Cornell's new baseball stadium - "Booth Field"

[Ken711]

The Town of Ithaca Planning Board met on March 1 and granted Final Site Plan Approval for the proposed Cornell University New Baseball Field Project, located near the corner of Ellis Hollow Road and Game Farm Road, The proposal involves the construction of a new baseball field facility, consisting of a stadium with a synthetic turf field, dugouts, scoreboard, and bleachers. The project will also include a 15,160 +/- square foot support building, a 590 +/- square foot building with bathrooms, 80 parking spaces, and other appurtenances.

Fred Wilcox a member of the planning board commented that this project has made us realize that Cornell University is running out of space on central campus. This field is being moved to make way for a new engineering computer science building. We've seen the alumni fields slowly disappear, over time, and this is proper, moving the non-educational experiences off central campus into the outlying area, and he suspects we will see more of it.

[upprdeck]

it helps if they want to make it easy for others to use it as well.. its a bit of a pain for all the bball players you see walking to/from practice though..  Softball has made it work.

[billhoward]

Is that 50 cars worth of parking for baseball, or 50 for the complex? I know Cornell wants to be green but if alumni or parents drive in, does Cornell make them park at one remote site and then take a shuttle to the also-remote new sports complex?

[Ken711]

Is that 50 cars worth of parking for baseball, or 50 for the complex? I know Cornell wants to be green but if alumni or parents drive in, does Cornell make them park at one remote site and then take a shuttle to the also-remote new sports complex?

80 parking spaces for the baseball field complex.

[David Harding]

it helps if they want to make it easy for others to use it as well.. its a bit of a pain for all the bball players you see walking to/from practice though..  Softball has made it work.

Seems to me that my friends on the crew team described running to and from the boathouse on the inlet.  They called it conditioning.

[Ken711]

Here's the release on the new building going up on the site of Hoy Field. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2023 on a state-of-the-art academic building for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

To make room for the new building, Cornell will relocate its NCAA Division I baseball field to the corner of Ellis Hollow and Game Farm roads, south of the McGovern soccer fields in the Town of Ithaca.

The new synthetic-turf baseball field will feature stadium seating for 500, as well as an enclosed clubhouse and press box. The stadium complex, designed by Stantec Ewing Cole Architects, will be built into the existing hillside; spectators will enter at concourse level and either walk down to their seats or stand for an unobstructed view of the field.

An 80-car parking lot will be built adjacent to the field, connected to Ellis Hollow Road by a new private access road.

"Hoy Field has been a wonderful home to the Cornell Baseball program for 100 years," said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life. "In collaboration with the coaching and athletics staff, we're confident the new field and facility will introduce an exciting new chapter for Cornell Baseball."

Construction on the new home for Cornell baseball will begin later this year, and is expected to be completed in time for the 2023 season.

https://stat.cornell.edu/node/2759

[David Harding]

A slightly different take.
https://ithacavoice.com/2022/05/cornell-plans-new-computer-science-building-on-hoy-field/

[upprdeck]

they knew the original building was too small before they even started construction. they couldnt fit all the staff in that one before they held one class.

[Ken711]

The architects for the new baseball stadium have a lot of experience in sports facilities. NY Giants and NY Jets MetLife Stadium, Philadelphia Phillies Citizen Bank Park, New York Mets Clover Park spring training stadium to name a few.

[RichH]

A slightly different take.
https://ithacavoice.com/2022/05/cornell-plans-new-computer-science-building-on-hoy-field/

If you zoom in on the Google Maps satellite view of Hoy Field that's embedded in the story, it switches to a 3-D view where Gates Hall is still being constructed and a baseball game is being played. The West stands of Schoellkopf also magically reappear.

[upprdeck]

interesting because if you actually go to google maps that doesnt happen

[billhoward]

On the legacy athletic fields-buildings site (Hoy, Schoellkopf, Teagle, Lynah, Friedman and the decreasing # of Upper Alumni fields), there remains a small patch of land where the West Stands stood at Schoellkopf and a new(ish) press box now stands. Could Cornell find room enough to wedge a building in there? One interesting feature of the new (1998) Princeton Stadium is part of the facility is for meetings / academics / classrooms.  

Be interesting to see a combined purposes (academics, athletics) West Stands replacement that includes some academic components, a press box, luxury boxes possibly, and open-but-covered seating for 500 fans for really inclement weather. The playing surface could be pushed ~25-50 feet closer to the main stands by taking up the asphalt track now that track has decamped. What else could Cornell put there: flowers and grasses to capture CO2? Solar panels? Or just leave it asphalt? At Schoellkopf, I don't think that patch is near wide enough to wedge in the 50-meter pool Cornell needs to build.

Most Cornell lacrosse games this year didn't get 500 attendees, nor did any of the sprint football games played at Schoellkopf last fall.

Code Select Expand

[b]2022 Attendance Cornell Lacrosse Home Games[/b]
 385    Albany
 303    Hobart
 562    Ohio State
 468    Yale
1569 Penn
 385 Harvard
 388 Army
 884 Brown

Also, is Teagle Hall obsolete?  What intercollegiate sports are still played there? Is there a chance Teagle could be taken for academics as well? Fencing (which had been in Teagle last century) this year shows no matches in Ithaca. Gymnastics meets are in Bartels Hall. So in Teagle Hall there's a pool too small, too leaky and too murky to be used ... rowing tanks ... and what else for intercollegiate sports? Are student rec facilities being pushed to West Campus and North Campus?

[Ken711]

On the legacy athletic fields-buildings site (Hoy, Schoellkopf, Teagle, Lynah, Friedman and the decreasing # of Upper Alumni fields), there remains a small patch of land where the West Stands stood at Schoellkopf and a new(ish) press box now stands. Could Cornell find room enough to wedge a building in there? One interesting feature of the new (1998) Princeton Stadium is part of the facility is for meetings / academics / classrooms.  

Be interesting to see a combined purposes (academics, athletics) West Stands replacement that includes some academic components, a press box, luxury boxes possibly, and open-but-covered seating for 500 fans for really inclement weather. The playing surface could be pushed ~25-50 feet closer to the main stands by taking up the asphalt track now that track has decamped. What else could Cornell put there: flowers and grasses to capture CO2? Solar panels? Or just leave it asphalt? At Schoellkopf, I don't think that patch is near wide enough to wedge in the 50-meter pool Cornell needs to build.

Most Cornell lacrosse games this year didn't get 500 attendees, nor did any of the sprint football games played at Schoellkopf last fall.

Code Select Expand

[b]2022 Attendance Cornell Lacrosse Home Games[/b]
 385    Albany
 303    Hobart
 562    Ohio State
 468    Yale
1569 Penn
 385 Harvard
 388 Army
 884 Brown

Also, is Teagle Hall obsolete?  What intercollegiate sports are still played there? Is there a chance Teagle could be taken for academics as well? Fencing (which had been in Teagle last century) this year shows no matches in Ithaca. Gymnastics meets are in Bartels Hall. So in Teagle Hall there's a pool too small, too leaky and too murky to be used ... rowing tanks ... and what else for intercollegiate sports? Are student rec facilities being pushed to West Campus and North Campus?

I heard from someone that the long range plan is for the West Stands area to be built out for more locker rooms and possibly a weight room.  Not sure about stands above that new facility. It's one reason why they went with modular locker rooms for the Sprint football program.

[dbilmes]

Most Cornell lacrosse games this year didn't get 500 attendees, nor did any of the sprint football games played at Schoellkopf last fall.

Code Select Expand

[b]2022 Attendance Cornell Lacrosse Home Games[/b]
 385    Albany
 303    Hobart
 562    Ohio State
 468    Yale
1569 Penn
 385 Harvard
 388 Army
 884 Brown

Also, is Teagle Hall obsolete?  What intercollegiate sports are still played there? Is there a chance Teagle could be taken for academics as well? Fencing (which had been in Teagle last century) this year shows no matches in Ithaca. Gymnastics meets are in Bartels Hall. So in Teagle Hall there's a pool too small, too leaky and too murky to be used ... rowing tanks ... and what else for intercollegiate sports? Are student rec facilities being pushed to West Campus and North Campus?

These attendance figures are sad. On the podcast recalling Richie Moran, Mike French mentioned a specific game during the mid-70s where 17,000 fans were in the stands. For the big games back then, like Hopkins or Hobart (another big rivalry in the day), we would routinely get 15,000-20,000 fans.

[billhoward]

These [Cornell lacrosse] attendance figures are sad. On the podcast recalling Richie Moran, Mike French mentioned a specific game during the mid-70s where 17,000 fans were in the stands. For the big games back then, like Hopkins or Hobart (another big rivalry in the day), we would routinely get 15,000-20,000 fans.

Cornell at Princeton is played not at the football stadium but at Sherrerd Field (Class of 1952 Stadium), arguably the most attractive, well-landscaped lacrosse soccer fields in America. You're on campus but the tall trees bordering the field make it feel like you're in a lush green place all its own. I really hope Cornell spends the money to equip one of the Cornell Remote fields that way. Oh, yeah, also build the stands with decent elevation.

Cornell-Princeton may have been the highlight game of the Ivy lax season. The weather was okay. But: The stadium was only half-full. (Capacity: 4,000.) Just 4, 5 years ago it was full, full, full every year Cornell played at Princeton pre-Covid.