Tornado damage Ruston/LaTech

[johnnyb019]

i know this is way out there thinking. IF (a big IF) the stadium was moved to another location, which i hope it doesn't. I would like to see the current baseball field become intramural field. They would have the turf foundation which would be a huge plus for the students and put some type of historical marker (statue, fountain, ect...) with the love shacks history and date of tornado. Just a thought. All around its going to be a rough situation. Praying for the best outcomes for the city, university, and the community.

[Gladzilla]

Yeah, that would be ideal, if it was started from scratch.

Could still be moved back in sections without starting from scratch.

As far as the Fairgrounds goes, i've read where it would take 1M just to get the playing surface back up to par. 1.5M would be on the low end to get it back up and running again.

[The Historian]

Certainly we have some Plan B ideas laid out and ready to be given to an architect and implemented if we must replace/rebuld a facility. If not, shame on us.

There are ideas laid out, but "ready to be given to an architect" is another story.

I've had this discussion with individuals on campus and with various boosters since 2014. As I said previously in this thread we have individuals on campus who are hell bent on not allowing athletics to move anything south of the railroad tracks. Yet most of the really good ideas discussed on campus over the past decade involve just that.

[The Historian]

Gross.

Use the same site if at all possible. I think the scene, apartments, train, is not replaceable. Can we move it towards Tech and Alabama a bit, giving more room for the field, use the parking lot space for locker rooms, concessions, bathrooms, ticketing?

Also, I'm not engineer but I don't see how the damage caused warrants totally ripping it down.

We don't know yet. But some of what was said yesterday indicated that the concrete that fell onto the stands acted like a wrecking ball. There is damage to the concrete structure of stadium. Is that worth fixing if it means problems down the road that means constant upkeep for decades to come.

[TechStudent]

Does anyone have an update on suddenlink service ?

[tenacious_dog]

Looks to me like the area across West Alabama from the TAC would work well. Somewhere east of Penny Lane to or past Scot Rd. Plenty of room for a nice ball park with plenty of seating and expansion room. Proximity to parking between the TAC & JAS. Would be across the road from where they may put the athletics academic center.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pe...!4d-92.6603072

Yes I know it's a hill. That's why we have earth moving equipment. And depending on the actual topography and where you place it, maybe there's not that much to be done. But I think it would make a great location.

[The Historian]

The damage to the roof could have impacted the stability of the seating bowl structure below it. It will hall have to be thoroughly tested. There really isn't much use in trying to "fix" concrete structure. If the damage is extensive enough, it may be cheaper to rip it down and start over than trying to fix the damage.

There is damage to the concrete in the seating bowl but how much is the question.

[The Historian]

From a quick look, using the same site is an option, but to grow the seating bowl in any significant capacity, I don't think it can be done where the ballpark is sitting right now. The first base side of the ballpark is only ± 12' from the sidewalk on Tech Drive. There is plenty of room on the homeplate side, ± 92', and the third base side, ± 87'. In theory, if you started from scratch, you could rotate the ballpark about 5 degrees and get more room on all three sides to increase the seating capacity of the main seating bowl. This would shorten the left field foul line a few feet, but would allow you to deepen the right field corner as well.





The damage to the roof could have impacted the stability of the seating bowl structure below it. It will hall have to be thoroughly tested. There really isn't much use in trying to "fix" concrete structure. If the damage is extensive enough, it may be cheaper to rip it down and start over than trying to fix the damage.

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I would be curious if you made a few changes to this setup. Leave the field where it is but move the stadium closer to the field.

We have more distance between home plate and the backstop at J.C. Love than most of our competitors. Nitz talks about all the time.

What if the screen began roughly where the back edge of the LaTech logo is now located? How close would that put the dugouts to first base and third base? Would that give us room to simply extend permanent covered seating down the first base and third base lines or at least to the edge of the dugouts closest to the outfield wall? Would that give us enough room to expand seating back towards the intersection into an elevated section? Maybe an upper deck that spanned the center section and the two adjacent sections.

[bulldog009]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I would be curious if you made a few changes to this setup. Leave the field where it is but move the stadium closer to the field.

We have more distance between home plate and the backstop at J.C. Love than most of our competitors. Nitz talks about all the time.

What if the screen began roughly where the back edge of the LaTech logo is now located? How close would that put the dugouts to first base and third base? Would that give us room to simply extend permanent covered seating down the first base and third base lines or at least to the edge of the dugouts closest to the outfield wall? Would that give us enough room to expand seating back towards the intersection into an elevated section? Maybe an upper deck that spanned the center section and the two adjacent sections.

Of course!

So looking at your question - NCAA rule book shows the following as the typical field dimensions, with 60' radius to the backstop -


But baseball dimensions are fluid and dependent on the situation. So that isn't set in stone. However, there is a minimum distance you typically don't want to go under, as it begins to negatively affect play. When I was working on the new Texas Rangers Ballpark, we ended up bringing it in to about 40' and there was a lot of push back from the team because of how the ball will play off of the backstop.

The Shack is already at 60' to the backstop -



That logo being 30' would be entirely too close. The line of that warning track may be a slightly better option, but it would have to be a call made based on how the team wants the ballpark to play.
I don't know what the current bowl dimensions are, but a typical tread in a bowl is 2'-9" deep. So if they moved the back stop in 10', you could theoretically add 3 rows of seats. If you moved it in 15', you could add 5 rows of seats.

*Disclaimer - I am getting these dimensions on the images from from my software, which I am calibrating based off of where homeplate and first base should be (90' apart). They may be off slightly*

[qng001]

My extreme and unpopular suggestion would be build the baseball stadium on Hideaway Park. We would have plenty of parking using the stadium lot and also Argent Pavilion. Our guys can try to hit it out of the park into the pond/lake.

[touchdown123]

My extreme and unpopular suggestion would be build the baseball stadium on Hideaway Park. We would have plenty of parking using the stadium lot and also Argent Pavilion. Our guys can try to hit it out of the park into the pond/lake.

ATF would oppose. They love having a centralized student drinking area. Less walking, more ticketing.

[DurDog]

or our football sideline stands or the softball stands

[DurDog]

Really, UL-Lafayette's BB and WSB look like erector sets? When have you last been there?

[qng001]

I like concrete stadiums or grandstands. Metal stands feel cheap and uncomfortable.

[stodgdog]

Some of you would advocate moving Fenway and Wrigley out to the 'burbs just to provide more creature comforts for fans.

Blasphemy