A $13.8 million West Virginia state grant is the final piece of the funding puzzle for a new Marshall University ballpark, with the on-campus project budgeted at $23 million and tentatively set to open in March 2024.
The grant was announced by Gov. Jim Justice and is from the West Virginia Water Development Authority’s Economic Enhancement Grant program. The City of Huntington and Marshall University are budgeting nearly $10 million to help fund the ballpark, which is projected to cost approximately $23 million.
As you can see in the list of articles at the end of this piece detailing our past coverage, the quest for a new Marshall University has been in the works for many years. Now, with money in hand, construction is scheduled to begin in later this month, with completion tentatively set for March 2024.
“This has been a long time coming, and I am so proud to play a small part in getting this project across the finish line” Justice said in a speech announcing the grant. “They’ve been talking about building a baseball stadium since I was a brown-haired kid playing golf at Marshall back in the 70s. Finally, it’s going to happen, and this community can get the monkey off its back.”
Marshall has never enjoyed an on-campus home for the baseball program, playing games at Kennedy Center Field at the YMCA in Huntington, Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, and Epling Stadium in Beckley. The new facility will be constructed on 3rd Avenue and 22nd Street next to Dot Hicks softball field and across the street from Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Rendering courtesy Marshall University.
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