Is there any merit to expanding the Rusty C?

[Sugar3ThousandPounds]

I know we literally just finished with a big renovation, so not saying anything soon would be likely, but the sellout tonight got me thinking if adding more seats would be a sound plan for the future.

For reference, here’s the list of all 16 ACC baseball teams and their stadium’s capacity. We come in at 9th, with only a small gap to 6th, then a much larger gap to the top 5:

1. Florida State - **** Howser Stadium - 6,700
2. Clemson - Doug Kingsmore Stadium - 6,272
3. Louisville - Jim Patterson Stadium - 6,000
4. Virginia - Disharoon Park - 5,919
5. Miami - Alex Rodriguez Park - 5,000
6. North Carolina - Boshamer Stadium - 4,100
7. Stanford - Klein Field - 4,000
8. Wake Forest - David F. Couch Ballpark - 3,823
9. Georgia Tech - Russ Chandler Stadium - 3,718
10. North Carolina State - Doak Park - 3,000
11. Boston College - Eddie Pellagrini Diamond - 2,500
12. Cal - Evans Diamond - 2,500
13. Notre Dame - Frank Eck Stadium - 2,500
14. Duke - Jack Coombs Field - 2,000
15. Virginia Tech - English Field - 1,132
16. Pittsburgh - Cost Field - 900

So far this year we’ve sold out Saturday games vs. Northwestern and VT, and tonight’s game vs. Auburn. I think it’s safe to assume all 3 FSU games will be sold out as well, probably the Saturday games at least of our other ACC series vs Wake and Duke, and of course any Regional & (*knocks wood*) Super Regional games.

Anecdotally from looking at pictures of other ACC stadiums, we seem to have a much higher percentage of bleacher seats to seatbacks. If baseball were to follow football’s lead and convert most/all of those to seatbacks, our capacity would likely be closer to only 3,000.

As far as WHERE to theoretically expand? Outfield seating probably isn’t an option with Fowler St and the football practice fields boxing everything in, and the 3B side is good as is with the Champions Hall and little walking area with beer stands, so I’d leave that alone too. Most realistic option would probably be to expand down the 1B/RF line towards the Visitors Bullpen, or maybe just expand the existing sections upwards to add more rows throughout. Get to closer to 5,000 capacity, with 80+% being seatbacks.

That turned into more of a ramble than I was planning, but thoughts?

 

[gtrower]

We’re selling out a few games with possibly the best offense / team in program history. I’m not sure it would be prudent to sign up for a stadium expansion off of that.

 

[stinger78]

We’re selling out a few games with possibly the best offense / team in program history. I’m not sure it would be prudent to sign up for a stadium expansion off of that.

Agreed. I’d like to see us around 5K, but we have to re-establish the program at the top of the conference and as a post-season winner to do draw that many more than just occasionally. I’d have it on the long-term planning board for the next 10 years and see how things go.

 

[MWBATL]

if we have post-season success...then maybe Yes. I recall how jam-packed the stadium was when we hosted a Super-Regional against USC (west) back when. We ran into two pro pitchers (one was Mark Pryor) and lost, but the place was SRO and electric.

 

[BennyWheels]

I’d like to see some outfield bleacher seating at some point in the future like Clempsum or UVA has and MAYBE some extended seating down the first base line, but otherwise, I think we’re good for now. But we’d need to consistently get to the CWS to see legit expansions.

 

[slugboy]

We talk about the Bobby Dodd expansion, but I’ve seen facilities expansion tied to so many problems. Restaurants and retail stores expand or move to a bigger facility, and suddenly they go from having people waiting to get in to being half empty and the store has to pay for and maintain the unused space.

If people are getting turned away all the time, and your positive that you’d always fill up the additional space, expand (but less than you think)

 

[DecaturJacket]

I’d like to see some outfield bleacher seating at some point in the future like Clempsum or UVA has and MAYBE some extended seating down the first base line, but otherwise, I think we’re good for now. But we’d need to consistently get to the CWS to see legit expansions.

If we keep filling the place up then sure, but let's see if we can keep the momentum. However well we end up doing this season will help, but staying consistent next season when we lose Drew, Vahn, JA, and Alex will show where we're really at.

Agreed though, I'd love to see some outfield seating at some point. I miss the days when the frats had platforms with couches up on the wall out there.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

This is the first year in many years we will have multiple sellouts. We don't have an entrenched fan base. I think we learned our lesson from the Upper North.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

If we keep filling the place up then sure, but let's see if we can keep the momentum. However well we end up doing this season will help, but staying consistent next season when we lose Drew, Vahn, JA, and Alex will show where we're really at.

Agreed though, I'd love to see some outfield seating at some point. I miss the days when the frats had platforms with couches up on the wall out there.

Having "free" seating somewhere for students like that would be great. Can students get in for "free" anyway with a student ID and having paid the Athletic Assn semester charge?

I'd imagine that those outfield seats were great for heckling the opposing OF.

 

[YoungSting]

If we had done the expansion before now, it would have been great. But you can only have a once in a generation offense, well once in a generation. I don’t know how we would get more eyes than we do now +1-2 years for residual interest.

However, I would love to see some sort of platform/standing area along the right field track. I think it could be done by also creating a covered tunnel for the football players/staff to get to the football practice facility. So if we add more chair backs to the stands, we could put some sort of benches/SRO there. Or make it the party deck.

 

[GT33]

Need more premium areas. There’s a waitlist, they make the program a bunch of money and it’s where the big donors normally want to be. Knock the roof off behind home plate and go vertical. Put in a full liquor bar, a self-serve beer taps, wine for the women and some decent food and you can probably clip a bunch of rich guys for $2-3k per seat.

If you wrap the upper deck of Champions to behind home plate and leave underneath to get to and from the bleachers, you can add another 150-200 heads or maybe more in a beer drinking standing room area for some extra coin.

There’s all kinds of possibilities that would not break the bank.

 

[stinger78]

Need more premium areas. There’s a waitlist, they make the program a bunch of money and it’s where the big donors normally want to be. Knock the roof off behind home plate and go vertical. Put in a full liquor bar, a self-serve beer taps, wine for the women and some decent food and you can probably clip a bunch of rich guys for $2-3k per seat.

If you wrap the upper deck of Champions to behind home plate and leave underneath to get to and from the bleachers, you can add another 150-200 heads or maybe more in a beer drinking standing room area for some extra coin.

There’s all kinds of possibilities that would not break the bank.

Yep... How about just dig a big hole down the RF line, fill it with water, and have mud rasslin' between innings?

Sound like a plan?

 

[AUFC]

We’re selling out a few games with possibly the best offense / team in program history. I’m not sure it would be prudent to sign up for a stadium expansion off of that.

Every stadium on campus with the exception of O’Keefe (volleyball) should be downsizing right now. If electric, SRO games are what people want, the last thing you want to do is expand by 2,000 seats, 1,800 of which you wouldn’t have even sold against Northwestern, VT, and Auburn in the program’s best season of all time.

Volleyball games are a blast and get the adrenaline pumping btw, and I know literally nothing about the sport.

 

[78pike]

Need more premium areas. There’s a waitlist, they make the program a bunch of money and it’s where the big donors normally want to be. Knock the roof off behind home plate and go vertical. Put in a full liquor bar, a self-serve beer taps, wine for the women and some decent food and you can probably clip a bunch of rich guys for $2-3k per seat.

If you wrap the upper deck of Champions to behind home plate and leave underneath to get to and from the bleachers, you can add another 150-200 heads or maybe more in a beer drinking standing room area for some extra coin.

There’s all kinds of possibilities that would not break the bank.

You seem to think the addition of alcohol will attract more fans or that big money donors need alcohol to come to games or that somehow giving them more opportunities to imbibe will attract their money. Not everyone drinks and it might turn away some families that like to bring younger children. I have no problem with us adding seats and increasing capacity ( though I tend to agree with the previous poster and think we need to see more continuous need for that before making that investment ) but I'm not sure the availability of hard liquor is what we need to attract more fans and their money. I know the NCAA made allowances for beer at sporting events. Did they do that for mixed drinks as well?

 

[GT33]

You seem to think the addition of alcohol will attract more fans or that big money donors need alcohol to come to games or that somehow giving them more opportunities to imbibe will attract their money. Not everyone drinks and it might turn away some families that like to bring younger children. I have no problem with us adding seats and increasing capacity ( though I tend to agree with the previous poster and think we need to see more continuous need for that before making that investment ) but I'm not sure the availability of hard liquor is what we need to attract more fans and their money. I know the NCAA made allowances for beer at sporting events. Did they do that for mixed drinks as well?

You might be right. Could be we need to add more bleacher seats.

 

[Theflats1]

It is a beautiful stadium and fits the setting well. Unless they start selling out the majority of the games, why would you add seats?

 

[devcon]

Classic case of engineering minds trying to optimize. Right now I would say the stadium meets the requirements and should therefore not be tampered with.

 

[slugboy]

Here’s an aerial view. There’s not a lot of room to add seats. You could bring in temporary bleachers behind the outfield if you don’t mind giving up some of the road access for a while. You could even rent the bleachers for a big game

The photo is from https://www.jordanskala.com/projects/georgia-institute-of-technology-russ-chandler-baseball-stadium/ , and it talks about the stadium project in 2002.

 

[Theflats1]

It'sa well sized stadium with a great atmosphere when filled. But, it isn't filled enough. So, why add seats?

 

[gtbeak]

Here’s an aerial view. There’s not a lot of room to add seats. You could bring in temporary bleachers behind the outfield if you don’t mind giving up some of the road access for a while. You could even rent the bleachers for a big game

The photo is from https://www.jordanskala.com/projects/georgia-institute-of-technology-russ-chandler-baseball-stadium/ , and it talks about the stadium project in 2002.

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You could rotate the field 10 degrees CCW until the foul line intersects the corner of the club building, but that really seems like a big endeavor. I think they did some type of rotation when they expanded the last time, but I don't remember details.

I agree...keep things as they are for now.