New College Baseball Field Named Beruff Family Field of Dreams Following $1M Gift
New College of Florida has announced that its upcoming baseball field will be named the Beruff Family Field of Dreams, recognizing a $1 million donation from Carlos and Janelle Beruff. The field will serve as the permanent home for the Mighty Banyans baseball team, located at the intersection of U.S. 41 and University Parkway.
Currently playing at IMG Academy, the Mighty Banyans are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Sun Conference. The team had an impressive inaugural season, securing 20 wins. The new facility marks a significant milestone for the program, established as part of New College’s intercollegiate athletics expansion in 2023.
The baseball field is set to feature sustainable and innovative architectural designs, with construction slated to begin in 2025. The project reflects New College’s commitment to fostering educational and athletic opportunities.
New College’s growing athletic program now includes 12 teams, with the Beruff Family Field of Dreams poised to further enhance the experience for student-athletes and the community. The field symbolizes the college’s dedication to combining academic excellence with competitive sports, creating pathways for future success.
The 2024 NCF Master Plan shows a proposed baseball field and stadium using all the land that New College (NC) owns at the NE corner of US41 and University Parkway plus some land that NC leases from the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority (SMAA) for the outfield. The remaining NC East Campus, 34+ acres, is owned by the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority (SMAA) and leased to NC. The SMAA tried to sell those 34+ acres to NC earlier this year, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stopped the sale as not in the best interest of the airport. The FAA protected the national airport system from the short-term interests of the SMAA and FL state government officials.
The only street access to NC East Campus and that baseball stadium is across airport land via General Spaatz Blvd. The ball stadium will be too close to the US41/University Parkway intersection to allow any new street access to be created on NC owned land, so this new ball stadium will always rely upon using SMAA land. The parking area for the stadium is all on airport land. Much of the outfield will also be on airport land. If the SMAA ever wants to use its own land for airport purposes, this baseball field and stadium could be an obstacle for doing that.
Worded another way, the stadium could be built elsewhere on airport land leased to NC if both parties agreed to that. But baseball is the main sport at NC, with the most student athletes, and the stadium will be very expensive, so NC prefers to build it on land they own rather than on land they lease from SMAA. Unfortunately, it cannot be built entirely on NC owned land because the amount of NC owned land is insufficient for the stadium and the ball field. The NC owned land has no street access off US41 or University Parkway, no auto parking, utilities, drainage, etc. So, their plan is to make the stadium dependent upon use of airport land for the stadium’s entire life, extending beyond the end of their lease of airport land. That sets up a bad future situation if the airport ever wants to use its land for airport uses; that would make the NC baseball field useless by eliminating much of the outfield. The SMAA is creating a situation where they “must sell land to NC in the future.” Both NC and the SMAA choose to ignore this issue now as they focus on their short-term interests. They may consider this future issue a feature, not a bug.
Building codes don't allow new construction without street access and parking on its own land, but NC is exempt from local land use and zoning requirements (why?) and the SMAA is not objecting (why?). NC and SMAA boards and administrators continue to pursue the short-term interests of NC over the long- term interests of the airport, even after the FAA rejected the sale of airport land because the airport may want that land someday for airport uses. Apparently, this is what those who appointed both NC and SMAA governing boards want them to do; keep taking actions to make it more and more difficult for the airport to ever recover its land from NC.
This issue was dormant as only a depiction on the NC Master Plan which was subject to change. The issue is now active because funding for the baseball stadium has now become available so design can begin soon. Carlos Beruff, the longest serving and dominant SMAA board member, donated $1M to NC to construct a baseball stadium with his name on it. The SMAA president has written that "nothing nefarious going on here" and “When allegations of corruption are published in some media outlets without a scintilla of evidence…and based on merely one person’s opinion – the end result…of such unproven allegations impugn public officials in an unnecessary manner.” A SMAA board member donating $1M of his own money to construct a baseball stadium and field proves the allegations I have made that SMAA board members are willing to advance the short-term needs of this airport tenant over the long-term needs of the airport.