By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – It is only a proposal, and one that will require Old Dominion University alumni and friends to raise millions of dollars.
But more than 100 baseball alumni, donors and friends who recently got an early peak at how a renovated ODU baseball stadium might look walked away impressed with what the future might hold.
If the new stadium looks anything like what was presented, it will be a huge upgrade for the Monarchs.
It would include expanded and upgraded seating, luxury suites, a club area, new locker and meeting rooms and upgraded amenities everywhere for both players and fans.
"It's really a smart, attractive design," said Dick Fraim, a long-time ODU booster and former radio voice for the Monarch basketball program.
ODU won the Conference USA title last season and was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, because Bud Metheny Stadium lacked press, locker and other facilities required by the NCAA, the Monarchs were sent to play in Columbia, South Carolina.
ODU upended South Carolina, 2-1, in front of nearly 7,000 fans, but lost a heartbreaker to the University of Virginia in the regional final on a 10th inning home run.
Athletic Director Wood Selig said the movement to upgrade the baseball facility happened because ODU was unable to host the NCAA regional last season. Selig said an upgrade is long overdue.
When Bud Metheny Stadium opened in 1983, it was one of the finest college baseball stadiums in the Southeast. Now, almost four decades later, it is far from what ODU needs to compete, especially in the Sun Belt Conference, where the Monarchs are headed in the next year or two.
"Our baseball coaches have been very patient over the years," Selig said. "But it's time now that that we provide them with a better facility."
ODU's stadium upgrade was designed by Populous, a Kansas City-based firm that has designed most Major League Baseball stadiums that opened in recent years.
Zach Allee and Jason Michael Ford, both associate principal senior architects with Populous, worked on the design for ODU and led the presentation. They helped design Petco Park in San Diego and Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.
They are being helped locally by Jeff Hyder, who works with Moseley Architects, a Virginia Beach firm that helped design the renovated S.B. Ballard football stadium and ODU's new Chemistry Building.
They envision keeping the existing first and third-base bleachers, Rally Alley and the Paul Keyes indoor hitting center, but building new facilities just about everywhere else.
They propose filling in the area behind home plate with chairback seats and tearing out the old press box and replacing it with a larger, modern facility that could include suites. The bleacher bench seats would be replaced, and all seating would be dark blue.
The area underneath the stands would be gutted and filled in with three stories of space for use by the baseball team, fans and the media.
There is no premium seating at the current baseball facility, which hurts attendance and has reduced the potential revenue for ODU baseball. The new facility would include premium space for hundreds of fans and provide conditioned space during the earlier parts of the season in February, March and into April.
Dr. Selig said that a new stadium must create more revenue.
Most premium seating would be built on the first floor, where a premium club would be located behind home plate, extending a short distance along the first and third base line. The club area would include outdoor seating and indoor standing room with loose furniture to accommodate fan circulation and gathering, close to home plate and the batters.
The interior would house service areas for catering and concessions to serve those inside the premium area.
It would be a smaller version of the Priority Automotive Club at S.B. Ballard Stadium, which is located steps away from stadium seating.
The first base side, as part of the club area, would be a space the team could use as well for team meetings and recruiting outside of game day.
There would also be separate concessions facilities on the first and third base sides.
A new locker room would be built on the first floor along the third base line along with mud room, athletic training space, as well as a box office and a team store selling ODU apparel.
The second floor behind home plate would contain coaches' offices and the third would have a new press box with functional areas for media, radio, and broadcast, all key components in being to host conference tournaments and NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals.
The stands, extending from third base, behind home plate and to first base, would be extended about 15 feet toward home plate to give fans a better view of the field.
The bleacher back seating would be topped on the back sides with potential outdoor loge areas as well as make accommodations for ADA seating with access via elevator. In all, the stadium would have approximately 2,000 fixed seats.
The most visible change to passersby would occur behind the stadium, at the intersection of 43rd Street and Parker Lane.
Currently, a concession stand, with a window air conditioning unit protruding just above, provide the first impression of ODU baseball. It isn't a particularly attractive part of the athletic complex.
The new facility would rise three stories and feature striking architectural features and extend almost to the sidewalk.
Allee said it is designed to be the "front door" for the baseball program.
"We think it will make a statement about ODU baseball," he said.
There would be brick arches, composed of "ODU brick" now standard around campus, with an "OD" logo, the one long used by the baseball team. The back would be framed with dark blue steel.
Allee and Ford said it was designed to complement architecture on campus.
The stadium would be ADA compliant and have an elevator leading to the second and third floors. The visitor's bullpen might also be moved to right field where a special area for students might also be developed.
ODU coach Chris Finwood was impressed.
"These guys design hundreds of millions of dollars of facilities," he said. "And they listen to you when we tell them what you're looking for."
The architects got a lot of feedback at the preview, held in the Priority Automotive Club. Richmond alumnus Barry Kornblau, who has donated $2 million over the years to ODU baseball, noted that given how cold it is early in the season, having an area with patio headers might be a good idea.
Others agreed and after a long discussion, Selig said the consensus was that an open suite with heating for cold, early-season games seemed to be the preferred option.
Selig said he was encouraged by the reception from alumni and friends.
"It was a great turnout, and I thought the people here were really impressed with that they saw," Selig said. "We got some great feedback.
"I think the architects really came up with some great concepts."
Architects said they will try to incorporate the suggestions and get back to ODU with design updates in December.
Selig said the University is waiting for a final design, including cost estimates, and could have them in late December or early January.
Finwood made an impassioned plea for ODU alumni to support funding the facility.
"This facility is not up to par for us," Finwood said. "At ODU, we do not have any facility that's in the bottom couple of facilities of any league that we compete in any sport, with the exception of baseball.
"And it's not OK. It's my 11th year here and it's time to fix this."
To make his case, Finwood and his staff displayed photos of 11 Sun Belt Conference stadiums.
"The Sun Belt Conference is a fantastic baseball league," he said. "It's a much better baseball league than the one we are leaving. Where it is much better is in facilities.
"I've always been a believer that you always do the best with what you have today. And we try to do that each and every day. We never use anything we don't have as an excuse."
"But that's who we're trying to beat," he added, pointing to the slides.
The new stadium would not be the best in the Sun Belt, but Finwood said that's OK.
"We don't need the best facility," he said. "We don't need the best players.
"We need the right facility and the right players. We can win with that.
"It's easy to say, 'well, they won without it.' But that's not realistic. You can't continue to do that when that's what you're competing against.
"We need you to take this to heart. Please take this to heart."