First Pitch
Tennessee Athletics announced major softball facility upgrades coming in the form of a $5.7 million project that redesigns and expands the Lady Vols’ clubhouse and adds coaches’ offices and other team support areas. The clubhouse will receive an improved athletic training suite, including a dedicated injury-prevention and rehabilitation space and hydrotherapy units, as well as an upgraded multipurpose film and academic study space. The team locker room will also be redesigned, including the installation of state-of-the-art lockers. The improvements will complement the addition of a coaching staff suite and other program support areas.
Rogers Arena, home of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, will soon have revamped seating. The team announced that the arena will undergo upgrades over the next two summers to include replacing all lower- and upper-bowl seating with new custom-designed black seats with cupholders.
A proposed Louisiana State University arena was approved by the East Baton Rouge Metro Council in March. The new arena will host sporting events, concerts and entertainment for the Baton Rouge area. The new LSU arena would require the River Center Arena — which will also undergo changes to increase convention space and add a hotel to the complex — to limit sports and entertainment events to fewer than 3,500 attendees, and professional sports events to fewer than 8,500 attendees. The university next needs to approve a developer. Officials expect the new arena to be completed in 2029.
Breaking Ground
Rendering courtesy of St. Lawrence University
The Los Alamitos School District has started work on a bonus, additional high school gymnasium. Using funds leftover from the construction of the new multistory gym building on the high school campus, the second-gym project will be a 30,000-square-foot multipurpose athletic facility with three basketball courts plus equipment to facilitate esports in the future. A weight room, concessions and retractable bleachers for about 1,900 spectators will also be included.
The Karpus Athletic Center at St. Lawrence University in New York includes an expansion of the Cornacchia Strength and Conditioning Center for all student-athletes, as well as new locker rooms and team facilities for the field hockey and softball teams, and the men’s and women’s lacrosse and rowing teams. An athletic training and treatment center for Division III student-athletes, a dedicated strategy room for coaches, a player’s lounge, and a video room are also part of the project.
Grand Openings
The Syracuse Mets have added new hospitality options at NBT Bank Stadium to enhance the fan experience. The Seaver Suite is a new indoor hospitality area created by combining two existing suites into one larger suite that has 36 outdoor seats and can fit groups of up to 40 people indoors. The Seaver Suite will also serve as another indoor space for larger parties, and a rooftop experience is offered in the Piazza Rooftop Lounge. The outdoor hospitality area is sold to private groups and features a relaxed setting, a lighted pergola, outdoor furniture, games and a modern food menu.
The $8 million Outdoor Tennis Complex at Middle Tennessee State University is the new on-campus home for the men’s and women’s tennis programs. The tennis complex features new locker rooms, spectator facilities for 250 Blue Raiders fans, eight tennis courts and coaches’ offices.
