NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- A timetable is coming more into focus as to when Old Dominion baseball will be taking the field in its new home.
On Thursday, Monarchs head coach Chris Finwood told News 3 that construction of the new facility will break ground in June of 2024 immediately following the conclusion of that season. Old Dominion released information on the timetable Wednesday.
"Everything is moving along right on schedule," Finwood said. "We'll see how fast that construction can happen so we'll know how much of the '25 season we'll be able to play here, so there's a good chance that, at least the first part of that season, we'll be playing somewhere else."
ODU's release said the goal is for the team to only have to play the 2025 season at an alternate site. While the stadium will take a year to complete, administrators are hopeful that it could be ready for the final weeks of that 2025 campaign. Harbor Park in Norfolk and Hampton's War Memorial Stadium have been floated as possible temporary homes for the Monarchs, but athletic director Dr. Wood Selig says that other sites are being explored as well.
"We need to play it safe," Selig said in the release. "There is no way we could confidently have a completed stadium by February of 2025 at the speed we are going now."
The $20 million facility, which will be known as the Elmer Family Baseball Complex, will feature all new seating, as well as new locker rooms, coaches' offices, dugouts, a new press box, athletic training room, luxury suites and a ground level club area behind home plate.
All stadium seating in the main bowl will be chairback, as well as outdoor ground-level club seating. The right field Rally Alley, the Paul Keyes Hitting Facility and the bullpens will remain largely the same as they are currently. The stadium is expected to seat 2,100 fans, with standing room expected to accommodate hundreds more. Updated and enhanced restroom and concessions facilities are included in the designs.
Bud Metheny Baseball Complex opened in 1983 and treated the Monarchs and their fans to plenty of memories. The renovation was spearheaded by the success of the 2021 team which earned the right to host an NCAA Regional, but was unable to do so due to the stadium not meeting NCAA hosting requirements. Finwood says the team will look forward to the new era, but will also take some time to appreciate the history of the current facility.
"We're going to roll with it and make the best of it, and make the best of this last year at the Bud as we know it," the head coach said. "Maybe [we'll] have an All-Bud Metheny Team for guys that have played here [since 1983]. There have been an awful lot of good players play here and I think that would be a cool thing to have late in the season as well."
