If you were a betting man.....

What would you bet on as far as the future of DNF goes. Sitting in class this morning and the man in charge of every sports facility project at MSU is speaking (forget his name). He hit a few main points about football (dry wall starting next month, outside brick to finish this month, other minor details) and talked a fair bit about baseball. Talked about the major positives on a new facility but also said renovating is an option. The main problem he addressed was the concourse and said they would like it to be more like trustmark park to b more open and connected to the game. He talked about adding more premium seating and moving press box away from directly behind home plate. Two most interesting things: 1. He said moving l

Locations would never change and hasn't even been talked about. 2. Said they are waiting to hear back from architect about what direction to take (renovate/new). He made it seem like they really are up in the air about what to do and are leaving it to architect to basically advise them to do one or the other. He also mentioned never touching LFL. So I'm curious which way y'all would bet we go in

If all options are available, tear it down and build a really badass one similar to Alex Box or Baum.

If they truly are just going to leave it up to the architects, I think we'll start over. You can't tell an architect to give us the "greatest stadium college baseball has ever seen" but then tell them that they have to work with what we currently have- it's just not possible.

It sounds like renovation still is an option, but I bet we'll end up starting over and build something incredible.

In general, he gave far more positives about starting new and far more negatives about our current stadium. But for some reason he just gave off the sense that there was some hesitancy to start new, for whatever that is worth

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Originally Posted by biscuit

If all options are available, tear it down and build a really badass one similar to Alex Box or Baum.

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Yep. You can't really know how much better those stadiums (and USCe's) are unless you've been- the comparison really is night-and-day.

The fact is, there's just no way we can have the best college stadium in America (Stricklin's goal) without starting over.

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Originally Posted by DudyDawg

In general, he gave far more positives about starting new and far more negatives about our current stadium. But for some reason he just gave off the sense that there was some hesitancy to start new, for whatever that is worth

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I think they just want to check out what the demand would look like for premium seating in a new stadium. If big money people are excited about it and willing to fork out for skyboxes and club seats, a new stadium is the direction we'll probably go.

I don't know about premium seating being increased. All the die hards are in the LFL. We are in on a trailer out there and I wouldn't trade it for any suite or sky box!

They know they are going to have to start over and it's going to be a 2 phase project to build the stadium portion. They are trying to show people this and get it out there so more fans will climb on board. We still have too many people that are whining about rebuilding. It wont be the stadium that Polk built anymore if we start over.

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Originally Posted by rabbitthedawg

I don't know about premium seating being increased. All the die hards are in the LFL. We are in on a trailer out there and I wouldn't trade it for any suite or sky box!

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Premium seating will be increased. You have many, many fans that dont come to games because they dont want to sit in the bleachers. There are no chairbacks to purchase and they have no connections to LFL- and that means bleachers. If I had to sit in the bleachers I'd never go to a game.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Premium seating will be increased. You have many, many fans that dont come to games because they dont want to sit in the bleachers. There are no chairbacks to purchase and they have no connections to LFL- and that means bleachers. If I had to sit in the bleachers I'd never go to a game.

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Very very true.

The complexity of this for MSU is going to be getting it priced correctly to hit the intersection of max revenue and MSU fan ticket demand.

You can design and build the college baseball equivalent of Cowboys Stadium but if you have to charge a zillion dollars a seat and that deters folks it wont matter.

I wonder how will our fan base, in general, will accept the big increase the new season ticket plus seat license amount will bring?

Throwing out the very high and low dollar seats, will the MSU fan accept a $1000/year/seat baseball ticket?

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Originally Posted by ScottH

Very very true.

The complexity of this for MSU is going to be getting it priced correctly to hit the intersection of max revenue and MSU fan ticket demand.

You can design and build the college baseball equivalent of Cowboys Stadium but if you have to charge a zillion dollars a seat and that deters folks it wont matter.

I wonder how will our fan base, in general, will accept the big increase the new season ticket plus seat license amount will bring?

Throwing out the very high and low dollar seats, will the MSU fan accept a $1000/year/seat baseball ticket?

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Which is why I (and many others) think that the people who have been buying tickets for years and going to games deserve some kind of priority. What that priority is, I don't know- but I don't think we will/should kick those people to the curb. They do deserve to be treated well.

You can tell that Stricklin really wants to move the program forward, while not stepping on the toes of the long-time baseball supporters.

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Originally Posted by messageboardsuperhero

You can tell that Stricklin really wants to move the program forward, while not stepping on the toes of the long-time baseball supporters.

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Absolutely- and that's a tough thing to do in all this

Who was talking? Was it bobby tomlinson? I think he is AD of facilities but not sure if he is over new projects. I think mike nemeth use to do some of that so it might have been scott wetherbee. Was just curious.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Premium seating will be increased. You have many, many fans that dont come to games because they dont want to sit in the bleachers. There are no chairbacks to purchase and they have no connections to LFL- and that means bleachers. If I had to sit in the bleachers I'd never go to a game.

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I took my wife and both kids to a game a few years ago on Super Bulldog weekend. I haven't been back since and probably will have to go alone if/when I ever go back. We sat in the bleachers down the 3rd baseline. Terrible, terrible, experience.

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Originally Posted by Ennis Del Mar

Who was talking? Was it bobby tomlinson? I think he is AD of facilities but not sure if he is over new projects. I think mike nemeth use to do some of that so it might have been scott wetherbee. Was just curious.

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sorry I can't even begin to guess his name. Was a late forties fifties guy with dark hair and fairly large man. Completely forgot his name

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Originally Posted by DownwardDawg

I took my wife and both kids to a game a few years ago on Super Bulldog weekend. I haven't been back since and probably will have to go alone if/when I ever go back. We sat in the bleachers down the 3rd baseline. Terrible, terrible, experience.

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I personally know several people/families in the Golden Triangle area who are in the same boat as you- they'd really like to go to the games but won't because of the sightline/bleacher issue. That is probably my biggest problem with the current grandstand- along with the fact that simply adding more chairbacks down the lines does no good because of the way that the grandstand was originally angled.

We will continue to have a very difficult time getting new fans in the stadium (and more importantly, to come BACK for more games) if we don't start over. I just wish some of the older fans would be more open to a new grandstand- that would really make the transition go more smoothly.

I would bet my life savings that it stays in the same place, but we rebuild. Probably play one season in a simple concrete grandstand with decreased capacity then the subsequent season it will be complete.

Sounded like when it was described to me that they would build the main area first and then add the rest down the lines after the season was over. It was going to take them about 14 months to complete the whole thing so they were going to do it in 2 phases

And then there was still the fight about the LFL and making it safe yet still having the "redneck" look to it

It also may be reversed. As in, home plate could where the green monster is now

So in the afternoon, the sun is gonna be in the hitters eyes.

I think we are going with a renovation. This is what the architect told me.
I'll ask him next time I see him...

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Originally Posted by fishwater99

I think we are going with a renovation. This is what the architect told me.
I'll ask him next time I see him...

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So the architect knows and the school doesnt? They are still waiting on more renderings and arent close to a decision. Your buddy is FOS.

"Renovation" like Bama is giving Sewell Thomas...

There's a terminology breakdown here that I think is getting people confused. Anything we do at the current site is likely to be termed a "renovation"(and regardless -- whatever we do WILL be at the current site, something that's been confirmed from many different angles already). The key in the discussion is whether or not the grandstand comes down. He is still in the process of coming to terms with it -- but it's going to happen.

This time last year, he thought "Dudy Noble is not broken and we just need to do some things down the foul lines and get rid of the bleachers" and talked at length about it on DS's podcast. Obviously, ALOT has changed in the past year -- and he's still trying to catch up to the curve on this stuff.

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Originally Posted by engie

"Renovation" like Bama is giving Sewell Thomas...

There's a terminology breakdown here that I think is getting people confused. Anything we do at the current site is likely to be termed a "renovation"(and regardless -- whatever we do WILL be at the current site, something that's been confirmed from many different angles already). The key in the discussion is whether or not the grandstand comes down. He is still in the process of coming to terms with it -- but it's going to happen.

This time last year, he thought "Dudy Noble is not broken and we just need to do some things down the foul lines and get rid of the bleachers" and talked at length about it on DS's podcast. Obviously, ALOT has changed in the past year -- and he's still trying to catch up to the curve on this stuff.

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Excellent point that I think many people are misinterpreting. "Start from scratch" would insinuate construction of a completely new facility at a different location, which is not what most of us are referring to in this situation. You can "renovate" Dudy Noble Field by demolishing every piece of concrete/aluminum/structural materials/etc. around the playing surface and constructing a new superstructure from the ground up. That would still constitute a "renovation".

edited to add: If I was a betting man, this is what I think will happen.