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PurdueBaseball Facility, Soccer Upgrades, Approved

Gold and Black Illustrated / KYLE CHARTERS

Doug Schreiber won't have to wait much longer for a new baseball complex, with Friday's approval of a multi-million dollar project that should provide a big boost to the program. The Purdue Board of Trustees approved financing for construction of a new baseball stadium, located at Cherry Lane and McCormick Road, and improvements to the adjacent Varsity Soccer Complex. The $21 million project is part of the Mackey Complex master plan that was approved in May 2007. The project will move baseball from its current location at Lambert Field, located on Stadium Avenue, where the Boilers have played since 1965 to the "Northwest site." The area of the former field will be used for additional parking at the soon-to-be expanded and renovated Recreational Sports Center. "This is all part of the plan that we presented to the Trustees in 2007," athletic director Morgan Burke said Friday afternoon. "We obviously have the Mackey project itself, but embedded in that was the notion of moving baseball out in recognition of the rec center being enhanced and needing the parking there. "We wanted to populate the Northwest site with intercollegiate facilities. We had to wait to get Mackey underway and make sure financially we were able to support it. Obviously, we have that comfort level now." The project marks the realization of a long-desired new ballpark, as the Boilers have fallen behind in the facilities arms race with other programs in the Big Ten. In the last five years, significant renovations have taken place at Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State; plans at Indiana are delayed due to budget overruns elsewhere, but are still thought to be in the works. "In our case, it's not really an arms race, we had nothing to arm ourselves with," Burke said. "We had a great playing surface but really the infrastructure of the facility was inadequate." Located west of the Varsity Soccer Complex, the new field is expected to be ready for use for the 2012 season. The facility will feature a familiar tone, with a brick and masonry exterior facades; the spectator area, which will seat 1,500 with room to add bleachers, will include bench and chair-backed seats. "We'll have the capacity to go up to 2,500," Burke said, "so we're able to host an NCAA Regional competition. ? I hope for this to be another opportunity for our students, faculty, staff and community to engage particularly in a sport where the admission price is pretty nominal." A new press box - Lambert's is a tiny 12-feet by four-feet - will include media seating, radio and television booths and a game-day operations area. Lights will allow for night games to be televised. The Boilermakers' home dugout will be located along the third-base line and adjacent to a new clubhouse that will feature a locker room, lounge, team meeting area and athletic training treatment area. The clubhouse will be attached to an enclosed and heated training facility that will allow for off-season batting and pitching workouts. Both the home and visiting dugouts will be heated, and both teams will have dedicated bullpens and batting cages. "We are grateful that the board has given its approval to move forward with the new baseball facility," head coach Doug Schreiber said in a release. "The baseball program is very excited about becoming part of the cornerstone of the Northwest Site, along with women's soccer and the tennis teams. "Lambert Field has been a great home for us over the years, but, based on plans and renderings that we have been working on, I firmly believe that this new facility will be one that will make our university, our tremendous fans and the entire community very proud." Schreiber's Boilers are in action today at the Big Ten Tournament, where they'll play Indiana in an elimination game. Purdue defeated Northwestern yesterday. Burke says Purdue will bid the project in the late summer, with plans to get construction underway in the late fall. "It takes about 14 months, I'm told," he said. "And you want to have time to get it ready for the opening of the (baseball) season." The other part of the northwest site project is improvements to team and fan amenities that currently do not exist at the Varsity Soccer Complex, which was completed in 1999 and features two playing fields. A centrally located press box and team building will house the home team locker room, lounge, meeting area and athletic training facility, as well as the visiting team meeting room, concessions and public restrooms. A new grandstand will be erected on the west side of the primary game field. The second-level press area will have room for media, radio and television announcers, as well as game-day staff, and lights will be installed. Plans are for all soccer complex improvements to be completed for the 2012 season. "As excited as I am for Doug (Schreiber), I am too for Rob Klatte," Burke said of the soccer coach. "He's a guy who's put his team in the NCAA Tournament several times now. You're going to blend those two facilities together with beautiful brick facade. It'll be a huge boost to both those programs they go forward." During Mackey's initial approval three years ago, the baseball/soccer portion was projected to cost around $15 million, but needed improvements in infrastructure and other issues caused the increase. "This is not an inexpensive piece of land to build on," he said. "It's got a heavy clay content, a lot of wetlands to be navigated. But when it's done it will be beautiful." Of the $121 million required for the Mackey Arena renovation and expansion and the baseball and soccer projects, $32 million is being generated through fund-raising. The other money is being generated through the Big Ten Network agreement, gifts and other department funds. Thus far, $28.5 million has been raised. Former baseball student-athletes and coaches have contributed $1 million to the baseball stadium project. "We still have a little room to go on that," he said. "But for every $1 raised we were going to be able to leverage it with $3 from the Big Ten television agreement, so that's a pretty good return on your investment."