Binghamton University designs $60 million baseball complex

Kevin Stevens | Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

A benefactor’s unparalleled contribution will transform one of Binghamton University’s athletic facilities into a first-of-its-kind in these parts.

The anonymous donor family will fund a $60 million project — largest donation in BU history — to enhance the baseball complex, making it a state-of-the-art facility featuring extraordinary amenities to go with a new grandstand structure built around the existing field footprint.

“This gift will help put Binghamton University into the upper echelons of Division I schools,” said university president Harvey Stenger. “This unprecedented gift perfectly matches donor passion and the strategic needs for the campus, and it is my hope that it will inspire others to give back to the area of campus that they are most passionate about.”

In 2016, an anonymous donor provided $2.2 million to upgrade the baseball field with synthetic turf and lighting.

Binghamton University / provided photo

The upcoming project will construct an 84,000-square-foot facility that will include a clubhouse and indoor training facility with turf infield.

“The new baseball complex will be a one-of-a-kind facility in this region and will be better than most Division I programs across the country. It will rival the outstanding facilities of many programs that compete in Power 5 conferences,” said Tim Sinicki, Johnson City High graduate who is six-time America East Baseball Coach of the Year. He begins his 28th season at BU, making him 10th-longest tenured baseball coach in Division I.

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“Our goal will be to utilize this new complex to continue to recruit the highest-caliber student-athletes, develop their baseball skills in these new cutting-edge facilities and provide them an experience they will carry with them long after they graduate from Binghamton.”

Construction may commence this month.

Binghamton University / provided photo

In the six years prior to the 2016 donation, the university received a combined $3.1 million in contributions, according to NCAA financial disclosure records obtained from the university through a Freedom of Information Law request. Donations include individual and corporate gifts, funds received for outside debt service and tickets sold over face value.

But since fiscal year 2017 — same year the university received a donation to upgrade its baseball facility — donations to the department have increased. The athletic department brought in $1.8 million in gifts for fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

Binghamton has increased its spending on athletics from $3.3 million in direct institutional support during the 2010 fiscal year to $4.4 million in 2019, according to records. The $1.1 million increase over nine years represents a 34-percent increase.

Indirect institutional money — which the university pays to maintain its athletic facilities, cover utility costs and provide security — has also risen, from $1.9 million in 2010 to $2.4 million in 2010, a 26% increase.

Binghamton University / provided photo

Students are charged a fee based on the number of credits they take each semester. The fee was $19 a credit during the 2010-11 academic year, according to university records. The same fee is now $26.25, a 38% increase.

Generous gifts to State University of New York institutions, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, include $150 million from the Simons Foundation to SUNY Stony Brook in 2011, and $60 million from the same source to Stony Brook in 2008.

In 2015, University at Albany received $10 million from the Bernard & Millie Children’s Foundation in part to upgrade the multi-purpose stadium.

The BU baseball complex is to feature:

Indoor training area with batting tunnels, LED lighting and observation areas.

Players’ lounge with nutrition, recreation and observation areas.

Dressing room with 36 custom stalls.

Forty-seat, video-equipped team meeting space with field view.

Study lounge.

Conference room, athletic trainer’s room, coaches’ offices.

Synthetic-turf seating berm down the left-field line.

Radiant heat on the concourse.

VIP lounge with food and beverage stations and two suites.

Fawley Bryant is the architect. A firm with two locations in Florida, its portfolio ranges from multimillion-dollar sports stadiums to commercial and hospitality complexes and includes work on the Atlanta Braves spring training complex, IMG Academy Fieldhouse and the Gatorade Sports Science Institute.

Binghamton University / provided photo

“These stadium enhancements will have a tremendous impact on our intercollegiate athletics program,” said athletic director Patrick Elliott. “The architectural firms that designed this project have previous experience building major-league complexes. We expect this complex to be in the same league with them.”

For perspective’s sake, Binghamton University’s Events Center opened in January 2004 and cost $33.1 million. Binghamton Municipal Stadium (now NYSEG Stadium) opened in 1992 at a cost of $4½ million — with inflation adjustment, $8.3 million in today’s dollars.

Binghamton’s baseball program has produced six first-place America East finishes, four conference playoff championships, four NCAA tournament appearances and 15 Major League Baseball draftees.

And if America East coaches are on the mark, it’ll be the defending conference champion opening the facility in the spring of 2021. The preseason coaches poll has BU on top for the third time in four years, with four of the available six first-place votes.

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