With a new ownership group in place, the Chattanooga Lookouts (Class AA; Southern League) will be unveiling upgrades to AT&T Field on Thursday.
Jason Freier, who heads the new ownership group, will be in town to detail the upgrades. This will be a year of serious changes for Lookouts staffers and fans: the team has a new parent in the Minnesota Twins, and a new ownership group will be making plenty of changes to both the ballpark and the team’s operations. From the Times Free Press:
“One of the big questions once we closed was how many days we had until opening day and what was realistic that could be done between now and then versus what we would love to do but couldn’t in that time frame,” Freier said Monday by phone. “Until we closed, we couldn’t really firm up what we were going to be doing.”
Freier did not want to offer specifics on the alterations, but workers Monday at AT&T Field were installing a deck behind the wall running down the left-field line. That area has housed picnic tables in recent years.
There could be enhancements coming to the suite level as well.
Traditionally, the Lookouts have been a strong draw, and the previous ownership led by Frank Burke was a good steward of the team. Freier, whose Hardball Capital also owns the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Low Class A; Midwest League) and the Savannah Sand Gnats (Low Class A; Sally League) as well as a 2016 newcomer in Columbia, S.C., is also a strong operator, so it should be exciting to see what goes down with the Lookouts this season. (If all goes well, we’ll be there next month as part of our Nashville/Knoxville/Chattanooga/Jackson run.)
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