The new grandstand is very nice, featuring seats behind home plate that are numbered and resemble the blue seats from the Metrodome and chairback bleachers on the outside sections of the seating. According to the SDSU athletic department, the new structure seats 600 spectators.
Believe me, I like it a lot. I mean there’s a press box for crying out loud. It’s way better than the previously used press tent that had the football sideline heaters in it for warmth over the last few years. I have a legitimate seat and that’s awesome. But in some research for an unrelated baseball story for The Collegian, I noticed what has been used for as capacity figure for The Erv and the discrepancies in its short time.
First, we should recap the history of baseball at SDSU and its facilities. SDSU played at the old Erv Huether Field from 1958 until 2001, when it was built over as part of the school’s Master Plan (that Master Plan, let me tell you what). The stadium was a relic and located on the north side of the HPER Center, with the stadium’s press box built into the side of the building and a small set of bleachers behind home plate.
From 2001 to 2007, SDSU played at Brookings’ Bob Shelden Field in the center of the town. The stadium is solid but only for a town team or as high school field and lacked the atmosphere that SDSU wanted for Division I baseball. So the Jackrabbits began working on a new on-campus baseball field, which they propped up for the 2008 season.
And propped up they did, with no more than a field with a with a concrete backstop, a pair of basic dugouts, symmetrical outfield dimensions, a blue outfield fence and batting cages down each foul line. Sufficient but never spectacular.
My main reference for the capacity of the stadium is the SDSU media guides that are still on the athletic website, starting in 2008. In both the 2008 and 2009 guides, the capacity is listed at 1,000. Now, the Jacks just had a pair of basic bleachers behind home plate, which is far too little to seat 1,000 people. If we’re counting all of the room for fans to stand around the backstop, then you could say 1,000 was possible but it wasn't realistic. SDSU has never sniffed 1,000 fans for a D-I baseball game in Brookings and at the end of the Jacks' time in Division II, there were times where no attendance was reported or the number came in around 100. They drew over 1,000 when they played Minnesota in Sioux Falls in the mid-2000s but have never been close on-campus.
The 2010 guide cut the capacity in half, officially down to 500. Probably a wise move considering the Jackrabbits had only drawn a maximum of 311 fans (see chart) in the new park’s first two years. The same held true in 2011 and the Jackrabbits had been guessing that the new grandstand — which at this point looked like it would never arrive — would eventually seat 500 fans. Then the Lane family, among other SDSU baseball supporters, came forward for the project to become a reality.
For the first two games in 2012 with the new seats, SDSU saw 158 and 257 people come through its (invisible) turnstiles for Mount Marty and Minnesota, respectively. Now at 600 seats, the Jackrabbits should be set for a while as far as seating goes and that seemed about right, with half of the seats spoken for during the Jacks' 3-1 win over the Gophers.
Realistically, it needs improvements yet to really make the place feel like a ballpark, instead of a baseball diamond on the north end of campus with seats behind home plate. While it is better than anything SDSU has ever had, it probably still won’t be enough for the Jackrabbits to host the Summit League Baseball Tournament, something they did do in 2011 but at Sioux Falls Stadium. In the Jacks’ four games in Sioux Falls, there were crowds of 1,493, 1,138, 863 and 690 for SDSU’s games against NDSU and Oral Roberts in games one and two and then the same teams again in games three and four.
The new seats aren’t going to be able to hold crowds like that and SDSU probably wouldn’t draw almost 1,500 fans in Brookings anyway compared to the much larger Sioux Falls. That’s not the only reason of course. Brookings is relatively small in population, the press box is not large enough, and the concessions and bathrooms aren’t up to snuff for the conference’s premiere event. All of those facts trumped by the biggest negative for Erv Huether Field with the Summit League’s season finale: No lights.
All in all, still a nice place to watch a game and still a step up when all things are considered. Again, no complaints from me. This was a long time coming for SDSU and its baseball community.
One final note: The 2008 guide also said that the Erv Huether Field grandstand would be finished by 2009.
Oh well, right? This will do.
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