Although nothing is proposed or confirmed, plans for a new Alex Box Stadium and accompanying women’s softball field are in the works.
Athletic Director Skip Bertman said plans are in the beginning phases, but construction of the new stadiums will not begin for at least two years.
“There are no drawings or architects,” he said. “It’s so early. It’s still probably a couple of years away.”
Bertman said he would like to move Alex Box across Skip Bertman Drive to the four golf holes at the Nicholson and Gourrier intersection.
He said planners from Michigan suggested the new stadium as part of the University’s Master Plan.
Bertman said renovating Alex Box might cause more problems than building a new stadium.
“If you try and renovate, the timing is a problem because the team might not have a place to play in the meantime,” he said.
Bertman estimates construction will cost $10 million for the baseball stadium and $4 million for the women’s softball field.
Alex Box Stadium is named after Alex Box, an LSU athlete and graduate killed during World War II in North Africa in 1943 for “single-handedly snuffing out six German machine guns and one howitzer,” according to the LSU Student Handbook. The University completed the stadium in 1908 and named it for Alex Box in 1943.
“The name [Alex Box] would not be changed,” he said.
Bertman said he has not spoken to anyone about definitive plans, but he plans to buy bonds through the state to construct the new fields.
Bonds would allow Bertman to borrow money from the state and pay it back during a period of time. Bertman said the current space of Alex Box might be used for a parking garage or campus buildings in the future.
Bertman said if he proposed the new stadium, he would need the approval of Chancellor Mark Emmert, the state for the bond sale and the Board of Supervisors.
Smoke Laval, baseball head coach, said Bertman has not spoken to him about plans for a new stadium.
“We’re going to need one, though, in about three to five years,” he said. “The mystique and ghosts of Alex Box are wonderful, but the concrete is starting to crack, the pipes are busting or freezing over and there are problems with the electricity. And, it’s hard to get to because of its location.”
However, Laval said he would gladly stay in Alex Box as it is.
“If I could, I’d stay here forever,” he said. “Change is hard to accept, but sometimes it’s good. To stay on the national level, [the facilities] are where we are lacking a little, but there’s no rush.”
Laval said he would compare leaving Alex Box like leaving the house in which a person first marries and has kids.
“You know after a certain amount of time you have to move,” he said. “But, I’m split — half of me wants to go and half of me wants to stay.”
Tiger third baseman Wally Pontiff said he would like a new stadium, even though his eligibility probably would run out before he could play in it.
“I’d be 100 percent for a new stadium,” Pontiff said. “It would be a nice legacy to show what the guys in its past have done. When I play in Alex Box, I think about the Warren Morrises and Eddy Furnisses of the past, and it would be nice for the new guys to be reminded of us when we’re gone.”
Pontiff said it would be tough to lose Alex Box because of the tradition and history associated with it.
“I think people would adjust [to the new stadium] once they stepped foot in it,” he said. “Times change, and sometimes it is good because we move on to bigger and better things. I’m sure the new stadium would be amazing.”
Season ticket holder and CAMD scientific director John Scott said he has mixed emotions about a new stadium.
“I think Alex Box has a lot of old spirits associated with it,” he said. “I’m sort of a sentimentalist about it, but Skip built the program to what it is and the success of LSU is closely associated with him. If he’s all for it, then it has to be OK.”
Scott said he supports the athletic department raising its own money and not taking money from the University to build the new stadium.