Revitalizing Engel Stadium

You can see the signs everywhere on the site -- *historic* Engel Stadium.

It has a rich legacy to baseball and to sports in Chattanooga, but the past few years have taken its toll in wear and tear.

"What can we do with this facility?  that's the question out there now," says Stephen Martini.

It's a question Martini and others are wanting to make more known.  He's an author on the history of the Chattanooga Lookouts, plus he's also a part of The Engel Foundation.

It's mission?  To preserve something 100 years in the making.

"To have this stadium, with this experience, it's a good structural shape, it's got some Band-Aids, and some cleaning up that we can do to make it prettier," says Martini.

The stadium is not in the best shape--bathrooms are a wreck, and much of the stadium is in need of a fresh coat of paint.

"Everyone in baseball from Killebrew to Willie Mays to Hank Aaron, to the greats, all the greats, Babe Ruth, all the greats have played there," says Richard Brown.

Brown, with UTC, says right now, the city owns the property.  But soon, it'll be in the University's hands.  And, he says, it'll be a part of an expansion plan.  Some 28 acres at the site will be used for track and field, and sports complex.

And Engel Stadium?  "We do think that the stadium is such a historic asset that it should be preserved for community use," says Brown.

Right now, UTC doesn't have a baseball team of its own.  But local teams, high schools, and, as we saw tonight, Tennessee Temple make use of the field.

"We're hoping to make a great public use of a great public space," says Brown.

Martini has a more focused concentration on what he wants to see, saying, "a chance to see baseball return to the field, people want to see baseball played at Engel Stadium."

Brown tells us that land transfer from the city of Chattanooga to the University should be completed within the next 60 days.