http://www.hokiesports.com/baseball/recaps/20160321aaa.html
BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech has renamed its baseball stadium in recognition of a generous commitment of support to athletics from Union Bank & Trust.
Now known as English Field at Union Park, the stadium will be upgraded substantially, with help from $3.5 million committed by the Richmond-based bank.
Much needed improvement of Engish Field coming. In Whit we trust.
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This was very much needed indeed. This is great news.
Another Home Run for Whit!!
That game was a really fun experience.
In Whit We Trust, indeed.
I'm hoping that rumored facilities master plan comes out soon - if it hasn't been noticed yet, I think at that point people will realize how serious Babcock's ambitions are for VT.
With this announcement, if people cant see Whit's ambition for VT, they need some serious ophthalmologist help.
How many tries did it take you to spell that right? :P
To be honest, I had to look it up....
With the spelling and grammar police around here, consider me well trained...
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With all the folks that say they should have went, could have went, would've went, just as an example, I think you are in safe territory. I would like the people on this site to realize that others do, in fact, characterize our posters by the quality of their posts. My personal standards are that if you understand what the person meant, well, that's good enough. But, truth be told, our grammar police are pretty lax and seldom heard from, even when they should step in. While it may suck when you are called to task, it isn't a bad thing to be gently corrected. I often post in dialect, it is an affect I should revisit, but it is an intentional move on my part. Basic grammar, however, is universal. Sorry to be a dick, but, then again, I am occasionally a dick.
(The only reason I know how to spell it is cause my dad is one)
It's great to see Whit & crew taking simple steps like this and the basketball court naming rights to open up some easy, additional revenue streams that were long ignored in our athletics department. Great work, Mr. Babcock.
The great thing I loved about the basketball court was the sponsorship was done by Carilion. The program got a ton of cash from a company that has Virginia Tech in the name so it's not like Whit completely sold out.
Haven't heard that song in decades. Leg for the memory jog.
It's funny to see other schools go down this road then be known by completely different names. I mean, if you are one of the big donors, you just aren't getting your money's worth when "Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium" just becomes "Lane North."
Oooff! That leaves a mark:
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This opens the door for "The Key Play Experience at Lane Stadium" or "The Key Players Club at Lane Stadium." We could use 66,000 Key Players.
The Key Players Club and your new job will cover that, right Joe?
Muh bank
Also muhne
And muhn bank!
That leaves only about $16.5 million left to cover the rest of the renovations that are expected to take place. Now we just need a top notch team to play in it.
Wait what? On the baseball field?
Yeah the last thing I heard was the remodel plans would cost and estimated $20 million. It will essentially be a whole new park with the same field.
Just found this.
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/va_tech/virginia-tech-ballpark-ge...
Thanks for finding that. The changes will be extensive but it will be a huge and necessary change. One of the most important changes is a clubhouse for the baseball players. That would be a huge help in recruiting.
350k per year for the naming rights. Thats...not bad i guess?
Holy hell that's a nice boost to the baseball program!!
Been seeing mockups of what they're thinking of doing for English Field. If they can do what Whit wants, it'll be a beautiful facility and one worthy of a team that has the goals we have.
maybe something like this but with hokiestone.
You aught to see Alabama's new baseball stadium.. just opened, very impressive
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/01/alabama_baseballs_sewell-thom...
That's a beautiful ballpark they've got down there, but it inspires a question...what's the return on investment for a $42 million college baseball stadium renovation?
You can't put a price tag on bragging rights for Bama fans.
c'mon now. How many Bama fans even know that Bama has a baseball team? Football is not only King in Alabama, it's Queen, Prince, Princess, Jester...the whole lot.
Sure you can. In this case, it was a cool $42 mil on a non-revenue producing sport.
You have just got to see the new boats they bought for the women's rowing team!
"Needs more waterfalls." -- every Bama fan
"Why?" -- everyone else
"Because we need 'em, that's why, PAWWWWL" -- every Bama fan
I talked to some extremely reliable sources on this last night. The design was first presented by Kevin Jones, yes, that Kevin Jones. Moving the entrance will make it visible to everyone coming onto campus from that direction which will generate ~50million views a year for Union (not bad advertising for 350k a year). Great work from the Athletic Dept. to make these types of things possible and great thinking for moving the entrance of the field to generate more views for advertising.
Moving the entrance of the baseball field how?
nvm
I haven't seen the designs but I am assuming literally moving the gate to get in closer to southgate Dr so that it can be seen from the road.
Good question.
If the views from people entering on Southgate Drive are the focal point of the renovation, my assumption would be that the main entrance (at least the signage) would be along the centerfield fence.
That could potentially mean the signage for English Field would be visible just beyond the hillside where the shrubs are shaped "VT".
I saw that first design presented by KJ. English Field is going to be undergoing one hell of a major upgrade to bring it up to ACC standards, if that is the direction we're going. Our players will have the feeling of going from the outhouse to the penthouse.
Here's some of the concept art KJ did, as tweeted by Andy Bitter back in August. I kinda dig the archway behind home plate mimicking Torgerson Bridge.
Are they keeping some of the Hokie Stone terraced lawn along left field? I can't tell if they are pictured in the 2nd picture or not.
I think so but there won't be as much of it. Not 100% sure though.
I hope they keep some of it. It's a really nice place to sit on a beautiful day and a great place for kids to run around
I think they want to keep some of that feel, but they also want to have stadium seating comparable to other ACC venues.
Nice. New Indoor Practice Facility, New Baseball field, time to get to work on Cassel Whit. Keep up the good work!
I partially agree with you. Renovate Cassel but never rebuild that beautiful bastard. It has such a charm with how it was built before modern standards so it feel old and intimidating. Me gusta mucho.
like the grizzly at king's dominion. Might not be as flashy as the newfangled coasters, but it makes up for it by being creaky and terrifying.
the grizzly is legendary. I hope they never get rid of it. KD was my childhood themepark...we went there all the time and those wooden coasters were always the family favorites. even with all the new stuff that came up over the decades
One of my friends and I always had a tradition of closing down the park several times during the summer and we'd always ride the Grizzly as many times as we could without getting off from about 15 minutes before the park closed until they kicked us out. There's just something about the Grizzly despite how much it beats you up.
Here's another article about the sponsorship, from Richmond BizSense. A lot of it is the same information, but one particular portion caught my eye:
Union strikes a diamond deal with the Hokies
I believe the rework of the 460 entrance is part of the development plan that includes lengthening the runway at the campus airport and some changes to the huckleberry trail. It going to be a lot different in a couple of years.
This is the project they are talking about. It's been in the works for years and just started construction last spring. It is the precursor to the extended runway project at Blacksburg Airport.
New Southgate Drive
Some cool videos in that link. I must be getting old though - that DriveIt simulation from westbound 460 into campus needs to slow down, they were driving way too fast.
The walk back to my RV in the Airport lot just got a lot longer if we are going to have to loop around the end of the new runway.
didn't see the pop up that said "vehicles moving at 2X speed" huh?
Even at normal speed though, between the braid intersection and the two multi-lain traffic circles, every home game saturday, there will be accidents for years to come.
People are clueless about traffic circles. Ive lived in three states with traffic circles and people in all three fail at them.
Just three? Every state I've ever been to seems to have traffic circles. Texas, coincidentally, had the biggest one I've ever seen.
about once a week, I have to take evasive action going through the traffic circle at main street and Price's Fork road to avoid an accident. People just plow right into it without looking up stream and then try to figure out where the heck they're supposed to be. One of these days, I'm going to decide I want my car replaced and just let the accident happen...
My favorite thing to do is when there's a 2 lane traffic circle and the inner lane also has the option to exit, to make that exit, forcing the outer lane to either stop or remember that the outer lane is for exiting immediately. The biggest problem is lack of blinker usage. Just signal where you're going and everybody knows when they can enter the roundabout.
wow, it's pretty rare to see someone on the internet posting incriminating video evidence of their own driving fails. Way to claim it HF.
How long are they extending the runway? Would be awesome if that meant our athletic charter flights could take off from the VT airport rather than Roanoke. That would be a big recruiting selling point.
and potentially way more flight tracker data to pour over!
Seriously though, how cool would it be to convince some commercial carrier to have a puddle jumper route terminate in blacksburg? Never gonna happen because it would take business away from ROA. I mean, if Lynchburg can have an airport that only flies commercial to Charlotte, why can't we?
I believe somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 to 1000 feet
Is anyone beginning to think that Jim Weaver kept the purse so tight in order to give the new AD everything they needed to bring the AD into the future? I mean, Weaver was stingy, but I feel like it was almost with some other purpose in mind....
Could just be me
I don't suspect anything underhanded. I think Weaver was focused on doing one thing: keeping the ship afloat. I think he lacked the creativity, vision, and marketing acumen that Whit has so far shown. Weaver wanted to keep what we had running in the black. Whit wants to keep us in the black by doing things we've never done before. Stark difference.
Whit is showing that sometimes in order to make money you have to spend money. I am glad that we have someone like Whit spending the money, though.... because things could go south fast if you have someone who isn't good at long term planning spending money... ahem... Maryland...