The Durham Athletic Park, once home to the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team and a key location in the film Bull Durham may have a future as the home field of the new North Carolina Central University baseball team, according to a report in the Raleigh News and Observer. The ballpark, familiarly known as The DAP, was built in 1926, and has fallen on hard times since the Bulls moved to the new Durham Bulls Athletic Park in 1995. Now, however, NCCU is looking for a home for a new varsity baseball team it is planning to expand its athletic offerings as it moves up to Division I collegiate competition and the University and the City of Durham are currently discussing plans for the Eagles to play a 20-game season at the old ball park.

The Golden Eagles would not be able to play at the DAP for a year or two as needed upgrades and repairs to the field and the grandstand are made. The work on The DAP, located conveniently at the corner of Corporation Street and Morris Street, just a few blocks north of Downtown, may be funded by $4.4 million in voter-approved bond money that was originally intended to prepare the ball park to serve as an entertainment venue. Now, however, the funds could be used to install artificial turf in the outfield and build a new clubhouse with luxury suites, a new pressbox, and scoreboards, making the site ready not only for festivals and concerts, but also for America's passtime.

~ February 2006