Friday, September 14, 2001

Groundbreaking planned for baseball stadium
By John-Mark Day
Staff Reporter

Groundbreaking for the new $7 million Brown Lupton Baseball Stadium will take place at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18 despite the challenges the venue presented to TCU’s administration, said Bronson Davis, vice chancellor for university advancement.

The new $7 million Brown Lupton Baseball Stadium, pictured in the artist’s rendition, will be located next to the Lowdon Track and Field Complex and will include fan seating, concessions, batting and pitching cages, locker rooms and a press box. Groundbreaking for the stadium will be 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18.

The administration still needs more fund raising and neighborhood consent, he said.

“There have been a lot of challenges with this stadium,” Davis said. “It took us a long time to figure out how to work with the city (Fort Worth), more so than any other project.”

The new stadium will be located next to the Lowdon Track and Field Complex and will have concessions stands, batting and pitching cages, locker rooms and a press box, said Davis Babb, associate athletic director for advancement.

The amount of seating has not yet been determined, Babb said.

Associate athletic director of facilities Ross Bailey said the original plan was to include 3,500 seats, but the $7 million goal was not enough to pay for them. He said the new number was closer to 2,500 or 3,000 seats.

Officials will also have to talk with neighbors. Davis said it was important for the stadium’s planners to work with city planners and neighbors. Planners will be meeting with TCU’s neighbors soon to discuss the effect of the stadium on the neighborhood, Bailey said.

“You have neighbors in full support, you have neighbors that are concerned,” Bailey said. “We have a track record to show them we do things that aesthetically add to the neighborhood, not detract from it.”

Babb said $6.5 million has been raised for the stadium and he expects the remaining $500,000 to come soon.

“With the groundbreaking, we’ll get some added attention and generate new interest,” Babb said. “We hope to have (the fundraising) finished by the end of December.”

Although the money for the stadium will come from private donors, it will take time for all the pledges to come in, Davis said.

“The university is going to be carrying the costs of this for years,” he said. Chancellor Michael Ferrari said the new baseball stadium is important in increasing the national prominence of TCU athletics. “The current facility is totally inadequate for baseball,” Ferrari said. “Many believe it threatens the long-term viability of the baseball program at TCU.

”Bailey said the goal to finish the new stadium was late spring. The TCU baseball team will continue to play in the old stadium this season.

“You can build buildings during the winter but you can’t grow grass,” he said.

John-Mark Day
j.m.day2@student.tcu.edu