By William C. Singleton III
Journal contributor
The city of Hoover is negotiating with the University of Alabama to play baseball games at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium next year.
Hoover city officials confirmed they were discussing the possibilities with the University of Alabama but would not provide further details.
“It’s currently under negotiations, and I don’t want to speak while we’re under negotiations,” said Council President Jack Wright.
The University of Alabama’s Sewell-Thomas Stadium will undergo $35 million in renovations later this year, which means the Crimson Tide will need a place to play home baseball games next season.
Wright said there’s no timetable set for negotiations to get done, but hopefully, the issue will conclude sooner rather than later.
“I would think Alabama is under a timetable because they’re rebuilding their baseball stadium, and they’ve got to figure out where the visiting teams will be coming to.”
If UA decides to play baseball at the Met, it would be a major coup for Hoover and the Met, which hosted the Birmingham Barons for 25 years until the team played its last game in September 2012 and relocated to the new Regions Field in downtown Birmingham.
“We’d love to have all the utilization we can at the Met,” Wright said. “We’d welcome anybody playing games there.”