KABrother88 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/lamar/article/LU-softball-will-have-on-campus-stadium-in-2015-5461466.php?forceWeb=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 300-500 people? Wow... Alright. I had been hearing from several people that it would seat around 2,000. I wonder if that is just the seat back chairs. It will have both Seat back and bench seating. There will also be a berm where people can bring their own lawn chairs and such things as that. Anyways, however big it is, it will be good to have an on campus facility for Lamar Softball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 300-500? That must be a typo. It hardly seems worth the cost for just a handful, reletively speaking, of spectator seating. I agree with Big T about having an on-campus facility. It's way overdue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 300-500 seating would make the stadium a similar size as SHSU. Theirs has 400 capacity. Looking at our home attendance averages for the two years, the stadium would be adequate. We averaged 338 last year and 290 this year. We did have some home crowds over 600 last year. While I would prefer something with more capacity, it might be more advantageous to start a little smaller and let the demand dictate an increase as the sport and team history grows. There is something to the perception of playing with a near capacity crowd. When I compared attendance last year, ours was in the top group in the conference. Reading the RFQ's, it looked like the original plan was to build the stadium in stages. I also agree that it will be great to have an on-campus stadium. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I did a quick check of softball stadiums in the conference. McNeese State: 1,200 estimated per media guide Northwestern State: 1,000 Abilene Christian: 600 - plans to expand to 1,000 Central Arkansas: 500 permanent seats with stated 1,000 capacity when including berm seating Stephen F Austin: Currently fundraising for 600 seat softball stadium and 1,500 seat baseball stadium. SFA is currently using facilities at the Nacogdoches City Baseball Complex built in 2009...seating is 750. Sam Houston State: 400 seat plus berm seating Nicholls State: 500 Southeastern Louisiana: 500 TAMU-CC: Didn't find capacity, but highest attendance this season was 539. There are plans to build a baseball/softball complex on TAMU-CC's Momentum Campus in the area of the new Track & Field / Soccer Stadium. I didn't find any details concerning the future facility. Houston Baptist: 300 Incarnate Word: 250 Here are some former conference members Texas State: 1,000 UTSA: 300 UT-Arlington: 250 UTA is beginning a $5.5 million baseball/softball complex renovation including additional bleachers at the softball stadium increasing capacity to 700. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Here's very favorable editorial from the Beaumont Enterprise concerning the softball stadium announcement. from beaumontenterprise.com/opinions http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/editorials/article/EDITORIAL-New-softball-stadium-will-boost-Lamar-5464389.php The Lamar University softball team probably could have continued to play its games at Ford Park, but let's face it, that's not as nice as having its own facility on campus just like every other sport. Fortunately, that's going to happen next year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Just wondering if there is any news. If everything is still on track, construction was supposed to start today according to the RFQ date table of events. Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 300-500 seating would make the stadium a similar size as SHSU. Theirs has 400 capacity. Looking at our home attendance averages for the two years, the stadium would be adequate. We averaged 338 last year and 290 this year. We did have some home crowds over 600 last year. While I would prefer something with more capacity, it might be more advantageous to start a little smaller and let the demand dictate an increase as the sport and team history grows. There is something to the perception of playing with a near capacity crowd. When I compared attendance last year, ours was in the top group in the conference. Reading the RFQ's, it looked like the original plan was to build the stadium in stages. I also agree that it will be great to have an on-campus stadium. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I did a quick check of softball stadiums in the conference. McNeese State: 1,200 estimated per media guide Northwestern State: 1,000 Abilene Christian: 600 - plans to expand to 1,000 Central Arkansas: 500 permanent seats with stated 1,000 capacity when including berm seating Stephen F Austin: Currently fundraising for 600 seat softball stadium and 1,500 seat baseball stadium. SFA is currently using facilities at the Nacogdoches City Baseball Complex built in 2009...seating is 750. Sam Houston State: 400 seat plus berm seating Nicholls State: 500 Southeastern Louisiana: 500 TAMU-CC: Didn't find capacity, but highest attendance this season was 539. There are plans to build a baseball/softball complex on TAMU-CC's Momentum Campus in the area of the new Track & Field / Soccer Stadium. I didn't find any details concerning the future facility. Houston Baptist: 300 Incarnate Word: 250 Here are some former conference members Texas State: 1,000 UTSA: 300 UT-Arlington: 250 UTA is beginning a $5.5 million baseball/softball complex renovation including additional bleachers at the softball stadium increasing capacity to 700. Just remember that when you are talking average attendance, some of the mid week afternoon games bring in only 50-60 people because people are still at work. On the weekends, people are standing because there isn't enough seating for everyone. On the weekends you probably get 700-800 spectators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Good point. It would be nice to have that many in the stands all the time. As a guage, we had a high of 359 and a low of 212 this past season based on official attendance. I'm assuming official attendance is based off of paid attendance; not actual fans in the stands. I saw a single game high of 682 at Ford Park the first season back. Our attendance was about in the middle of the conference this past season. Hopefully, the on-campus stadium will help increase the attendance as the program grows. As a benchmark, here's how we matched up in attendance with the rest of the conference this past season. TAMU-CC 183 ACU 383 UCA 159 ** HBU 264 ** UIW 326 LU 290 McNeese 206 ** Nicholls 322 NWSU 317 ** SHSU 296 ** SLU 173 SFA 108 ** ** made conference tournament Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 You guys are awesome! Thanks for taking the time to research the info. It's helpful and it also helps to be able to discuss with people about the Lamar softball. Hopefully we can do a serious upgrade in the stadium for the men. There's a little league stadium within a stone's throw of the Texas Rangers stadium that could be a model for our facilities. It looks like an old time major league ball park with covered seating. It's an awesome little park. I'd guess it would seat about 1,000 people. It's a beautiful facility. Here's a link to a slide show featuring the stadium. A lot of the pictures are about little leaguers and some interaction with Rangers coaches and players but at the end of the slide show there a several pictures that feature the ball park. The covered seating area is of particular interest to me. For Lamar there would need to be locker room facilities but this stadium is for 11 and 12 year olds. Lamar can and should have something nice like this. Pics #1 and 38 to 52 show the ball park. Check it out! http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/photos/gallery.jsp?content_id=56985140&c_id=tex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KABrother88 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Good point. It would be nice to have that many in the stands all the time. As a guage, we had a high of 359 and a low of 212 this past season based on official attendance. I'm assuming official attendance is based off of paid attendance; not actual fans in the stands. I saw a single game high of 682 at Ford Park the first season back. Our attendance was about in the middle of the conference this past season. Hopefully, the on-campus stadium will help increase the attendance as the program grows. As a benchmark, here's how we matched up in attendance with the rest of the conference this past season. TAMU-CC 183 ACU 383 UCA 159 ** HBU 264 ** UIW 326 LU 290 McNeese 206 ** Nicholls 322 NWSU 317 ** SHSU 296 ** SLU 173 SFA 108 ** ** made conference tournament How do they calculate softball attendance when there are select tournaments going on at the same time?...just curious cause they don't ask at the gate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Lamar actually sell tickets there so they count those tickets. EE, Lamar Baseball will never be covered. I was talking to Jason Henderson at one of the game this past year about the new softball field and the potential renovations for the Beck and he stated that the Beck is not equipped to allow a cover for the seats. That if they wanted that they would have to build an entirely new baseball stadium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KABrother88 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Lamar actually sell tickets there so they count those tickets. EE, Lamar Baseball will never be covered. I was talking to Jason Henderson at one of the game this past year about the new softball field and the potential renovations for the Beck and he stated that the Beck is not equipped to allow a cover for the seats. That if they wanted that they would have to build an entirely new baseball stadium. I see...we are there for select tourneys almost every weekend and I mosey on over to the softball field between our games if they are playing...I guess you just have to tell them...or the ticket people just know I'm there for select cause they see me so much lol I'm not a mechanical engineer by any means but I have a hard time believing you can't cover the seating at V-B...I mean it may call for replacing the bleachers but that isn't going to require building an entire new stadium...maybe he just wanted you to come on here and rally all the old rich alumni into donating lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 It was something like the foundation of the stadium could not support it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I have been around construction in industrial areas and the ease it would be during an off season to dig pilings that would support the beams needed for a cover doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Adding structural steel to support the cover would possibly mean a slight alteration of the stands but I can't imagine the need for a whole new stadium. I don't mind the bleachers as they are but if you looked at the link to the pics for the little league stadium in Arlington the cover has style but it certainly doesn't look like an elaborate project. In the other thread, Trees, trees, trees, I talked about how that could very easily pay dividends in attendance of games and having a stylish, well landscaped covered stadium could be the thing that sways potential recruits into coming and playing at the Beck. Same for the new softball stadium. The Field of Dreams had a quote, "If you build it they will come.", but what I'm saying is if you build it nice even more will come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Was on campus today and saw where they had moved some big dumpster outside the outfield fences of the baseball stadium. Looks like construction will start pretty soon for the softball field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Just wondering if this is going to be a stealth construction. I have been unable to find anything about the stadium other than the "In the Cards" article, the Beaumont Enterprise editorial, and the RFQ's on the State of Texas Window on Government site. Not even tweets or Facebook posts...BRI has most of the activity. Seems extremely low key. We had actual press releases from the University on the other athletic and academic construction projects several months before the fact. Seems to me a project announcement with renditions would be a fairly inexpensive way to pump up the base and the program. I look at athletic sites for a lot of universities. Most have announcements of future plans well in advance. Just seems strange to me and a possible lost opportunity. We even had webcams with the other projects. Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Knock, knock, knock. Helloooo, mister AD, are you there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Today would be a very appropriate day to make some kind of official announcement. I just saw that today is "World Softball Day"! :) https://nfca.org/index.php/front-page-news/5921-qworld-softball-dayq-looks-to-boost-sports-global-awareness-a-olympic-hopes Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cplatt Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Is there any news on the home front on the on campus stadium for the softball team? Any renditions come out yet or are they going cheap ass and build it with a rector set and stash the remaining budget. I saw similar stadiums that were built for around the same price as Lamar has budgeted and they can truly go top notch. Who knows anything? cplatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUSportsFan Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Good questions. I hope we get answers soon. Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Well, construction has been delayed till August or September. They are still expecting the stadium to be complete by next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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