2017 SEC Baseball Tournament to include revamped fan zone with 'Michael Jackson' ferris wheel, zipline

The 2017 SEC Baseball Tournament will include an improved SEC Fan Fest zone that includes the ferris wheel that was used at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, city officials said.

The ferris wheel, which is at least 60 feet tall, will be located between Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and the new 155,000-square-foot Finley Center, said Erin Colbaugh, the city of Hoover’s events coordinator.

The SEC Fan Fest zone also will include a zipline, nine-hole carpet golf course, golf simulators, driving simulators, classic arcade games, inflatables, virtual reality simulator, a Lego construction zone, photo booth and a food court with a variety of food and beverages, Colbaugh said.

There also will be a sports bar with electronic darts, ping pong, skeeball, foosball, pool tables, air hockey, shuffleboard, basketball games, corn hole and three giant Connect 4 games, she said.

The Fan Fest area also will include live entertainment, including a lot of musical acts from the Birmingham area, Colbaugh said. Most of the Fan Fest zone, excluding the ferris wheel, will be inside the Finley Center, she said.

Fan Fest activities will be free, except for ferris wheel rides, which will cost $5, she said. The ferris wheel will provide people a view into the stadium as they ride, Colbaugh said. Each compartment is capable of seating two adults and two children, she said.

The Hoover City Council on Monday night approved a $122,000 contract with Classic Events to put on the Fan Fest area throughout the duration of the baseball tournament, which is May 23-28.

Hoover City Administator Allan Rice said the goal is to to make the SEC Baseball Tournament a first-class experience for fans. “We believe this is going to rival what you experience when you go to Atlanta for the SEC Football Championship,” Rice said.

The city of Hoover will sell alcoholic beverages in the Finley Center, but people won’t be allowed to carry them outside the center, according to the contract between the city and the Alabama Sports Council, which is putting on the baseball tournament for the SEC.

Alcoholic  beverages will not be allowed in the stadium, except in private suites, certain hospitality areas and other areas designated by the SEC, according to the contract.

Hours for the Fan Fest zone will be 8:30 a.m. through the seventh inning of the last game day of the day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 1 p.m. to midnight on Friday; 10 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday — the day of the championship game.

Hours for the ferris wheel will be 2-10 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. Hours for the zipline will be 2-8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.

Contract details

The Hoover City Council on Monday night also officially approved the contract with the Alabama Sports Council to coincide with the sports council’s contract with the SEC to put on the tournament at the Hoover Met through 2019, with the option for the SEC to extend the contract an additional two years through 2021.

Rice told the City Council that the city and Alabama Sports Council will try to persuade the SEC to make a decision about the two-year extension soon after this year’s tournament, but the SEC could choose to wait to make a decision.

With the opening of the Finley Center and the hiring of a management company for the Hoover Metropolitan Complex (which includes the stadium and Finley Center), there were a lot of changes necessary for the new contract with the Alabama Sports Council, Rice said.

There are a lot of new costs associated with the Finley Center and expanded fan zone, and city officials wanted to make sure all parties involved in putting on the SEC Baseball Tournament shared those costs equitably, Rice said.

He and Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato commended the spirit of cooperation shown by the Alabama Sports Council and the Southeastern Conference in working out details of the contract.

The city of Hoover agreed to, prior to this year’s tournament, make reasonable efforts to improve cell phone service at the stadium, create additional entry points at the front gate of the stadium, create an entry point on the first base side for player guests, provide an entry point and ticket sales location behind the left field fence near the lower parking lot, expand the primary TV booth and relocate it to the upper level of the press box, and make reasonable efforts to upgrade the video presentation inside the stadium.

By the 2018 tournament, the city agreed to replace the stadium turf, subsurface and irrigation system and build a separate collegiate-sized baseball field on the property with the same field dimensions and orientation as the stadium for use in makeup games and team practices. In 2018, the Alabama Sports Council agreed to split the cost for video upgrades, such as leasing of state-of-the-art video boards.

By 2019, the city agreed to build a second additional collegiate-sized baseball field, with artificial grass and outdoor lighting for team batting practices. Also, the city agreed to expand parking at the stadium to 5,000 paved spaces by 2019.

The SEC has agreed to assist with the production of the fan zone by providing either services or financial support consistent with what the conference has provided in prior baseball tournaments.

The city will pay for personnel and operating expenses in the fan zone, except the personnel costs associated with the SEC merchandise store. The city also will provide emergency medical care, practice fields, batting cages, traffic assistance and personnel such as the grounds crew, police escorts for teams, parking staff, maintenance staff, scoreboard operators, ticket takers, ushers, bus drivers, and drivers for student-athlete shuttles.

The Alabama Sports Council will pay for security to monitor credentialed areas of the stadium, ticket sellers, scorers, statisticians, a meteorologist, a prominent singer for the national anthem of the championship game, and an on-call concierge for each SEC school in the tournament.

The sports council also will provide 28 courtesy cars for the SEC’s use, plus two full-size courtesy vehicles per team and four vehicles for use by coaches, umpires and tournament administrative personnel.

The Alabama Sports Council will control food and beverage sales in the stadium but give the city 10 percent of gross revenues, excluding revenues from the banquet room and suites provided to the SEC. The city will control food and beverage sales in the Finley Center and be entitled to all revenue from such sales.