pirate4state
07-08-2005, 09:34 AM
Disch-Falk set to get "face lift" (http://www.statesman.com/horns/content/sports/stories/longhorns/07/8DISCH_FALK.html)
LONGHORNS BASEBALL
UT baseball stadium to get face-lift
Disch-Falk Field work scheduled to be finished by 2008.
By 2008, fans could walk up to a stadium with a facade similar to Royal-Memorial Stadium and enter a ballpark with more seats and other improvements, including a new sound system. Players would get new locker rooms. Photo gallery of renovation plans.
Plans call for the bigger concourse to be remodeled to include new concession areas and bathrooms.
By Cedric Golden
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, July 08, 2005
Club seating, a new facade and about 1,400 additional seats top the list of planned improvements being considered for 30-year-old Disch-Falk Field, the baseball stadium at the University of Texas.
Texas men's athletics director DeLoss Dodds said the locker rooms and bullpens also will be revamped as part of an $18 million renovation that is projected to begin within 12 to 18 months and be completed in two to 2 1/2 years. Under that schedule, the renovated stadium would be in place in time for the Longhorns' 2008 season.
The Longhorns will continue to play at their home field near Interstate 35 and Martin Luther King Boulevard during the construction. Texas Coach Augie Garrido has long maintained he is not interested in playing in another stadium while Disch-Falk is renovated.
Once the project wraps up, some fans seated down the base lines can expect a better view of the playing field, as the foul territory will be lessened in order to add extra seats and move the dugouts closer to the field.
The bleachers located down the the right-field line also will be moved closer to the field and raised in elevation — to match the level of the grandstand seats, Dodds said.
In all, the seating capacity of Disch-Falk is projected to rise from 6,649 to 8,000.
Plans also call for the concourse to be remodeled to include new concession areas and bathrooms. The area will be widened to make room for the club boxes, which will be located atop the concourse and near the top row of stadium seats.
The plan is to get the club seating up and running to generate immediate revenue to help pay for the project. Before the remodeling takes place, Dodds will seek input from Garrido and his assistant coaches and players, the Texas sports information department and the media. Surveys also were sent to Longhorns fans to gather their ideas, and Dodds said Texas officials also plan to study stadium projects at other schools.
Dodds added that Garrido will have the final say about how to allocate funds for the renovation.
"I'm personally glad they're keeping the stadium in the same location,'' said Garrido, who led Texas to a sixth national championship last month. "Because there will come a time when the campus will expand and that will probably will be east. So the stadium will one day become part of the campus.''
Dodds said the Texas athletics department will raise $7 million of the $18 million cost through private donations while the remainder will be financed with bonds. He said construction will not begin until the athletics department's $7 million portion is raised, but that $2 million in pledges already has been received.
Pending approval of the project by the men's athletics council and the Board of Regents, an architect and construction firm will be hired within 12 to 18 months.
"This will take a lot of people helping us,'' Dodds said. "Everybody that loves Texas baseball will get a chance to be part of this project, and we will begin that initiative within the next few weeks.''
As for the playing surface at Disch-Falk, the athletics department will consider replacing the AstroTurf field, which was installed in 1999, with grass once the turf wears out. Dodds estimated that won't happen for three or four more years.
Grass could spring up sooner, though.
If private donations surpassed the $7 million mark and reached $9 million to $10 million, Dodds said, grass could become part of the revised Disch-Falk landscape sooner rather than later.
cgolden@statesman.com; 912-5944
The existing stadium
Opened: 1975
Cost to build: $2.5 million
First game: April 19, 1975 (Texas defeats TCU 18-3)
Playing surface: AstroTurf
Seating capacity: 6,649
Proposed renovation
Project's price tag: $18 million
Planned improvements: New facade similar in style to that of Royal-Memorial Stadium; club seating with elevator access; new press box; new bullpens; about 1,400 additional seats; new lighting and sound systems; new locker rooms; bigger concourse area with concessions and restrooms.
Ballpark figures
A look at the Big 12 baseball stadiums:
School Venue Opened/
Renovated Capacity Surface
Baylor Baylor Ballpark 1999 (O) 5,000 Grass
Kansas Hoglund Ballpark 1999 (R) 2,500 Grass
Kansas State Tointon Stadium 2002 (R) 2,000+ Grass
Missouri Taylor Stadium 2000 (O) 2,200 Grass
Nebraska Hawks Field 2001 (O) 8,500 Grass
Oklahoma L. Dale Mitchell Park 2002 (R) 2,700 Grass
Oklahoma State Allie P. Reynolds Stadium 1994 (R) 4,000 Grass
Texas Disch-Falk Field 2003 (R) 6,649 AstroTurf
Texas A&M C.E. Olsen Field 1994 (R) 7,053 Grass
Texas Tech Dan Law Field 1996 (R) 5,050 Grass/AstroTurf
Note: (O) designates year opened; (R) designates year of latest renovation to seating facilities.
:clap: 'Bout time!!
LONGHORNS BASEBALL
UT baseball stadium to get face-lift
Disch-Falk Field work scheduled to be finished by 2008.
By 2008, fans could walk up to a stadium with a facade similar to Royal-Memorial Stadium and enter a ballpark with more seats and other improvements, including a new sound system. Players would get new locker rooms. Photo gallery of renovation plans.
Plans call for the bigger concourse to be remodeled to include new concession areas and bathrooms.
By Cedric Golden
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, July 08, 2005
Club seating, a new facade and about 1,400 additional seats top the list of planned improvements being considered for 30-year-old Disch-Falk Field, the baseball stadium at the University of Texas.
Texas men's athletics director DeLoss Dodds said the locker rooms and bullpens also will be revamped as part of an $18 million renovation that is projected to begin within 12 to 18 months and be completed in two to 2 1/2 years. Under that schedule, the renovated stadium would be in place in time for the Longhorns' 2008 season.
The Longhorns will continue to play at their home field near Interstate 35 and Martin Luther King Boulevard during the construction. Texas Coach Augie Garrido has long maintained he is not interested in playing in another stadium while Disch-Falk is renovated.
Once the project wraps up, some fans seated down the base lines can expect a better view of the playing field, as the foul territory will be lessened in order to add extra seats and move the dugouts closer to the field.
The bleachers located down the the right-field line also will be moved closer to the field and raised in elevation — to match the level of the grandstand seats, Dodds said.
In all, the seating capacity of Disch-Falk is projected to rise from 6,649 to 8,000.
Plans also call for the concourse to be remodeled to include new concession areas and bathrooms. The area will be widened to make room for the club boxes, which will be located atop the concourse and near the top row of stadium seats.
The plan is to get the club seating up and running to generate immediate revenue to help pay for the project. Before the remodeling takes place, Dodds will seek input from Garrido and his assistant coaches and players, the Texas sports information department and the media. Surveys also were sent to Longhorns fans to gather their ideas, and Dodds said Texas officials also plan to study stadium projects at other schools.
Dodds added that Garrido will have the final say about how to allocate funds for the renovation.
"I'm personally glad they're keeping the stadium in the same location,'' said Garrido, who led Texas to a sixth national championship last month. "Because there will come a time when the campus will expand and that will probably will be east. So the stadium will one day become part of the campus.''
Dodds said the Texas athletics department will raise $7 million of the $18 million cost through private donations while the remainder will be financed with bonds. He said construction will not begin until the athletics department's $7 million portion is raised, but that $2 million in pledges already has been received.
Pending approval of the project by the men's athletics council and the Board of Regents, an architect and construction firm will be hired within 12 to 18 months.
"This will take a lot of people helping us,'' Dodds said. "Everybody that loves Texas baseball will get a chance to be part of this project, and we will begin that initiative within the next few weeks.''
As for the playing surface at Disch-Falk, the athletics department will consider replacing the AstroTurf field, which was installed in 1999, with grass once the turf wears out. Dodds estimated that won't happen for three or four more years.
Grass could spring up sooner, though.
If private donations surpassed the $7 million mark and reached $9 million to $10 million, Dodds said, grass could become part of the revised Disch-Falk landscape sooner rather than later.
cgolden@statesman.com; 912-5944
The existing stadium
Opened: 1975
Cost to build: $2.5 million
First game: April 19, 1975 (Texas defeats TCU 18-3)
Playing surface: AstroTurf
Seating capacity: 6,649
Proposed renovation
Project's price tag: $18 million
Planned improvements: New facade similar in style to that of Royal-Memorial Stadium; club seating with elevator access; new press box; new bullpens; about 1,400 additional seats; new lighting and sound systems; new locker rooms; bigger concourse area with concessions and restrooms.
Ballpark figures
A look at the Big 12 baseball stadiums:
School Venue Opened/
Renovated Capacity Surface
Baylor Baylor Ballpark 1999 (O) 5,000 Grass
Kansas Hoglund Ballpark 1999 (R) 2,500 Grass
Kansas State Tointon Stadium 2002 (R) 2,000+ Grass
Missouri Taylor Stadium 2000 (O) 2,200 Grass
Nebraska Hawks Field 2001 (O) 8,500 Grass
Oklahoma L. Dale Mitchell Park 2002 (R) 2,700 Grass
Oklahoma State Allie P. Reynolds Stadium 1994 (R) 4,000 Grass
Texas Disch-Falk Field 2003 (R) 6,649 AstroTurf
Texas A&M C.E. Olsen Field 1994 (R) 7,053 Grass
Texas Tech Dan Law Field 1996 (R) 5,050 Grass/AstroTurf
Note: (O) designates year opened; (R) designates year of latest renovation to seating facilities.
:clap: 'Bout time!!