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They drop money in it because THEY can make money, just not NCAA MBB type money or football type money. I believe that if it were truly about pride and reputation more schools would focus on WBB. There should be many more than a hand full of decent WBB programs in the country.Originally Posted by boxerdog
A prime example of what I'm talking about is the lack of interest in NCAA baseball west of Texas. Those schools simply don't care.
$EC Network profit checks drive the SEC baseball programs. . . .
Louisiana Tech University
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
They drop money in baseball because they have so much money they don't know what to do with it and still can't even spend it all. Check out the tens of million dollar surpluses some of these athletic departments are running.
You are right that WBB trumps baseball nationally.
- There are 50+ more DI WBB programs than college baseball programs.
- WBB averages much higher attendance than college baseball.
- WBB gets significantly more TV inventory than college baseball.
- None of our 4 NCAA Baseball Tournament games were on TV. All were online exclusives. Every NCAA WBB Tournament game is televised.
- WBB gets better TV ratings than college baseball.
- ESPN.com has a WBB section but no college baseball section.
- Who plays their national championship game at noon on a Thursday on ESPNU? College baseball.
But the limited number of decent WBB programs is not a money issue. It's a talent and scholarship issue. The reason there is only a handful of decent WBB programs is because the WBB talent pool is so small, and the WBB scholarship limits are greater than MBB (15 vs. 13). Thus the small talent pool is even more concentrated at the top few programs.
Last edited by Dawg06; 06-30-2016 at 04:05 PM.
NCAA Baseball Champions
2013 -- UCLA
2012 -- Arizona
2008 -- Fresno State
2007 -- Oregon State
2006 -- Oregon State
2004 -- Cal State Fullerton
Granted, attendance figures show that many of the California schools don't have high interest from fans, but there are several programs out west that draw a good number of fans. Hawaii, Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon State, and Cal State Fullerton all have good attendance, though they do fall well short of SEC attendance figures.
the bold, the beautiful, theprofessor
Although '06 does not agree, my point was that schools in Texas and eastward can put money into baseball and receive an actual ROI. I'm sure some of those you mentioned do well out west. As you know Miss State is not spending a gazillion dollars on baseball without expecting a ROI. Not sure even a very successful Texas Tech with more students and population could pull that off. Things seem to get worse for baseball among the Elite 5 guys to the west with Zona being the exception. No Regionals west of Lubbock this year was telling.
The big difference is that the SEC schools don't have baseball competition like the Pac-12 and other schools out west.
Arizona State baseball has to compete with the Diamondbacks. Any coincidence that ASU's last of 10 championship game appearances was the founding year of the D-Backs (1998)? USC and UCLA baseball have to compete with the Dodgers and Angels. Stanford and Cal have to compete with the Giants and A's. Washington has to compete with the Mariners. Colorado has to compete with the Rockies. Utah has a Triple A team in SLC to compete with. That gives Arizona and the Oregon schools a big advantage over their peers out west.
There's not a single SEC school within an hour and a half of any MLB team. UGA is the only SEC school that shares a media market with an MLB team. In most cases, (LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina) there's no MLB team in SEC states. Vandy is the only other SEC school that shares a market with a AAA team.
Take a look at the Mountain West. Every single MWC baseball program shares a market with either an MLB or MiLB AAA team.
SEC baseball is by far the biggest game in town. Folks who live within driving distance of Starkville have nothing else to support. Out West there is so much more baseball competition. That's why you see the differences in attendance.
Re: Hosting. The RPI formula is terrible, which is pretty much all the selection committee used to determine hosts. It skewed the SOS in the South's favor vs. the West based on only a few crossover games. Thus, an entire region of the country was penalized based on just a handful of games.
Last edited by Dawg06; 06-30-2016 at 02:43 PM.
FIFY
Texas, Florida, and Georgia have competition with MLB teams so I'm not buying that argument.
Since ESPNU is considered a premium station on my Comcast subscription I can only watch the game on some ESPN3 feed with only crowd noise and no play by play.
ESPN and Comcast are horrible!
There's not a single SEC school within an hour and a half of any MLB team. UGA is the only SEC school that shares a media market with an MLB team. In most cases, (LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina) there's no MLB team in SEC states. Vandy is the only other SEC school that shares a market with a AAA team.
Advantage D06
Haha! You didn't fix anything. The Rays and Marlins aren't even a blip on the radar in Gainesville. Not even close. Those teams don't even get any support in Tampa or Miami. Aggie baseball does not directly compete with the Astros. Texas A&M has their own media market and 64K brainwashed students. Georgia and Vandy are the only SEC baseball programs that legitimately have baseball competition in their respective markets. Out west it's the opposite.
You theory is based on the assumption that MLB and NCAA are going after the same fans. They are not. Been discussed and proven many times that not all college fans are pro fans and vice versa.
People out west (or in the NE) don't care about college baseball.
Very few people outside the ACC or Kentucky care about MBB in the SE.
It's a cultural thing.
He's got his fingers crossed, hoping the game goes past midnight. Then on the Belt website... "Coastal Carolina, a member of the Sunbelt Conference, wins national title!!!"
Good old Memorial Gym
Exciting ballgame. Coastal Carolina wins 4-3. Arizona had tying and winning runs in scoring position at end. Big South Conference gets a championship.
Karl Benson
Russell > Nike. Way to go COASTAL !!!
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