Boise State‘s baseball program will not play its inaugural 2020 season at a planned new ballpark, the university announced on Friday.
Part of the plans for a baseball program at Boise State include a new on-campus ballpark, which is slated for a site just south of football’s Albertstons Stadium. The university had hoped that construction of the ballpark would be completed by the time baseball begins play in 2020, but is still in the process of discussing the project with potential developers after obtaining remaining properties needed for the facility’s construction in December.
The baseball program’s inaugural season has not been affected, however, as it will still begin competing in 2020. In making the announcement, university officials stressed that the construction of a new ballpark remains a priority. More from the Idaho Statesman:
BSU spokesman Greg Hahn confirmed with the Statesman last week that the school is still in the negotiation stage with potential developers for a facility located just south of Albertsons Stadium — on a parcel where houses and other structures still stand — and the university acknowledged the obvious time crunch in a press release Friday:
There is not enough time now to get a stadium built for Boise State’s 2020 season.
“Everyone was hoping we would be playing our first season in a new stadium,” coach Gary Van Tol said in the release. “Unfortunately, that won’t happen, but it’s not going to stop us from building something special that our student-athletes, staff, fans, university and community can be proud of when the gates open.”…
“Having something for the first season was a priority for us, but working through the process has taken more time than anticipated,” athletic director Curt Apsey said in the news release the school sent out Friday. “A permanent home is still obviously something we are working toward, but this is about much more than the 2020 season — it’s about building something the right way. We want to make sure that we are playing in something that this program can be proud of many years down the road.”
Memorial Stadium–home of the Boise Hawks (Short Season A; Northwest League)–could be among the options to host the baseball program in the interim, though Boise State has not announced plans for a temporary home. Baseball was last offered at Boise State in 1980, the final season before it was dropped from university’s varsity sports offerings. Plans for the upcoming baseball program were first announced in 2017.
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