Capital Strategies

The Cal Softball Field Renovation project will renovate and improve the existing Cal Softball Field, which is the home of the UC Berkeley Intercollegiate Athletic Women's Softball Program. The project will upgrade the existing facility to meet modern safety and National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition standards, including improved field dimensions, training facilities, team locker rooms, permanent spectator seating, and access improvements. The project supports gender equity by providing improved facilities for female student-athletes and other recreational users. The renovated facility will be consistent with the University's Title IX commitments. The use of the softball facility will remain largely the same as the existing softball field.

A new main entrance to the facility will be located at the northwest corner of the site on Centennial Drive. The new entrance will provide the facility with an accessible entrance, including gathering places, landscaping, a ticket booth, and signage. Other access improvements include a drop-off loop on the northeast corner of the site and improvements to the sidewalk on Centennial Drive and extending to Stadium Rim Way to the west.

The renovated field will conform to the minimum dimensions of an NCAA-compliant softball facility—200 feet down the lines and 220 feet to centerfield. The infield will be resurfaced with new fine-grained aggregate material, and the existing grass outfield would be replaced with synthetic turf. The field and facilities will be surrounded by backstop fencing and perimeter fencing, as well as a ten-foot-high outfield fence and 55-foot-high transparent safety netting along Centennial Drive. An LED scoreboard display (approximately 35 feet by 20 feet) will be installed in the outfield to face spectator seating to the southwest. Views of the display from the south will be screened by the dense trees.

The project will construct an approximately 30,500-square-foot two-story, pre-cast concrete structure housing the bullpen, the concourse, and the press box on the site’s southwest corner. The top of the press box, which represents the tallest portion of the building, will be 35 feet high, and the concourse will be 20 feet high. The press box will be clad in a metal panel system with an aluminum curtain wall. The pre-cast concrete structure will include a new fan concourse and up to 1,511 permanent seats extending out and surrounding the new field. Approximately 22,000 square feet will be exterior ballpark spaces, including spectator seating, bullpens, and dugouts, and approximately 8,500 square feet will be enclosed spaces, including locker rooms, a press box, lounges, and a training room. 

The project was approved by the UC Board of Regents in November 2024. Construction is anticipated to start in the first half of 2025 and be complete in 2026.