lets face it, since we built the stadium , our football program has been spinning its wheels. I would love to know the total cost of our football program. Bet it's scary.

Posted On: Nov 15th 2014, 8:31 PM #338130

agreed. problem is that we need the newer facilities to remain competitive….

Baseball upgrades can vary wildly in cost.

on one hand you could build some bathrooms and some minor aesthetic changes for about $1M but I'm not convinced it would do all that much to draw in higher caliber recruits or bring us up to parity with the rest of the conference.

on the other hand you could tear down the existing stadium and build something completely new in its place for $10-30M, although obviously we don't need something the size of Alex Box Stadium.

I think realistically what will likely happen is that we will get football competitive and then dedicate some of the profit to piecemeal additions to the existing stadium rather than have a big donor come out of the woodwork and drop $10M - just because historically those people haven't been there despite how good the team has been. But we can obviously hope differently.

When we upgrade it I'd like to see us have facilities at this level.