Lansing - The city of Lansing and the Lansing Lugnuts today announce plans to assure that Oldsmobile Park remains a first class, state-of-the-art facility for many years to come. In a continuing commitment to the stadium, the City of Lansing and the Lansing Lugnuts have retained the stadium's original architects, HNTB of Kansas City, to conduct a "facilities audit" and make recommendations for improvements to the structure and aesthetics of the stadium. In addition the Lugnuts will be purchasing a state-of-the-art video display board to replace the existing matrix display board, along with LED outfield wall display boards that will display the time of day and the speed of pitch, both from Daktronics of South Dakota. Along with the facilities audit and scoreboard installation update, the city and the Lugnuts will partner with Michigan State University's Turf Management program to grow and replace the grass playing surface at Oldsmobile Park for the 2006 season.

Oldsmobile Park, the city's crown jewel, a $12.8 million dollar baseball stadium in the heart of downtown opened for play in April of 1996. Since its opening, regular investments have been made on the part of the city and the Lugnuts to maintain and improve the stadium. Expanded seating in 1997, new picnic areas like the Tailgate Terrace and the Bullpen Bar and Grille early in the team's tenure, along with a stadium mural project in 2001 are among several enhancements made to the park over the past nine years. These ongoing improvements and additions have helped the Lugnuts maintain their status of one of the top teams in Minor League Baseball, and a Class-A attendance leader for nine consecutive years.

"Oldsmobile Park has become a destination for more than 400,000 fans each year from around the tri-county area," said Mayor Tony Benevidas. "We are committed to continuing to provide a safe, fun place for families to go together at a beautiful stadium in the heart of city. This project will help keep that commitment alive."

"We are proud and excited to continue to work with the City and our partners at MSU," said Tom Dickson, team owner. "Our commitment to this community and our fans is as strong as ever, and these investments in the stadium will ensure that the fans and the residents of this community continue to benefit from one of the nicest baseball stadiums in the country."

The audit will be conducted to judge what maintenance and/or improvements need to be made in order to keep Oldsmobile Park "a state of the art" facility into the future and will focus on the architectural and structural elements of the ballpark. These include the mechanical, electrical and plumbing and sound reinforcement. Drainage issues within the ballpark's footprint will also be examined along with a visual, non-destructive inspection of several interior areas of the ballpark including but not exclusive to the locker rooms and the seating areas and railings of the ballpark.

Results of the audit will be presented to the City of Lansing and the Lugnuts by December 1, 2004.

New scoreboard for 2005
The Lansing Lugnuts and Daktronics Inc. have agreed to terms on a contract that ensures the construction of a custom-designed scoreboard in time for the opening of the Lugnuts' 10th anniversary season next April.

Built and installed by Daktronics, construction of the new $500,000 scoreboard will commence on October 18th with the scoreboard becoming operational on October 31st. Demolition of the old scoreboard components will begin today.

Elements of the new scoreboard include a brand new video display, scoreboard and monochrome display and a pair of outfield LED video screens. These screens will be able to display images and will also feature the speed of the pitch and time of day. Additionally, two video cameras will be operating at every game and will have instant replay capabilities.

Daktronics, the leader in custom-designed scoreboards, has worked with more than 1,000 universities, major league franchises and minor league including but not limited to the West Michigan Whitecaps and Dayton Dragons.

The Lugnuts' new look scoreboard will make its Midwest League debut on April 7, 2005 when the 10th anniversary season kicks off against the Fort Wayne Wizards at 6:05 p.m.

"The clarity of the new video screen will be remarkable," said Lugnuts General Manager Jeff Calhoun. "It will be like sitting in your living room and watching HDTV."

New playing field for 2006
The City of Lansing and Michigan State University are excited to announce that the grass portion of the playing surface at Oldsmobile Park will be replaced following the completion of the 2005 Lansing Lugnuts baseball season. The new grass will be in place for the start of the 2006 Lugnuts season.

The new grass is currently being grown at Michigan State University (MSU) under the watchful eye of Trey Rodgers, the Professor of Turf Grass Management. Similar to what was placed in MSU's Spartan Stadium, the new grass is a blend of Kentucky Blue Grasses.

The actual growth of the grass will take a year and then following a week of preparation, high-tech machinery will start the removal of the current playing surface. The field will then be laser graded and the field's irrigation systems will be upgraded.

"It's a mix of science, savvy and a whole lot of sweat," said Rodgers about the makeup of the project.

The project marks the first time the grass has been replaced at Oldsmobile Park and through the efforts of Rodgers, should last several years.

"While the quote unquote experts say it should be done every five or six years, we feel by putting a little extra effort at the beginning that it will make a huge difference in that timeframe," he said.

For information regarding all of the exciting improvements, please contact Jeff Calhoun, the Lugnuts General Manager at 517-485-4500, ext. 232 or Patrick Talty, Interim President and CEO for LEPFA at 517-483-7400.