May 22, 2007
NASHVILLE- Due to strong advance sales to existing baseball season ticket holders, Vanderbilt officials are moving forward with plans to add 1,500 bleacher seats to Hawkins Field for the upcoming NCAA Regional Tournament June 1-3.
“We have been extremely pleased with the high percentage of season ticket holders who have already placed orders for the NCAA Regional,” says Director of Sport Operations Kevin Colon. “Nearly 100% of Hawkins Field seating is already taken by season ticket holders so we can see that we will need added seating to keep up with the high demand.”
Colon indicated that sales will be open to the public this Sunday once the school has been officially confirmed as a host site. That announcement is considered a formality since the SEC champion Commodores are a virtual lock to become a Top 8 national seed. Sunday’s sale will be on-line only as the McGugin Center ticket office will not open until 8:30 a.m. Monday.
The addition of the bleacher seats and the availability of 200 outfield plaza spots will push capacity to just over 3,700 for the first NCAA Regional Tournament games ever in Nashville. Most of these seats will be added atop risers just behind the right field fence, while some will be installed along the first base line near the visiting team bullpen. The beautiful left-center field plaza has already been used during regular season sellout games.
“We are going to make the right field bleachers a special spot,” says Director of Marketing Eric Nichols. “Right field will have its own food and souvenir concessions along with rest room facilities. We want to provide a fantastic atmosphere for our SEC Champion team.
Assured of being one of the top eight national seeds, Vanderbilt will host three other teams for the double-elimination games. Game times are tentatively set for 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The championship game is slated for Sunday, although it is possible that the regional could extend to Monday if there are still two teams with just one loss remaining after Sunday.
Regional packages are $60 for seats in Hawkins Field, $35 for bleacher seats and $25 for the outfield plaza.
Colon also pointed out that there is a possibility, although no guarantee, that the participating teams will not need their entire allotment of 200 tickets. If that is the case, the ticket office will know it by Wednesday afternoon and will sell those on a first-come basis.
Should Vanderbilt win the regional it will host the Super Regional the following weekend. Just two teams will vie in a best of three series for a berth at the College World Series.
