Top 9 Suggestions for Taylor Stadium Upgrade

Missouri associate athletic director Tim Hickman has been talking to just about everyone about Mizzou's plans to pursue some major facilities upgrades over the next few years. On KFRU's "The Closers" the other day, he specified that the short-term focus would be on football, baseball, softball, tennis and golf.

He didn't go into detail about the plans for Taylor Stadium. I'm guessing we'll probably learn more about those plans at the First Pitch Celebration on February 4th.

Here at SimmonsField.com, we have a few ideas. If we're going to dream, lets dream big: Top 9 Suggestions for Taylor Stadium Upgrade

1. Summit Ski Lift  The little golf carts are OK - when they're running - but most folks end up walking up the hill from Reactor Field to the ballpark.  That's a great workout for the ballplayers, but its a lot to ask of a chubby fan.  An escalator would be cook, but impractical in inclement weather.  And the MU Physics department hasn't invented the Star Trek transporter yet.  So a ski lift seems the best option for getting up that hill to the ballpark on those wintry days in March.
   
   
2. Retractable Dome   Die-hard fans like me take a perverse pleasure in gutting out those frigid double headers in March.  But I could also enjoy NOT freezing at the cold ball game.
   
   
3. Devine Pavilion Roof Bleachers   Sell some cheap seat tickets for the roof top view.  Seat belts would be installed to keep the wind from picking up fans and blowing them all the way to the Jesse Hall dome.
   
   
4. The Superfan Stand   Let's put a crow's nest a few yards above the 3rd base camera deck so everyone's favorite cheerleader/heckler, Larry Wyatt, can be seen and heard by everyone.
   
   
5. Squeeze Play   Back in the 90's there was a handful of musicians from Marching Mizzou who sat in the upper deck and played songs between innings.  Let's build a special section for a resurrected (and compensated) spirit band to entertain the crowds.
   
   

6. Norm's   Let's get the folks at the MU Hotel and Restaurant Management department to put their creativity at work and run a great ballpark eating establishment, maybe on a raised deck just past the left-center wall.  Name it after the first Tiger to pitch a no-hitter, and serve the kind of food that makes people want to come out the ballpark just so they can eat at Norm's.
   
   
7. Bright Lights   Coaches and players from places like Texas Tech and Texas have complained over the years about the poor lighting at Taylor Stadium.  We like to laugh at them when they blame their losses on the lights.  But seriously, the lights could be better.  Sometimes the night field looks like it's being lit by a bunch of cheap energy efficient compact ice cream cone-style fluorescent light bulbs.
   
   
8. Build MU Softball a New Stadium   Tim Hickman has mentioned that one option for a softball upgrade is to build a new stadium somewhere else.  I say let's go ahead and find a new footprint for #TremendousStubble Stadium (Ehren Earlywine is partial to Reactor Field) and put a parking garage where University Field sits now.  It could provide hundreds of parking spots for baseball fans.  Of course, if they were to put it on one of the highest points in CoMo and build it as tall as that new monstrosity downtown, it would might be visible from several of our new SEC rivals' home ballparks. .
   
   
9. New Backstop Netting   It's past time to get rid of the current netting, which looks like a geriatric hooker's fishnet stockings.