Baseball: Renovations to ‘The Tigue’ could ‘slightly’ surpass $10M plan

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, July 22, 2015

 

NEW ORLEANS – Renovation costs for expansion at UL’s M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field baseball stadium could rise somewhat but should not stray too much from the original plan to spend $10 million, Ragin’ Cajuns athletic director Scott Farmer said this week.

“It possibly could go up slightly, and if so we’ll have to go raise it somehow, some way, somewhere,” Farmer said during Monday’s Sun Belt football Media Day here. “We’ll figure out a way to pay for it — but the number is very, very close to the $10 million mark.”

Additional fundraising would have to cover any excess, Farmer suggested.

Renovation plans have not been finalized yet, but the intention remains to do a very limited degree of work this year with the remainder coming sometime after the 2016 season.

“It looks like the (installation of new light standards is) gonna move forward sometime between now and Jan. 1,” Farmer said, “but that’s not … signed, sealed and delivered yet.

“But I’m excited about where we are with baseball. We’ve had some very detailed meetings. We’re very close to agreeing (on) exactly what we’re going to build total, so that’s exciting. I really like it. I think Coach (Tony Robichaux) really likes it. I think our fans are gonna love it.”

Preliminary plans call for the core of the existing concrete stadium to be replaced with a new “state-of-the art facility,” with current baseline bleachers bridged “by infilling a new three-story building that will house adequately sized spectator accommodations, additional club seating … press facilities and box suites.”

A 4,500-square-foot facility to house equipment storage, athletic training, locker room facilities and a new team meeting room also has been recommended.

Robichaux, who according to Farmer on Monday has signed a new multiyear contract, has been adamant in his desire that all renovations be fan friendly for a program that has historically done quite well in terms of attendance.

Robichaux’s Cajuns are coming off back-to-back NCAA Super Regional appearances.

The baseball-stadium project’s general contractor is The Lemoine Company, which is Louisiana-based; its architect is Lafayette-based Abell � Crozier � Davis, which is partnering with a national stadium design specialist, the DLR Group.

Both the baseball stadium renovation and still-to-begin major renovation and expansion at the school’s Cajun Field football stadium are part of Tier II of UL’s $115 million athletic facilities masterplan, which was unveiled in 2013.

Tier I projects including an athletic performance center, new Cajun Field end zone seating and track/soccer facility renovation already are underway or complete.

Cajun football coaches and players will move into the new performance center the week before their Sept. 5 season opener at Kentucky, UL coach Mark Hudspeth said Monday in New Orleans.

As for baseball, Farmer said UL officials and the program’s contractor and architect reps will meet again around the end of this month and perhaps will finalize plans then.

“As I’ve said before, it’s a big project,” Farmer said Monday. “We’ve only got one chance to do it; we want to do it right.”