Following the lead of Major League Baseball, the University of Hawaii will be installing and extending additional safety netting down the first- and third-base lines on the lower deck at Les Murakami Stadium.
The $60,000 project is part of more than $3.1 million in improvements and repairs to Murakami Stadium and the Stan Sheriff Center that will be undertaken in the coming months, officials said.
Completion timelines are subject to change based upon COVID-19 impact on available labor and the supply chain for materials, athletic director David Matlin said.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, UH teams and athletes are currently unable to use campus athletic facilities.
After several major injuries from balls hit into the grandstands at MLB games, commissioner Rob Manfred announced in December that every MLB team would be required to extend its protective netting in time for the 2020 season. Several colleges, including UH, chose also to follow suit.
At UH, “We want to offer more safety to the fans who come to our games,” said Glenn Nakaya, manager of Murakami Stadium.
Nakaya said the backstop behind home plate will be changed and the protective netting will stretch a little more than 100 feet down the lines to the end of the seating.
Restrooms at the 36-year old Murakami Stadium will also be renovated. Remediation will be undertaken in several locations.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff Center will get a $1 million replacement of its quarter-century-old sound system that is being timed to greet the start of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball season, if it starts in August.
Arena manager Rich Sheriff said the athletic department has been working with a consultant on what he said, “Will be a complete re-do of the sound system that we’ve had.”
Sheriff said, “I think it will result in better overall clarity (of sound) and a better experience for our fans in the arena.”
’BOW BUILDING
Upcoming renovation projects at UH
PROJECT / EST. COST / EST. FINISH
Sheriff Center sound system $1 mil. Aug. 15, 2020
Murakami safety netting $60,000 Aug. 15, 2020
Murakami restrooms $1.4 mil. Jan. 2021
Murakami spalling $650,000 Aug. 15, 2020
Source: UH.
