Fans for A New FAU Baseball Stadium

Why is it Tennessee can spend nearly 96 million dollars on their baseball stadium to get it major upgrades and we have trouble convincing the athletics department to give the baseball team 20 million to remain competitive.

As we reached the end to the college baseball season and unless a miracle happens in the conference tournament FAU will end the season without an appearance in the Men’s College World Series Regionals for the fifth year if you count the pandemic year. and that is not the fault of Coach John McCormack, his staff or the players. This even comes before the current athletics administration. When it was regular thing to see FAU Baseball in the Men’s College World Series regionals often playing for a regional final. Yet the previous athletics department administrations never updated the stadium when baseball was constantly in the postseason. But in this age of the Wild West of recruiting with the transfer portal and NIL deals where facilities and coaches play a huge role FAU is risking falling further behind than the those that are making investments.

And that is no fault to Coach McCormack, his staff or the players. They are working with what they have been dealt with in regards to the facility. No locker rooms for the teams and the umpires. There are no permanent offices or weight room for the team to use when the others are occupied. The bathroom outside the swimming facility along with the concession and merchandise stands are all trailers. There is no ticketing booth just a table under a canopy. The scoreboard is still analog. Don’t get me wrong there have been some upgrades such as performance center where pitching and hitting during adverse weather conditions. New padding along the walls, pitch clocks, analytical cameras along with paradise seating on the berm down the left field line but the upgrades are like putting paint on a rundown house. It makes the house look nice but it doesn’t solve the problems. It needs a complete remodel.

Now moving to a new a conference with a new tv deal with multi million dollars coming into the department will help any future improvements but until a complete rebuild happens including maybe moving the swimming facility. But it’s going to take a alumnus or alumni stepping up and donating the money FAU Baseball is going to have to as I quote Burt Gummer from Tremors 2 here “doing what I can with what I got.”

I know it’s a broken record for many of us Owls fans when it comes to the baseball stadium but I want to bring this up especially in this day of the transfer portal and NIL deals.

For the game today there was about I would say 50-75 ECU fans there today may a tad more and as a FAU fans I said welcome to a couple but also felt kinda of embarrassed a little bit. Not at the team but our stadium. Yes I know there were improvements made to a few things but not what it should have been. The performance center looks like it’s nearing completion but probably won’t be finished for this season and our scoreboard is still analog while the school to the south has a digital scoreboard.

I know the improvements are a start and it’s a bad comparison but compared to some of the others in the conference we’re still at the bottom of the pot if we’re going to remain competitive and credit to Coach Mac and his staff for keeping the team competitive in this new age of the NIL and transfer portal but facilities play a huge role along with NIL and coaches in the reason a player may transfer.

And let’s face it until Athletics decides to get a master plan for a vision for the future of athletics out there for the alumni base and the general community to see we have to relay on the TV money and hopefully for again another tournament appearance from basketball and football making bowls. Because just looking at the stadium walking out from the game this evening I can plan an upgrade or new ballpark with the space we have.

So that’s it. My little rant is over. Thanks for listening. And great win tonight by Coach Mac and boys of the diamond. GO OWLS.

Decent size crowd here to see FAU taking on last seasons AAC champs. Wish we could send them home with a better impression of the stadium. This upgrade to the stadium needs to continue.

New updates for FAU Baseball stadium this season. New padding along the walls. New outfield and new signage adorns the stadium. Also new this season paradise hill cabanas and the performance center being built. But more can be done to help this team achieve more. Such as new stands locker rooms, lighting and such. But it’s a start.

Breaking news from FAU Baseball

Good news for FAU Baseball. The performance center which will include indoor hitting and pitching cages is in the first stages of construction.