Sports
Spartanburg's Fifth Third Park Demonstrates How PDL

Image credit:
Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg, S.C. (Photo by J.J. Cooper)
What is state of the art in baseball stadium construction is an ever-evolving concept.
A smart idea at one new stadium—see Camden Yards in the early 1990s and its nod to past parks—is quickly adopted elsewhere. Well-designed group/picnic areas, table tops and open concourses went from cutting edge to standard practice quite quickly.
This year, new minor league ballparks have opened in Spartanburg, S.C. and Knoxville, Tenn. A near complete rebuild of a park in Columbus, Ga. also opened. Next year will see another wave of new ballparks in Richmond, Va., Wilson, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Ontario, Calif. and Hillsboro, Ore. All of these are the first of the Professional Development League (PDL) era, replacing stadiums that were deemed unsuitable for upgrading to meet significantly increased facility requirements. They are stadiums built from the start to meet the stricter requirements, and as such, we’re seeing how stadiums have continued to adapt and change.
MiLB ballparks have largely been divided into a small number of eras. Because of the steady decline of the minor leagues in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, many minor league teams were still playing in Works Progress Administration (WPA)-built, depression-era ballparks until the 1990s. Ballparks built in the 60s and 70s were rarities, as most teams largely operated in old ballparks that had received little more than modest maintenance for years.
The 1990 Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA) changed expectations. Major League Baseball pushed through increased facility standards in its agreement with Minor League Baseball.
At the time, many MiLB owners thought the new requirements would be impossible to meet and that the PBA could kill the minors. Instead, numerous cities agreed to build new ballparks to meet the demands. Fans found new seats, improved bathrooms and concession areas much more inviting than ancient stadiums with sun-bleached bleachers and plenty of peeling paint.
The PBA era showed how far stadiums had come over the preceding few decades. The building boom led to an attendance boom. And that led to a second building boom, because even the WPA-era stadiums that had been upgraded to meet the PBA standards soon found themselves left behind. Before long, they were replaced by newer stadiums. By 2021, 80% of MiLB full-season teams were playing in ballparks built after the 1990 PBA was adopted.
We won’t see that kind of building boom in the 2020s, but we are seeing a new wave of construction. With that in mind, Baseball America recently traveled to Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg to see the Hub City Spartanburgers’ new home and provide a look at what’s new in ballparks in the PDL era.
New Parks Are Roomier Than Ever
In the 21st century, stadiums have largely adopted a more open concourse design that allows fans to continue to see the field/game while walking around the stadium. But the concourses themselves were asked to do a lot, as they were both the main traffic arteries, spaces for concessions and a standing room area for fans taking in different views of the park.
The idea remains an excellent one, but congestion often defeated some of the goals of these open concourse designs. The concourses were designed to encourage fans to check out the field from multiple angles and to wander around, but long lines and packed concourses discouraged getting up and exploring different areas of the park.
Much like the U.S. Interstate system, the answer has been to widen the traffic arteries. In Spartanburg’s Fifth Third Park (and other new designs), the concourses are extremely wide, allowing enough room for fans heading in either direction, plus room for small stand-up concession stands and their lines without halting traffic flow.

According to Hub City general manager Tyson Jeffers, feedback on the roomier layout has been positive.
“A comment that we’ve gotten a lot in these first two homestands of games is that, even with a full crowd, people still feel like they have space within the concourses to move about freely,” Jeffers said.
Concession Stands Are More Efficient & Fan-Friendly
In the WPA era, concession stands were afterthoughts. They were placed seemingly wherever there was space and plumbing. If stands caused traffic jams, so be it.
The second wave of PBA-era stadiums fixed many of those problems but did so by putting the concession stands largely against the back walls of the concourses. An unintended result was the creation of new pinch points for traffic jams. Long lines meant fans were blocking other fans from crossing through the concourse. They also discouraged fans from making repeat trips to the concession stands.
Jeffers said the team was “really conscious” of potential foot traffic headaches in constructing the park.
“(With the concourse concessions) you might be making that person’s buying experience a little bit better while they’re waiting, but then you’re ruining someone else’s while they’re trying to get wherever they need to go,” Jeffers said, adding that the stadium’s property footprint helped make addressing traffic flow problems easier.
“It gave us the real estate to be able to do this. To be able to tuck (concessions) back beyond the concourse a little bit, create them in a marketplace style so that they flow a lot easier.”
Fifth Third Park puts the main concession stands into cutouts that extend off the back side of the concourse. Doing so ensures any lines are contained within the concession area without causing backups on the concourses. In the 1990s and 2000s, such construction would have meant fans couldn’t see the game. Today, television monitors line the area so fans can watch the broadcast if they don’t have a direct sightline to the field.

The concession stands themselves have also been updated. Traditional ballpark items such as popcorn, hamburgers and chicken sandwiches are self-serve fare.
“Each of those marketplaces have their own kitchen,” Jeffers said. “So they’re cooking hot food and just sliding it out. You’re grabbing it, you’re going. There’s always a little bit of fear about what happens when it sits there, but our food and beverage department has done an amazing job to make sure that they’re pushing it out when people need it. And those people can grab it and keep going.”
The grab-and-go setup reduces lines by allowing fans to quickly get their food, scan and pay at a self-checkout touch-screen display and then quickly return to their seats. The end effect, Jeffers said, is fans feel more comfortable in their decision to get up from game action to buy food.
“If you know you’re going to have to stand in line, you’re making a conscious decision of ‘Do I need that extra hot dog?’ You might say it’s not worth the minutes that I’m going to miss some of the game.”

For MiLB teams, in addition to increased concession stand sales, the marketplace layout may also reduce employee head count. Not dramatically, as the self-service food areas need continual restocking, and the self-pay kiosk area needs multiple employees supervising and helping any customers who have issues, but it’s a change from traditionally-staffed concession counters.
Parks Are Year-Round Facilities
It’s hard to imagine any team building a new park in the 2020s without a multi-purpose club-level area. Such a space can serve as an upscale restaurant/bar during games, but just as importantly, it provides an all-weather area for non-game day activities.
Spartanburg features a large club area on the second level that serves as a restaurant/bar/gathering place during games. It can also be used for conferences, wedding receptions, proms and most any other event a group could conceive. It has a full-service kitchen/bar as well as an outdoor patio area for events that want inside-outside versatility. In an era when teams are looking to increase the number of calendar dates the stadium is used, these types of multi-purpose areas are becoming must-haves in both new and retro-fitted ballparks.

“We’re providing an unbelievable experience and a top-tier experience for our fans at baseball games,” Jeffers said. “But then we have an amazing space that we can utilize on non-game days. And so we’re talking about our facility operating 365 days out of the year or as close to that as possible.
“Conferences coming in, chamber events, wedding receptions—all of those things. And it’s built in a way that one gives it the square footage and the layout to be able to accommodate those. But then it also has the technologies to be able to execute every type of event that you can think of.”
Seating Areas Are More Intimate
Under the old PBA rules, different MiLB levels had different seating requirements. A Triple-A stadium had to have 10,000 seats, a Double-A stadium required 6,000 and a Class A stadium needed 4,000. Those rules do not exist in the current PDL era, so individual teams can decide how big to build their stadium bowls.
Fifth Third Park’s seating bowl reflects this. The stadium has roughly 3,500 fixed seats, although group areas and berms mean up to 5,000 can get into the park.
“All of that was built intentionally to make sure that it always felt like that place is rocking and rolling every single night,” Jeffers said. “There was a stretch there in the 90s where people overbuilt. On July 4th, it’s great, but it makes your normal night crowd feel like it kind of loses something in exchange. To build for those anomaly games—opening night, the Fourth of July—you’re building for two days out of your year. We built for every day.”

There’s A Lot Fans Never See
Modern PDL requirements were focused on items for MiLB players, staff and player development. For example, the required size of visitor clubhouses was increased significantly. There must now be dining areas for the players. There must be bathrooms that are easily accessible from the dugouts.
Stadiums are required to have air-conditioned batting cages/pitching tunnels and enlarged weight rooms and storage space, as well as locker rooms for female staff and umpires.
Ballpark lighting and field requirements have also been increased.
These are non-negotiable requirements for both upgraded existing stadiums and new construction, so much of what’s been done in the bowels of a stadium will be similar to what’s been upgraded elsewhere. But with a new build, it’s possible to leave room for further expansion, new loading docks and other touches that may be tougher to add to an existing facility.
Sports
Tulane hires new volleyball coach | Tulane
Tulane named Derek Schroeder its volleyball coach on Wednesday.
Schroeder, who is 279-234 in 17 years, spent the last three seasons at Jacksonville State after coaching Mercer for six years and Samford for eight, leading Samford to the NCAA tournament in 2011 and 2014. He guided Mercer to its first regular-season championships in 2020 and 2021, earning Southern Conference coach of the year honors in 2021.
He was not as successful at Jacksonville State, inheriting a program that had gone 65-15 the previous three seasons in the Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun before moving to Conference USA. The Gamecocks went 5-22 in 2023, 10-21 in 2024 and 14-15 in 2025.
Schroeder replaces Jordana Price, who was fired in November after going 40-77 overall and 15-56 in the American during a four-year tenure. Tulane’s last NCAA tournament appearance was in 2008.
Sports
Nebraska volleyball setter named finalist for prestigous award
Jan. 8, 2026, 6:31 a.m. CT
A Nebraska volleyball player has been named a finalist for another prestigious award. Setter Bergen Reilly, along with Olivia Babcock from Pittsburgh, Eva Hudson from Kentucky, and Mimi Colyer from Wisconsin, are the four finalists for the Class of 2026 Honda Sport Award for Volleyball.
Reilly had a tremendous 2025 season, helping the Huskers to a 33-1 record and a third straight Big Ten Championship. She averaged 10.47 assists per set and 2.70 digs per set with 73 kills, 67 blocks and 19 aces.
The Sioux Falls, S.D. native was a first-team AVCA All-American, AVCA Setter of the Year, Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Setter of the Year, AVCA Region Player of the Year and All-Big Ten First Team.
The volleyball winner will become a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the Class of 2026 Honda Cup. The award will be presented live on Monday, July 27, at 6 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.
Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes and opinions.
Sports
Vikings Begin ‘Process’, Open Indoor Season at Silver & Blue Invitational This Weekend
PORTLAND, Ore. — A new year brings with it a new season for the Portland State track & field program as the Vikings open their 2026 indoor season this Friday and Saturday at the Silver & Blue Invitational in Reno, Nev.
The season opener brings extra excitement for the Vikings, who enter their first track season under new head coach Joseph Blue. The Vikings’ new coach welcomes that excitement, though is quick to contextualize it as the first step in a long process for his team and his athletes.
“We’re just trying to get our feet wet. There are no expectations. I just want them to go out there and race hard, throw hard and execute the things that we’ve been working on,” Blue said of the team’s season opener.
It’ll be the first official action for the non-distance runners in the Viking program since last May’s Big Sky Outdoor Championships. The Vikings’ throwers, jumpers, sprinters and hurdlers worked with their new coaches during the fall. Blue said the team trained throughout October together, then three weeks in November.
The seven-week training period was shorter than Blue would have liked, but productive. The short period of training means the Vikings will be still looking to build through the early part of their season.
“The first half of the season will be us still practicing. As we get through the end of February and we get to outdoor, our team will get more whole. But as we start right now, we’re still in preseason mode,” Blue said.
Some of the Vikings will be ready to go from this weekend’s season opener. Blue said Daniel Coppedge, who broke the school records in the weight throw and hammer last indoor and outdoor season, respectively, should be ready to go.
Coppedge will compete in the weight throw Friday morning. He set the record in the event with a throw of 56-00.00 (17.07m) at the Riverfront Invitational last season, though that isn’t even a personal best for Coppedge. His personal best came when he was competing unattached at the PSU vs. UP Dual Meet where he threw 56-02.00 (17.11m).
Meanwhile, Blue called Tori Forst “the best athlete” across both the men’s and women’s teams at Portland State. Forst should be ready to make noise for the Vikings this weekend. She had her 2025 outdoor season shut down early due to injury, but before then, had entered the top 10 all-time in the indoor 60 meters when she finished in 7.54 seconds at the Big Sky Indoor Championships.
Forst also recorded an overall win in the 200 meters at the Oregon Preview during the outdoor season, finishing in a personal best of 24.40 seconds.
Forst is entered in the prelims of the women’s 60 meters Friday alongside teammates Sienna Rosario and Aida Wheat. Forst will also run the 200 meters Saturday with Rosario, Savannah Beasley and Ashley Peterson.
Some of the Vikings’ distance runners who had strong cross country seasons should also be ready to continue that this weekend. Emma Stolte ranks chief among those after she posted five top 10 finishes this past fall, including a ninth-place finish at the Big Sky Championships to earn all-conference honors.
Stolte is entered in the women’s mile Friday alongside Libby Fox and Sam Sharp. She’ll double back in the 800 meters Saturday, an event in which she ranks eighth all-time at Portland State.
Amir Ahmed returns to the middle distances after running cross country in the fall. He’ll chase a school record in the 600 meters Saturday, an event in which he ranks third all-time after finishing in 1:20.85 at the UW Preview last season. Nate Boyer set the current 600-meter record at 1:19.48 in 2006.
Ahmed will also run in the 1,000 meters Friday. Fellow men’s distance runners Abdinajib Abade, Luke Gillingham and Farhan Ibrahim will also run in the mile Friday.
More Vikings will make either their season or career debuts this weekend. Blue cautioned all of them, no matter where they are in their training, to not overextend themselves.
“All your best PRs are going to happen when you were confident and relaxed. It’ll never happen by running as hard as you can or trying to throw as far as you can. That’s when bad habits creep in. A lot of our sport is reflex, muscle memory and reactive strength. That’s all it is. And mental. If you can do that and do what you trained, it’ll happen,” Blue said.
That can be tough to keep in mind during a season opener when athletes are eager to prove themselves. But no one hits their New Year’s resolutions by the second week of January. If you did, then you chose too easy of a resolution.
“I want them to stay in their process. Because [this meet] is not the result. I don’t care what they finish here. It’s cool to see the result, but that result is just part of the process for the year,” Blue said.
MEET INFO
Jan. 9-10 – Silver & Blue Invitational – Reno, Nev. (Reno Sparks Convention Center)
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Results
MEET SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 9
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
10 a.m. – Women’s Weight Throw (Flight 1 of 1 – Fisher)
~11 a.m. – Men’s Weight Throw (Flight 1 of 1 – Coppedge, Green)
2 p.m. – Women’s 60-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (Heat 3 of 3 – Beasley)
2:15 p.m. – Men’s 60-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (Heat 1 of 2 – Johnson, Sweeney)
2:25 p.m. – Women’s 60 Meters – Prelims (Heat 1 of 3 – Forst; Heat 2 of 3 – Rosario, Wheat)
2:40 p.m. – Men’s 60 Meters – Prelims (Heat 3 of 3 – Brost, Mcdonald)
2:55 p.m. – Women’s Mile (Heat 1 of 1 – Fox, Sharp, Stolte)
3:05 p.m. – Men’s Mile (Heat 1 of 1 – Abade, Gillingham, Ibrahim)
3:15 p.m. – Men’s 60-Meter Hurdles – Final
3:20 p.m. – Women’s 60-Meter Hurdles – Final
3:25 p.m. – Men’s 60 Meters – Final
3:30 p.m. – Women’s 60 Meters – Final
3:35 p.m. – Women’s 1,000 Meters (Heat 1 of 1 – Butterfield)
3:40 p.m. – Men’s 1,000 Meters (Heat 1 of 1 – Ahmed)
Saturday, Jan. 10
Time (PT) – Event (PSU Entries)
10 a.m. – Women’s Shot Put (Flight 1 of 1 – Fisher)
11 a.m. – Women’s 400 Meters (Heat 2 of 2 – Peterson)
11:15 a.m. – Men’s 400 Meters (Heat 1 of 3 – Johnson; Heat 2 of 3 – Payne; Heat 3 of 3 – Cadengo, Jones)
11:30 a.m. – Women’s 800 Meters (Heat 1 of 1 – Stolte)
11:35 a.m. – Men’s 800 Meters (Heat 1 of 1 – Abade)
11:40 a.m. – Women’s 600 Meters (Heat 3 of 3 – Butterfield)
11:50 a.m. – Men’s 600 Meters (Heat 1 of 1 – Ahmed)
11:55 a.m. – Women’s 200 Meters (Heat 2 of 8 – Forst; Heat 4 of 8 – Rosario; Heat 5 of 8 – Beasley; Heat 7 of 8 – Peterson)
~12 p.m. – Men’s Triple Jump (Niyongere)
12:30 p.m. – Men’s 200 Meters (Heat 2 of 8 – Cadengo, Sweeney; Heat 3 of 8 – Jones; Heat 4 of 8 – Payne; Heat 5 of 8 – Mcdonald; Heat 8 of 8 – Brost)
1 p.m. – Women’s 3,000 Meters (Heat 1 of 1 – Fox, Sharp)
1:20 p.m. – Men’s 3,000 Meters (Gillingham, Ibrahim)
Sports
Seremes named to The Bowerman watchlist
NEW ORLEANS– Junior triple jumper Jonathan Seremes was named to the 2026 preseason Bowerman watchlist Thursday afternoon. He is the 8th Texas Tech man to make the watchlist and first jumper to do so since Trey Culver in 2018.
Seremes is in his first season with Tech after transferring from Missouri where he only competed during the indoor season. Despite just one season with the Tigers, Seremes won the 2024 NCAA indoor triple jump crown. The France native leaped 17.04m (55-11), winning the competition by nearly two feet.
This past summer, he represented France at the World Championships where he finished 8th overall bounding 16.82m (55- 2 ¼). He holds a lifetime best jump of 17.08m (56- ½).
The Red Raiders kickoff the 2026 season next weekend hosting the annual Corky Classic Friday and Saturday inside the Sports Performance Center.
Sports
The 2026 Bowerman Watch List for men’s and women’s NCAA track and field
It’s time for a look at potential winners of the Bowerman, an annual award presented to the most outstanding athletes in collegiate track and field.
Here’s the latest on some of the best in DI track and field.
THE BOWERMAN: Complete history of the track and field honor
Watch lists from the season
Check out every 2026 watch list below.
Preseason watch list
The women’s preseason watch list was announced on Wednesday, Jan. 7, with the men’s preseason watch list announced on Thursday, Jan. 8.
| Gender | Athlete | School | Events |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Şilan Ayyildiz | Oregon | Mid-Distance |
| JaMeesia Ford+ | South Carolina | Sprints | |
| Grace Hartman* | NC State | Distance | |
| Jane Hedengren* | BYU | Distance | |
| Axelina Johansson | Nebraska | Throws | |
| Alyssa Jones* | Stanford | Jumps/Sprints | |
| Pamela Kosgei# | New Mexico | Distance | |
| Doris Lemngole! | Alabama | Distance | |
| Amanda Moll+ | Washington | Pole Vault | |
| Hana Moll+ | Washingotn | Pole Vault | |
| Men | Mykolas Alekna+ | Oregon | Discus |
| Peyton Bair | Oregon | Combined Events | |
| James Corrigan+ | BYU | Mid-Distance/Steeple | |
| Gary Martin | Virginia | Mid-Distance/Distance | |
| Ralford Mullings+ | Oklahoma | Throws | |
| Brian Musau+ | Oklahoma State | Distance | |
| Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan | Ole Miss | Throws | |
| Habtom Samuel | New Mexico | Distance | |
| Jonathan Seremes | Texas Tech | Jumps | |
| Ja’Kobe Tharp# | Auburn | Hurdles |
*Watch list career debut
+Returning semifinalist
#Returning finalist
! Returning winner
The following athletes received votes:
- Women
- Valentina Barrios Bornacelli, Missouri (Javelin)
- Indya Mayberry, TCU (Sprints)
- Madison Whyte, Southern California (Sprints)
- Men
- BJ Green, Oklahoma (Jumps)
- T’Mars McCallum, Tennessee (Sprints)
- Chinecherem Nnamdi, Texas A&M (Javelin)
- Samuel Ogazi, Alabama (Sprints)
- Tarsis Orogot, Alabama (Sprints)
- Aleksandr Solovev, Texas A&M (Pole Vault)
- JC Stevenson, Southern California (Sprints/Jumps)
- Tyrice Taylor, Arkansas (Mid-Distance)
PREDICTING: How the Bowerman watch lists predict the award’s final winner
2026 watch list dates
Below you’ll find all of the announced Bowerman watch list dates for 2026.
| Update | Women’s Date | Men’s Date |
|---|---|---|
| Preseason | Wednesday, Jan. 7 | Thursday, Jan. 8 |
| 1 | Wednesday, Feb. 4 | Thursday, Feb. 5 |
All dates subject to change
PAST BOWERMANS: 2025 – Jordan Anthony | 2025 – Doris Lemngole | 2024 – Leo Neugebauer | 2024 – Parker Valby | 2023 – Jaydon Hibbert | 2023 – Julien Alfred | 2022 – Trey Cunningham | 2022 – Abby Steiner
Date of the winner of the Bowerman
The 2025 winners will be announced at the 2025 USTFCCCA convention from December 14-17 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.
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