dkSez : : : : : : Don Kahle’s blog

Collegiate baseball is coming to Eugene in 2009. The coach has been hired, the commitment made. The money’s been raised to begin building a baseball stadium. But where? The university isn’t likely to want their footprint responsible for demolishing two venerable sports facilities in one year, and Mac Court is a goner, so Civic Stadium seems safe for a few years, if only from a public relations point of view. More likely, UO will turn its back from the Ems’ facility and build new. But again, where? I say Glenwood, near I-5 and the river. Our major university, like our major hospital, is thinking expansively, forming a 100-year plan. So plant the flag on the east end of that 100-year plan and then set your sites. In 1967, Autzen must have seemed miles away from campus. Now it’s such a part of the footprint that people want the parking to be made available for campus commuters. A baseball stadium at the eastern edge of where the campus intends someday to be just makes good sense in the same way.