Georgia approves funding for renovation projects to baseball, softball stadiums
Facility upgrades for a pair of Georgia athletics programs are coming after being approved on Wednesday. The Georgia Board of Regents gave the go for the UGA Athletic Association to pay $38.5 million for improvements to the Jack Turner Softball Stadium and $45 million for construction at Foley Field, home of the Georgia Baseball program.
According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, along with previous proposals made by athletic director Josh Brooks at various board meetings, the softball team will be getting a new 27,500-square-foot facility that will feature a clubhouse with a locker room, a training room, lounge and a meeting room. It would also contain a weight room and indoor practice area to be used by the soccer team, whose stadium sits right beside the softball team’s. Both facilities are out past the University of Georgia golf course down South Milledge Avenue.
Meanwhile, closer to campus at Foley Field, the baseball team will be making a 41,000-square-foot addition along the third base line with improved batting cages, a pitching lab, players lounge, coaches offices and other amenities. The team’s existing locker room will also be renovated, and about 230 seats, and a new entry gate on Rutherford Street, will be added to the stadium that’s housed the team since 1966.
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“When I first took the job two years ago I met with Coach Stricklin, and we knew that improvements to Foley Field were important not just for recruiting but also for student-athlete development. Right now our pitchers are practicing their bullpen outdoors, right? So having an indoor pitching lab is important, not to mention the technology that goes along with it, right? And we’ve seen the impact facilities can have on recruiting,” Brooks told reporters at the February athletic association Board of Directors meeting. “Obviously when you look across the league in the SEC, the facilities arms race has gotten pretty competitive across the board. So really, for Coach Stricklin and his staff to really keep growing this program, we thought it was important. And additionally, it’s going to give us an opportunity to create some more premium seatings, some more seating in general to really keep improving Foley. We all feel and know that Foley’s got that Wrigley Field, that it’s really set in a great setting and to take that and to add onto it in with first-class player amenities, I think it can elevate Foley to an even better experience.”
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“For me, my message to our coaches has been yeah we want to get the fan amenities but first and foremost, let’s focus on the player, student-athlete experiences first,” Brooks added. “That’s the first thing that is going to impact recruiting. But also as we try to keep student-athletes healthy, trained and developed. An indoor pitching lab, having that indoor fielding and hitting area for softball. That turf area in softball that we’re talking about will also be a general area that soccer could go in and get some functional work in as well.”
Construction on both projects was expected to begin this coming summer at last check. The University of Georgia Athletic Association Board of Directors will meet again at the end of May at The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga.
