RedWolves owners trying to make stadium more fan-friendly

FLORENCE — College baseball will be here before long, and that means summer collegiate teams’ front offices are as busy as ever getting ready for the upcoming season.

Florence RedWolves general manager Jamie Young is no exception. And he’s had plenty more to see about than getting Florence’s roster put together for the 2012 season.

Tuesday, he was putting in some new fence posts and laying some sod at Legion Field as part of a new-look project the team hopes will make their stadium more fan-friendly.

Young said owners Kevin and Donna Barth are funding the project, which includes shifting the playground and picnic area from the third-base side of the field to the first-base side. Young said plans for the third-base side aren’t finalized, but likely will include an activity area for adults.

On the first-base side, the set of cinder-block and wooden bleachers nearest the beer garden down the right-field line have been removed. A concrete slab will be poured there later this week, Young said, for the picnic area. The playground has been placed behind the souvenir building on that side of the field, as well, and a safety net will be installed in that area to help keep fans out of harm’s way.

Young said the team hopes the renovations will provide a better view of the game from areas that previously were not so spectator-friendly. Young said a few seats will be lost because of the renovations, but the seating that’s going away was general-admission and not widely used, he said.

And, of course, the RedWolves are always looking for ways to spruce up the decades-old stadium.

“With the old ballpark, we’re trying to give it a little different look,” Young said.

The renovations also mark a change in the way Young is approaching drawing fans to the park.

The RedWolves’ attendance numbers are still strong — Young said the team drew about 33,000 last season, a couple of thousand off the 2008 record of more than 35,000. But, he said, those numbers have reached a plateau recently.

Young, who describes himself as a “baseball guy,” said he used to think wins and losses were what brought people out to a ballpark or not. Now, though, he buys into a different philosophy.

“In terms of what we’re finding out with just the average fan looking for something to do, sometimes the wins and losses are not the thing,” he said. “It’s the entertainment value. If the team wins, great. If the team loses, that’s not necessarily the fans’ deciding factor.

“For me, that’s outside the box, because I’m all baseball. But people are looking for things to do. The true baseball people are going to be here. Now, we’ve got to start figuring out how to get other people here instead of going to the movies or a night club or whatever when we’re in town.”

As far as finalizing plans for the third-base side, Young said he is talking to other teams about similar projects they’ve undertaken to get some more ideas.

Although the season does not begin until the end of May, Young said the renovations need to be completed as quickly as possible because the field also is used by The Byrnes Schools and Florence-Darlington Tech.

The RedWolves open their season at home May 29 against Fayetteville.