We’ve been begging NC State to go all-in on baseball and build a brand new stadium, but that’s not happening.
What is happening is a major upgrade to Doak Field, and the new mockups have just hit the wire. Check out the video above to see them.
Here is what we’ve got:
Competitive Team Performance Spaces
-Locker room
-Team lounge, nutrition, and sports medicine
-Weight room
-Batting facility
-Pitching lab
Facility Improvements
-New playing surface
-LED lighting
-Scoreboard and sound system upgrade
-Relocated bullpens
-Branding opportunities
Fan Experience Upgrades
-Seating variety and quality
-Premium and entertainment space
-Concession upgrades
-New shaded area
For recruiting, the new locker rooms, team lounge, weight room, batting facility, and pitching lab are going to be big helps. Doak was severely lacking any real modern amenities for the players and it’s likely that was having some impact on landing talent.
For the fans, the real addition is the new shaded area and concession upgrades. It looks like you’ll be able to grab some BBQ and a beer and hang out in a standing room only, shaded zone, while you watch the game. These types of spaces have done well in newer MLB stadiums, so my guess is that they’ll be popular here.
And what is that on field level? Are those tents with grills? Can you rent out a little tailgate zone and throw your own burgers on during the game? Count me in. Well, first tell me how much that is going to cost and whether or not I’ll be able to bring my own meat. But if that all checks out, then yeah, count me in!
Oh, here’s the bad news. These upgrades are costing $15 million and will be completed in phases.
The NC State Baseball team is now 7-0 through two weeks of play, going 4-0 last week, defeating Coastal Carolina 16-4 on the road in a midweek game, and sweeping Belmont at home this past weekend (11-4, 7-0, 7-1).
The Wolfpack remain ranked 21st in the D1Baseball Top-25.
The Wolfpack moved up 11 spots to #19 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, up 2 spots to #20 in the Coaches Poll, and up 1 spot to #24 in the Baseball America poll.
NC State will host Longwood today at 3pm in their next matchup.
But while I was over on Twitter, I saw a ton of comments on it, all of them NC State fans, and almost all of them critical of the new look.
Look, I don’t know what’s going on here. Maybe it’ll look a lot better once it’s done, or maybe the grass will match up a lot better when it greens up. But right now, it’s a little jarring. Here is how it used to look…
Again, I’m going to wait until it’s really done before I cast judgement, but I think the official tweet from the school marketing it and drawing attention to it, has people thinking it’s in it’s final form. And maybe it is. But I hope it’s not.
I remember this being shared a while back…
This shows grass in foul territory and dirt in the 1st/3rd baselines. So I’m not sure when this turf thing came along. And while we’re on the subject, aren’t we a turf management school? Shouldn’t we be turning up our noses at artificial turf?
Apparently, this is a thing now, where foul territories are artificial turf and fair territory is grass. Here is Mississippi State’s baseball field doing the same thing.
Can’t say I like it there either, honestly. It just seems like one of those fads. Remember when everyone was going crazy with field/court colors?
School with a grey field and school with a glow in the dark basketball court meet on blue turf. Winning coach gets dumped with French fries. College athletics at its absolute best. https://t.co/crEKoeLKbXpic.twitter.com/Bpeod50Sy4
Did anyone ever really like those? Do people like them now? Have they ever gotten a recruit to come to the school? Have they ever scared a recruit away?
I don’t know. You tell me. I’ll hold final judgment, but things NC State fans don’t seem like they’re going to follow along.