CSUN Stadium Plan Gets $50,000 Donation

City and Cal State Northridge officials said Monday they have received the first major donation for a planned baseball and softball stadium to be built on the campus.

The Kings Care Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings professional hockey team, has contributed $50,000 to the $1.8-million facility, said Steven Soboroff, president of the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission, who has been the driving force behind the project.

Dubbed “Field of Dreams,” the vintage-style stadium will be home of the CSUN women’s softball team and the site of boys and girls youth baseball and softball tournaments, officials said.

“This will probably be the finest 1,500- to 2,000-seat stadium anywhere,” said Soboroff, who characterized the Kings Care donation as “an important first step.”

“Basically, walking into this stadium will be like going back 100 years to an old-time baseball park,” Soboroff said.

Although funding has not been entirely secured, Soboroff said he was confident that all the money would be in place by the planned May start date for construction. The stadium, to be funded entirely by private donations, will be owned and operated by CSUN but will be available for a variety of community activities, officials said.

Soboroff said Monday that he was negotiating with two Valley-based corporations to pay the lion’s share of the construction costs in exchange for the right to attach their names to it.

“This is a win-win for the community and the campus,” said CSUN Athletic Director Paul Bubb.

“For youth in the Valley to have a championship-level field like this is fantastic.”

The stadium is expected to be completed in October.