HUNTINGTON -- Some supporters of Marshall baseball want to push forward in hopes of helping the school get a baseball stadium in the near future.
Jeff Barnes, president of the Barnes Agency in Scott Depot, and Tim Meeks, owner of A & L Ace Hardware and Building Materials Inc. in Hurricane, say they want to work with Marshall University's administration to start the action as inexpensively as possible.
"Administrations have come and gone over decades with these talks in place, and no action has taken place," Barnes said. "With that being said, a committee should be formed to help identify land opportunities as well as structure fundraising campaign efforts."
Essentially, that is where Barnes comes in. The Barnes Agency is a full-service advertising, marketing and public relations firm based in Scott Depot.
"I have offered the services of my agency to Marshall for free for the development and implementation of a campaign toward raising money for a new stadium," Barnes said.
In addition to Barnes' offer, Meeks said that if a place to build the field is pinpointed, he will help do the work. And his knowledge with baseball fields is extensive, having done construction and excavation work on the YMCA Kennedy Center field and Hurricane High School's field.
Meeks said the work at the Kennedy Center included all the excavation, sod on the infield, putting the fence in place, work on the dugouts and laying block for an adjacent building with the grand total coming to just $88,000.
But a new stadium would come with a much higher price tag, according Marshall athletic director Bob Marcum, who estimates $8 or $9 million for the project unless land or services were donated.
To that, Meeks offered a confident response.
"If (Marshall University) gave me $1 million and said 'Go as far as you can go,' I'd blow their mind," Meeks said. "I can get half of the stuff donated. I own two concrete plants, I'll give them the concrete. They need excavators, I've got the equipment. All they have to do is find the land."
All sides agree that the first step is identifying the land, and Marcum has said that the school has been stuck in that phase since Menis Ketchum was spearheading the project as chairman of the Marshall Board of Governors. Ketchum has since resigned that position to pursue a seat with the State Supreme Court in November.
Barnes now wants to form a committee to generate public involvement.
"Kayo Marcum is right. The first step in the process is to identify and secure land," Barnes said. "I believe that it requires business and industry leaders who are willing to help this cause as passionately as they have the revenue-generating sports in the past."
Barnes said he hopes that he can sit down with the Marshall administration soon to outline a plan, but no meeting has been finalized yet.
He outlined his plan to break the project down into several phases and spread the costs over several years, much like what was done at Southern Miss in the construction of Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field. The first phase consists of land identification and subsequent site preparation.
"After you acquire the land, getting it playable is not a hefty price tag," Barnes said.
The second and most expensive phase would be the infrastructure surrounding the diamond -- bleachers, concessions, a press box -- and the third would be a JumboTron scoreboard.
Meeks, whose son Thor will be a freshman next season at Marshall, said that he has talked to many people who want to donate for a baseball facility, but they are leery that all the talk is just that -- talk.
"Right now, (the talk) is a standing joke," Meeks said. "They've heard for so many years -- since I was a teenager -- that they are going to get a stadium, and it hadn't happened.
"If a plan is in place, the $100,000 donations will come for your scoreboards and FieldTurf. There are a lot of donors out there that once they see it put in place, they want to jump on board."
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