The athletic department plans to build a new stadium for its baseball team to play in before its first game in spring 2009.
It’s a tight deadline for the department, which is already busy with plans to build a basketball arena and gather another $50 million in donations for the Athletics Legacy Fund, an investment that was founded with Phil and Penny Knight’s $100 million donation.
The new stadium is the latest development for a department that is undergoing a tremendous growth spurt: It’s added two sports, renovated Hayward Field, pushed forward the plans to build a new basketball arena, and intends to build a stadium for its new baseball team.
But the department has a lot to do in order to get a stadium together in two years; there’s no design firm hired yet, no architect and no final decision about where exactly to build it. The department has been collaborating with the city of Eugene to possibly make the new stadium a place where the Eugene Emeralds would also play, but trying to work together, even though both parties are very interested, makes things more complicated, Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny said.
Nevertheless, they need to make some final decision within the next three months, Kilkenny said. If not, the team might have to play at a local venue for its first year. What venue that might be is open to speculation.
But whenever the stadium is built, Kilkenny said it shouldn’t burden the department financially because the $8 to $15 million dollar park is expected to be covered mostly by donations.
What donations can’t pay for will be made up with revenue from the stadium. The Athletics Legacy Fund won’t be used for the park, Kilkenny said.
The department can’t use the Eugene Emeralds’ Civic Stadium to play ball permanently because it doesn’t meet NCAA codes and it’s not worth spending the money to fix it, said Joe Giansante, the Athletic Department’s director for community relations and special projects.
The department also doesn’t want to buy new land for the stadium. Instead, it wants to build the stadium on part of the parking lot outside Autzen Stadium.
“We’re looking for a very classic, traditional ballpark that celebrates the culture of Oregon and the culture of the sport,” Giansante said.
If the stadium is built on the Autzen parking lot, Giansante said the athletic department is confident it can reorganize the parking lot in a way that would keep the number of spots the same. It would also “enhance the football experience,” Giansante said.
“When our fans come they might be able to use that facility for tailgating,” he said.
Kilkenny said the stadium could be constructed in three phases, which will allow them to achieve the ideal stadium but at a pace that’s not quite so hurried. The first phase would give them something to play on.
“The second stage is something that will give us a competitive advantage,” Kilkenny said. “And the third phase will be for best of breed.”
“We’re hoping that it will be the best in the conference,” Kilkenny added, “and at minimal it will be something that we’ll be very proud of.”
The last time the University had a baseball team was in 1981, but it shed the sport during a departmental financial crunch. The team used to play at Howe Field adjacent to McArthur Court, that has since been fully converted into a softball field.
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