Three days before the scheduled Braves-Marlins game, Fort Bragg Field "remained an active construction site" as large trucks "were entering and exiting the main home plate gate, including one hauling a dozen portable toilets to be set up around the ballpark," according to Michael Futch of the FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER. Workers "could be seen and heard cleaning up the pressbox area that sits high above the bleachers behind home plate." Air Force Capt. Tim Hubler said, "It's pretty incredible what they did in a relatively short time. They turned this place around from an overgrown golf course." The game will be featured on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast, and the net's banners "have been mounted to the pressbox, and throwback American flag bunting graces the upper portions of the sets of metal bleachers temporarily erected around the field." The tent for the ESPN's broadcast crew "can already be seen behind the left-field fence, by the scoreboard." MLB Field & Facilities Coordinator Murray Cook said that the playing field "is comparable to existing" MLB ballfields (FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER, 7/1). MLB.com's John Schlegel noted Fort Bragg Field on Thursday was announced as the official name of the temporary venue. The "pristine new ballpark is down to the final touches before its debut amid a perfectly patriotic backdrop." Recent developments at Fort Bragg Field "included the installation of a padded wall featuring logos for the Fort Bragg Game, the U.S. Army and for each of the units based at Fort Bragg." Cook said that the soldiers "have been there ready to pick pebbles out of the warning track or load sand, do whatever it is they need to do." Cook added that there "will be a crew of soldiers who will drag the infield after the third and sixth innings of the game as in any other MLB contest" (MLB.com, 6/30).
