Venue News: AT&T Park To Host WBC Semifinals and Final; University of South Carolina To Debut New Video Board

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

The World Baseball Classic returns next spring for a third time with an expanded field playing at sites around the globe, and a major milestone was reached on Wednesday with the announcement of MLB’s own host venues. World Baseball Classic Inc. announced that the Giants will host the semifinals and final at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Second-round games will be hosted by the Marlins at Marlins Park. First-round competition will be hosted by the D-backs at both Chase Field and their Cactus League home of Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, AZ. It is San Francisco’s debut as a host city for the World Baseball Classic, succeeding San Diego’s PETCO Park (2006) and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles (2009) as host of the semifinals and final. What remains to be seen is whether Japan can celebrate yet another title on the Giants’ field, having won both previous World Baseball Classic tournaments…

…When fans arrive at Williams-Brice Stadium for the University of South Carolina’s football home opener on Sept. 8, they will notice two of the most drastic changes in USC’s recent push to upgrade its athletic facilities. USC will debut a larger video board inside the stadium and a tailgating area across the street, where a farmer’s market was once located. Athletic director Eric Hyman said both projects should be done in time for the opener. The video board costs $6.5 million and the tailgating area $30.5 million, though $15 million of that was for purchasing the 52 acres of land, said Kevin O’Connell, USC’s executive associate athletic director, who oversees facilities construction and improvements…

…The Minnesota Wild is investing about $1 million to build new loge boxes at Xcel Energy Center, the arena’s first major structural upgrade since it opened in 2000. The NHL team is replacing about 100 regular club seats — the three middle sections in the arena’s west end, where the Wild shoots twice — with 24 four-person loge boxes tied to a Scandinavian theme with high-end stone countertops and upscale wood dining chairs. The new premium-seat product is an all-inclusive package priced at $48,000 to $53,000 annually. The fee covers the cost of tickets for all Wild games and most other events, plus a buffet meal, soft drinks, and beer and wine served in a lounge behind the seats…

…The Arizona Diamondbacks are proposing a deal that would give them more control of Chase Field and significantly increase their bottom line by transferring stadium ownership from Maricopa County to Phoenix. Team executives say the plan benefits all involved, but a key critic cast the deal as financially risky for city taxpayers and said it would lead to higher ticket prices for fans. The downtown stadium opened as Bank One Ballpark in 1998. Roughly two-thirds of the $354 million cost was financed through a public quarter-cent-per-dollar sales tax that was approved in 1994 and expired in 1997. Transferring control of the stadium would allow the Diamondbacks to stage more non-baseball events to boost revenue, team officials say…

…The PowerShare Series Tour, formerly known as the Champions Series, will be making stops at new venues this fall, including Madison Square Garden. The tour stops at the Garden on Nov. 5 for what has been donned the NASDAQ Indexes Cup and will feature the pairings of legends McEnroe, Agassi, Pete Sampras, and Pat Rafter as that event’s competitors.