(06-17-2013 02:07 PM)Freshy Wrote:  

(06-17-2013 01:26 PM)10miners Wrote:  

(06-17-2013 01:18 PM)Matrix Wrote:  For the record, I have no problem with El Paso hosting a baseball tournament, as much as I enjoy traveling, it would be a wonderful first time experience for me, I've never been to El Paso before, if all goes well, in November, I hope to have my first ever San Antonio experience when the Blazers take on the RoadRunners in football. I've been to Dallas/Fort Worth/Irving, Houston and Amarillo as part of my "Texas Travels" thus far, enjoyed every encounter. I'm confident that El Paso will not be an exception to the rule. Go for it if you can get it...

san antonio would also be a good host for it. But i was looking at Rice's baseball stadium and they only seat 5,368. They had the championships there. The new baseball stadium that El Paso is getting is gonna seat around 9,000. El Paso should easliy get atleast 6,000 for the tourny and what ever other fans come from other teams.. El Paso is also very close to Californa and arizona. It would get alum from the eastern schools to get a chance to see their school. Just something else to think about.

actually i dont think UTEP would get it, I was just thinking of it in my head.

Trustmark Park in Pearl hosted the tournament in back to years in 2011 and 2012. Given how people love college baseball in Mississippi, the tournament should have been an easy and successful venture. Pearl is near Jackson, and close to a good regional airport with service to nearly every town in CUSA. There are plenty of cheap, nice hotel rooms in Jackson, as well as things to do with the wife and kids. It should have been a home run. Yet, attendance for a Friday night game between Rice and Southern Miss only yielded 2600 in attendance. The tournament didn't lose money AFAIK, but it wasn't the runaway success it was expected to be either. I strongly believe that experience will lead to the conference preferring on-campus sites at schools with teams in the near future. I think this is a good strategy because CUSA is expanding from nine to twelve teams in baseball and will have some solid programs moving into the conference. It is an opportunity for many of the adds to make a quick impact in their new conference, so I expect to see some real enthusiasm these next few years as well as a successful bid to host from one of them. All of these factors are going to hurt El Paso's chances. The fact that Biloxi, Birmingham, and Charlotte also have or are getting new minor league parks themselves won't help.

No one in Jackson knew about it. They barely even advertised for it. I told people it was there those two years, and these were people who love baseball, and they were shocked because they hadn't heard and would have gone. That's why it failed.