Picture of the Athletic District

[pdiddybull32]

Yea  thats true! just never thought there was that much space back in there!

[Greg Auman]

I'll try to answer as many of these questions as I can, based on what I've learned so far ...

-- Yes, softball will have covered seating. It's a priority in the new stadiums to have covered seating in every venue. In the post-Katrina era, a stadium roof has to be built to withstand 200 mph winds, so as I understand it, that rules out a cantilevered roof. Perhaps an architecture grad can explain this better ...

-- New baseball stadium is basically in same spot. It'll be slightly south of the old stadium, just to have a little bit more room between the third-base foul area and the road next to it. Faces same direction, should seat 3,000 fans, with tented pavilion-type areas down each foul line.

-- Tennis courts are on the bottom left. It's an unoccupied area right now, north of the elementary school. Makes good sense to have this the closest arena to the school, since it's arguably the quietest sport, in the rare case an event takes place while school is going on.

-- The intramural areas will move to the area where the current football practice fields are. This puts them closer to the student housing, and landlocks all the athletic facilities together.

-- The rec basketball courts, currently between the parking lot and the soccer stadium, will be gone, replaced by the new second track. These were popular courts, but it sounds like most of the people using them weren't USF students, and the second track will be available for recreational/intramural use.

-- The new track will have a FieldTurf infield, which will allow football to use it to prepare for the four Big East schools (I think that's Rutgers, Syracuse, Louisville and W. Virginia) that have turf on their football fields. Soccer can use it, too, as Cincinnati's soccer field is a turf one as well.

I've got lots more fun future-facility stuff like this, so if this all shows up in the blog, sorry for the duplication ...

www.sptimes.com/blogs/usf

[80mins]

Looks great--any idea of when we can expect to see some of this stuff?

[Apis Bull]

-- Yes, softball will have covered seating. It's a priority in the new stadiums to have covered seating in every venue. In the post-Katrina era, a stadium roof has to be built to withstand 200 mph winds, so as I understand it, that rules out a cantilevered roof. Perhaps an architecture engineering grad can explain this better ...

Not impossible, but makes it a lot more costly.

[ChiTownBull]

thanks Greg!

[ChiTownBull]

be happy

at a fellow BE school that I pass by everyday lit appears like the softball team and soccer team actaully have a shared field.

[Bullpride08]

I am surprised no one has commented about the improvements slated for the SunDome that are partially included on that artist rendition.  There will be a practice center which will be built on the north end (where the ole Greenbergopolis resided), and improved entrances too.  Obviously we can't see the improved seating to include luxury boxes, some neat seating that will supposedly hang above the area where the players come in from, improved lockerrooms and offices and training center.  The SunDome's going to look good one day soon, and the dollars are going to come from a very reliable source.

Greg, I had also understood that softball and baseball will have nice lockerrooms, training, and team lounges in their facilities like say UL, and Cinci has.

[Knight_Light]

Looks nice....congrats in advance.

KL

[bull2saintleo]

Some things I notice:

-Elm St. (the one seperating Baseball/Softball stadiums from soccer field) seems to be widened to 4 lanes.

-Is that a soccer stadium to the north of the baseball/softball stadium area?

-Parking garage to the west of the Sundome

[BigShoop]

Some things I notice:

-Is that a soccer stadium to the north of the baseball/softball stadium area?

-Parking garage to the west of the Sundome

I noticed the soccer thing, but my 1st guess was this supposed "dining hall thing" that I think S Bien was talking about....

The parking garage is HUGE, and long overdue.

I also noticed the new Sundome, suddenly it doesnt look so bad, does it?

As much as we ***** and moan, in the end, it looks like they took their time and planned everything RIGHT. Very nice.