from a dnj bulletin:

Quote:Middle Tennessee baseball stadium agreement reached
Ground-breaking to begin 'within a month' on $6.6 million project

MTSU has reached an agreement in principle for the construction of a $6.6 million baseball stadium. Work will begin 'within a month,' according to MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro.

The $6.6 million cost is more than most of the base bids received by MTSU in late June. The lowest of those original base bids was $5.4 million by Olympian Construciton Co. in Nashville, the same company that has agreed to this final plan.

Massaro said the increased cost comes from modifications to the original base bid, so as to maintain the look of the original plan.

"We wanted to have a commitment to baseball," Massaro said. "We didn't want to compromise the project. We made some cosmetic and surface changes, but we really kept the look and feel of the stadium.

"We took the base bid plus modifications. There are some deletions in there and some additions."

MTSU had only $4 million allocated to construction costs — as part of $5 million raised for the total project — seven weeks ago when the original bids were made. To now complete a $6.6 million project, MTSU raised funds from three areas including: (1) funding surplus from track/soccer stadium construction, (2) private donations, and (3) a five-year plan to borrow unrestricted funds from the Blue Raider Athletic Association.

Massaro hopes the stadium will be completed during the 2008 season, but he said that timetable has not yet been finalized.

"I give great credit to our administration, especially President Sidney McPhee, (Senior) Vice President John Cothern, campus planning and Chris Massaro," said MTSU baseball coach Steve Peterson, who is attending a Sun Belt baseball coaches' meeting in New Orleans.

"There was a mad scramble, but now we're back on course and picking up speed. I can't wait to get a shovel into the ground."

I'm really excited about this. I've never been much of a baseball fan, but I will be once this gets built.

There's not a coach that deserves a new stadium or facility more than Coach Pete. This is long overdue.