City Officials Mull Plan To Upgrade Dell Diamond Sound System

ROUND ROCK, TX -- City officials are exploring the idea of using hotel tax revenue to upgrade the sound system at Dell Diamond, home of the minor-league baseball team Round Rock Express.

The plan is to upgrade the aging 16-year-old sound system at the ballpark to improve the sound quality during games and music concerts.

“It’s loud in one area and you can’t hear in the other area,” Chris Almendarez, president of the Round Rock Express, told KXAN.

Given the spotty sound, city officials are mulling an expenditure of $350,000 from hotel occupancy tax funds to install a new system with the works--speakers and a new control room.

City officials are currently in the throes of using the funding source for soccer field enhancements, and are allowed to use the revenue source for other tourism-boosting initiatives.

Council members will take up the issue in earnest come Thursday, when they’re expected to vote on awarding a contract for the new sound system installation. Moreover, council members might also vote to spend another $500,000 to re-pave the stadium’s parking lot and install LED lights in the parking lot.

Plans for 2018 also call for a public vote on a $1 million expenditure for added and enhanced seating areas throughout the stadium.