NO PAIN, NO GAINGoing to Hall of Fame Stadium? Bring your sunscreen, water, patience 
The latest renovations at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium will change the fan experience at the Women’s College World Series. Patience will be important as fans adjust to the changes, which most notably include a new two-story pressbox. [PHOTOS BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER/THE OKLAHOMAN]
A new two-story pressbox has changed the face of USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. The first level, seen here, will hold print, digital and broadcast media while the second level will be occupied primarily by ESPN, which broadcasts the Women’s College World Series.
John Miller has a message for fans soon to return to USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
Be patient.
“It’s not finished,” he said with a laugh. “This isn’t the finished product.”
The man who oversees the home of the Women’s College World Series wasn’t just talking about ongoing construction, though there’s plenty of that. Even with the Big 12 softball tournament this weekend, construction that began last summer isn’t quite done. The main stadium won’t even be used by the Big 12 because of that. The conference champ will be crowned on auxiliary fields.
But even when the construction wraps up and the stadium opens in a few weeks for the WCWS, the improvements still won’t be finished. This is something of a gap year with the final phase of construction and the big payoff for fans still to come.
This year, patience will be as important as sunscreen and hydration.
Renovations at Hall of Fame Stadium have been ongoing for several years, but most changes were out of sight or reach of fans. The early improvements focused on behind-thescenes player-centric areas. Expanded meeting space. Improved dugouts. Airconditioned locker rooms.
The NCAA demanded such improvements if Oklahoma City wanted to keep the WCWS long term, but really, such things were desperately needed for an event as big as this.
But even as big changes were happening at Hall of Fame Stadium, much of what the fans experienced remained the same. The last major overhaul to the shell of stadium happened in 2002 when grassy hills down the baselines gave way to 3,000 new permanent seats. Since then, the stadium has been largely the same.
Same concourses. Same entrances. Same routes.
That has created routine.
This year, routine will be remade because even something as simple as entering the stadium will be different because the entire outside facade has changed.
“They used to know where to go in the past,” Miller said of fans but adding he won’t know exactly how to cue crowds for entrance until the current construction is done and the NCAA sets up its fan experience tents outside the stadium. “For the fan that’s been here a long time, they’re going to be really surprised.”
Surprise will eventually turn to delight because the latest changes are cool. The old pressbox is gone, replaced by a two-story structure that will give fans an idea of what the last phase of construction will look like. You can see hints of where the upper deck is going to be, where the beams will hold thousands of new seats by this time next year.
“Just even remembering what it used to look like is getting harder and harder,” said Codi Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma and is now oversees communications for USA Softball.
But that upper deck – the biggest and best part for fans -- is still just a plan. Until it is reality, fans will have to get used to life without the overhang that used to cover hundreds of seats behind home plate. Things will be different. Feel different, too.
It will take some adjustment.
But softball fans have done it before. Back in 2002, when WCWS attendance was exploding, Hall of Fame Stadium more than doubled its permanent seating, building out the stadium down both foul lines and going from 2,000 seats to 5,000. It was desperately needed.
In the process, though, the beloved burms were lost. Long-timers at the WCWS will remember the grassy hills that long provided seating for fans and play area for an untold number of kids.
“I rolled down probably every single piece of grass,” Warren said.
People still miss the burms, myself included, but for Hall of Fame Stadium and Oklahoma City to keep the WCWS, the stadium needed change.
So it is now.
These current renovations, when completely done next year, will keep the WCWS in OKC through 2035. So, when you find yourself a little confused about where to go or a little miffed that things aren’t exactly how you recall them, take a deep breath, summon your patience and remember the payoff.
More seats next year.
More softball for years to come.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@ oklahoman.com . Like her at facebook.com/ JenniCarlsonOK , follow her at twitter.com/ jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson .
“They used to know where to go in the past. For the fan that’s been here a long time, they’re going to be really surprised.”
John Miller
