Baseball facilities

uabaseballdad · August 26th, 2009, 07:55 PM

I'm new to the forum, first post: My son is a freshman baseball player at UA.

I am interested to know if there are any initiatives to upgrade the baseball facilities.
If so, is anyone aware of the time line?

Also, when can we expect the 2010 schedule to be released?

bamabaseballfan · August 26th, 2009, 09:19 PM

Facility upgrades were promised, but those promises haven't been met due to the "lack of funding." And with the economy being like it is I really don't see them updating baseball facilities anytime soon. As far as the schedule, I would guess that it would be released to the public anywhere from the end of October to the middle of November.

NewTide · August 27th, 2009, 12:36 PM

Can't help with the facilities discussion, but I emailed the media team earlier in the week and they are working on finalizing the schedule and hope to release it mid-late Sept. Complete roster and bio info soon, too.

uabaseballdad · August 27th, 2009, 01:08 PM

oops! I read about the plans to build a practice gym for the basketball team and thought about the baseball facilities; however, after looking at some prior posts, maybe this thread needs no more discussion. Sorry!

Thanks for the information on the 2010 schedule.

dddice · August 27th, 2009, 02:51 PM

Looks like the Roster has been posted for 2010.

crimsonkelly · August 27th, 2009, 03:19 PM

Baseball has been promised new/updated facilities for several years now....hey we got a scoreboard out of it...... It is ultimately why Wells retired and ultimately why he came back. Promises, promises, promises. They have not delivered as of yet and probably will not anytime soon....sorry for that, but it is blunt honesty.

CK

BamaInMo1 · September 11th, 2009, 12:31 AM

I agree that the baseball facillities need to be upgraded. Should have been done along time ago, but Bama being a football school no one seemed to care, and for the most part the PTB still don't.

RamJamHam · September 22nd, 2009, 06:48 PM

Whether you believe that we need new facilities or not, the fact is that football and men's basketball are the only two sports that make money. All other sports are heavily subsidized, including baseball. That being the case, where do you think improvements go first? It's not some conspiracy against baseball.

crimsonkelly · September 22nd, 2009, 10:34 PM

Quick, name the fastest growing (men's) sport in Division 1 over the last 15 years (here's a hint it ain't football or basketball)......

bamabaseballfan · September 23rd, 2009, 12:00 AM

Baseball is a revenue generating sport now. I'm not trying to be a smart butt about it, but I would like to see documents on whether UA loses money or not every year. We know they aren't upgrading facilities so they can't be losing money there haha.

uabaseballdad · September 23rd, 2009, 09:19 PM

RAM - I agree that there is not a conspiracy against baseball at UA and disagree that Alabama Baseball does not produce a positive revenue source for Bama athletics. I am also aware of several large donors to the baseball program and I am confident that we will begin to see a renewed emphasis on upgrading the baseball facilities upon the completion of the football stadium. Probably by the same construction company??
I reaffirm my belief that Coach Saban is a constant and consistent voice for all athletics at UA and this will become more evident during his tenure.
A Rising Tide will Raise All Boats!

Diamond Tide · September 24th, 2009, 05:41 PM

Don't know if this will happen but IMHO I believe the athletic department is waiting for the university to aquire the Bryce property. I have heard and it has been written that this could take upwards of 5 years to aquire. Maybe less. And if this is true, do you make a short term investment in expanding, or renovating Sewell-Thomas Stadium? I have to believe the athletic department knows that Sewell-Thomas is not up to par with the other 75% in the SEC.

Hopefully if the university aquires the Bryce property, they can build the baseball program a new stadium that we can all be proud of. In reality, Sewell-Thomas Stadium where it sits now needs to be one big parking area (parking deck) because of the expansion to the south endzone at Bryant-Denny. If the expansion is to have an additional 10K seats then where do the 4K to 4,500 extra vehicles on campus park?

To shore up even more room to park, you might even see them build a new swimming facility and track stadium on the Bryce property. Those two facilities have become eye sores and rank close to the bottom in the SEC and the space at those locations would help out a lot.

I don't know guys, thats just my opinion. But we do need a new baseball stadium in the worst way.

Diamond Tide

crimsonkelly · September 24th, 2009, 10:38 PM

Well DT, you know more than me and I have no idea what this Bryce property is, but if it takes a few years to get but it gets a new ball park with perks, I all for waiting. The few times I have been to The Joe, I have enjoyed it. It has a good atmosphere IMO and not all ball parks can say that even if they are new ones. Besides if leveling it can help increase football attendance (and basketball for that matter) it sounds like a win win situation for the University.