You might think I'm nuts, but I think there will be summer college baseball. We already know the B1G want it and the Northern schools would likely support the move, but the kicker is that I think the Pac12 & SEC will favor the move and support it too.
Quick observations:
1. Fully half of the nation (the Northern Half) believes they don't have a real shot at a nat'l championship. If there is not even hope of success, fans have no reason to be interested, and the growth of the sport is hindered.
2. The season starts in mid to late Feb and even in the mid-south... it's friggin cold in Feb. How can you expect people to show up to support good ole alma mater with a foot of snow on the ground?
3. For a decent portion of the season you're competing with the most exciting part of the NCAA hoops season (end of regular season, conf tournaments, NCAA Tourney)
4. Perhaps the most important observation is that the conference networks show reruns from late May through the Aug. Live events drive sports ratings (read revenue) and right now about 1/4 of the calendar year has no live events. It's logical then to move baseball to begin the Friday after the NCAA Hoops Tourney in Apr and crown a Baseball Nat'l Champ conveniently right before the start of football season in late Aug.
Granted, there are issues & questions to answer to make this work such as:
Coordination with MLB draft
Timing of signing recruits
Loss of summer wooden bat leagues.
Regardless, I think that it happens in due time because:
1. The conference networks need content during the dog days.
2. MLB wants to increase the popularity of college baseball. MLB is on record as trying to increase scholarships and pushing talent to the college ranks (look at the most recent CBA) so they can enjoy ready made superstars promoted by the NCAA like their counterparts in the NFL and NBA.
*side note* a lot of people see baseball as a sport in decline, I think the MLB has an interest in promoting the college game nationwide not just the south and west.
3. There is far less competition for eyeballs in the summer which could lead to across the board attendance increases, higher tv ratings, and possibly turn baseball into a revenue sport at more schools.
4. Baseball players would have more time in class. If there ever was a sport that was designed to keep you on the road... baseball is it. I know the general theme is financial but, if the sport is moved to the summer, far less time would be spent out of class.

(05-03-2014 07:07 AM)Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:  1. The conference networks need content during the dog days.

Yes yes yes.

Something else to look for a little ways down the road, once "autonomy" is established:

"Alumni Leagues" in basketball during the summer--at least the Big Ten. I think t-shirt fans and alumni would watch sub-NBA-quality 29-year old Terps and Buckeyes and Wolverines etc once or twice a week during the summer.

Once the Big Ten blazes the trail, ESPN and the ACC may follow. (I'm not sure that the PAC or southern league basketball would be a break-even proposition.)

Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

not to be a downer & all but this would be too much of a slap in the face to the concept of a student-athlete for even the p5.

What happens to the July 1st date when a school can change Conferences like Louisville, Rutgers, Tulane, Tulsa are getting ready to do as an example ?Will it become revolving or changes made to move sports as each season ends like football, then Basketball ECT. and allow those conference affiliations become official at end of each sport. Currently You can't move until all sports events are done thus July 1.

(05-03-2014 10:11 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  What happens to the July 1st date when a school can change Conferences like Louisville, Rutgers, Tulane, Tulsa are getting ready to do as an example ?Will it become revolving or changes made to move sports as each season ends like football, then Basketball ECT. and allow those conference affiliations become official at end of each sport. Currently You can't move until all sports events are done thus July 1.

this is a very solid point. from a legal status it messes with the conference "season"

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

I don't doubt or refute that some schools in the south and west make money. But your response still doesn't recognize that since the SEC and PAC12 are now in the content business... they need summer content. I watch Big Ten Network all of the time and summer is HORRIBLE besides occasional replays of bowl games. The SEC and Pac12 will recognize this too.

(05-03-2014 09:40 AM)john01992 Wrote:  not to be a downer & all but this would be too much of a slap in the face to the concept of a student-athlete for even the p5.

How is this a slap? Most of the guys play summer ball anyway.

(05-03-2014 10:36 AM)Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:40 AM)john01992 Wrote:  not to be a downer & all but this would be too much of a slap in the face to the concept of a student-athlete for even the p5.

How is this a slap? Most of the guys play summer ball anyway.

for the same reasons the ivy league feels the bowls/conference tournys/10+ games is a slap.

you can only stretch the season so far before you start to get backlash for it. even with the SEC.

The timing could be interesting - do you have the season start in late March/early April and end in July? Do you push the season back far enough that it actually ends around the fall semester in August?

Just from the SEC, I could see Arkansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee possibly voting no due to overlap with the NW Arkansas Naturals, Lexington Legends, Nashville Sounds, and Tennessee Smokies (although the Smokies actually play a half hour away from Knoxville in Sevierville). The SEC Network certainly provides an incentive to push more of the season into the summer, so the SEC probably goes at least 10-4 in favor of it. .Some schools may leverage having a bunch of incoming freshmen on campus for orientation and have them take in a game.

MLB really needs to have its draft in the winter, not during the following season. This can make the draft a bigger event and provide compelling winter content for the MLB Network.

The collegiate summer leagues would certainly be a casualty, but this might allow some schools to start programs like Green

If this goes through , will the NCAA will do the same for softball?

(05-03-2014 10:11 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  What happens to the July 1st date when a school can change Conferences like Louisville, Rutgers, Tulane, Tulsa are getting ready to do as an example ?Will it become revolving or changes made to move sports as each season ends like football, then Basketball ECT. and allow those conference affiliations become official at end of each sport. Currently You can't move until all sports events are done thus July 1.

IMO, thats's a small detail. You could just as easy change the date to August 31st. It's sort of arbitrary anyway.

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

(05-03-2014 10:13 AM)john01992 Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:11 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  What happens to the July 1st date when a school can change Conferences like Louisville, Rutgers, Tulane, Tulsa are getting ready to do as an example ?Will it become revolving or changes made to move sports as each season ends like football, then Basketball ECT. and allow those conference affiliations become official at end of each sport. Currently You can't move until all sports events are done thus July 1.

this is a very solid point. from a legal status it messes with the conference "season"

It will probably become August 1, and the College World Series would be played in late July. This still gives the entire month of June to the conferences, if not some of July as well.

The last realistic date for conference changes would likely be August 15. This at least keeps it from encroaching on the start of football and volleyball. I would see this happening only if ESPN wants the College World Series (for baseball and/or softball) in the first part of August.

Even then, you have the wrinkle of the once-every-four years option of playing games during the summer on international trips. A school's TV rights could change hands during the basketball team's trip to Canada.

(05-03-2014 10:50 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

to be fair a costal school & midwest school have vastly different weather patterns when it comes to precipitation/temperature. even though stony brook did it, are the an anomaly that managed to punch through? or can schools in the north truly be at the same advantage as the southern schools if they just put the money into it?

personally I say there is no way, playing in a gym for spring practice is not the proper way to build a competitive team.

(05-03-2014 10:55 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:13 AM)john01992 Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:11 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  What happens to the July 1st date when a school can change Conferences like Louisville, Rutgers, Tulane, Tulsa are getting ready to do as an example ?Will it become revolving or changes made to move sports as each season ends like football, then Basketball ECT. and allow those conference affiliations become official at end of each sport. Currently You can't move until all sports events are done thus July 1.

this is a very solid point. from a legal status it messes with the conference "season"

It will probably become August 1, and the College World Series would be played in late July. This still gives the entire month of June to the conferences, if not some of July as well.

The last realistic date for conference changes would likely be August 15. This at least keeps it from encroaching on the start of football and volleyball. I would see this happening only if ESPN wants the College World Series (for baseball and/or softball) in the first part of August.

Even then, you have the wrinkle of the once-every-four years option of playing games during the summer on international trips. A school's TV rights could change hands during the basketball team's trip to Canada.

it's one of those things that is a tough thing to move. The benefit of july is that it allows teams ample time to brand themselves. If a conference was adding a new school they wouldn't be allowed to officially claim them until this specific date and vice versa. Having just weeks before the football season to do this isn't ideal. I was able to spend times at two different p5 schools when they made the official transition to a new conference ==> and I for one can tell you that they pimped the **** out of their new conference for months and ignored no opportunity to brand the move. I really don't see this date changing.

I think we see something where baseball counts separately under the legal terminology and schools can fill out their baseball season as an affiliate in the next (season) aka that immediate summer.

(05-03-2014 10:50 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

I will openly state that the B1G sucks at baseball, it's not exactly a secret. This post isn't about why the B1G is terrible. I'm not even saying that we are terrible primarily because of weather. All I'm saying in the post is that there is now a very real financial motivation for 60% of the P5 to move baseball to the summer.

(05-03-2014 10:57 AM)john01992 Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:50 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

to be fair a costal school & midwest school have vastly different weather patterns when it comes to precipitation/temperature. even though stony brook did it, are the an anomaly that managed to punch through? or can schools in the north truly be at the same advantage as the southern schools if they just put the money into it?

personally I say there is no way, playing in a gym for spring practice is not the proper way to build a competitive team.

Oregon State starts spring practice indoors. So do many other teams.

Indiana was in the CWS last year.

Kent State was in the CWS in 2012, the same year Stony Brook was there.

(05-03-2014 11:42 AM)Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:50 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

I will openly state that the B1G sucks at baseball, it's not exactly a secret. This post isn't about why the B1G is terrible. I'm not even saying that we are terrible primarily because of weather. All I'm saying in the post is that there is now a very real financial motivation for 60% of the P5 to move baseball to the summer.

They could go black in the summer and it wouldn't hurt their carriage rates. Replays and coaches shows give them enough content to avoid distorting everything else for a relatively minor part of their revenue.

(05-03-2014 11:58 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:57 AM)john01992 Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:50 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

to be fair a costal school & midwest school have vastly different weather patterns when it comes to precipitation/temperature. even though stony brook did it, are the an anomaly that managed to punch through? or can schools in the north truly be at the same advantage as the southern schools if they just put the money into it?

personally I say there is no way, playing in a gym for spring practice is not the proper way to build a competitive team.

Oregon State starts spring practice indoors. So do many other teams.

Indiana was in the CWS last year.
Kent State was in the CWS in 2012, the same year Stony Brook was there.

I feel like you're neglecting the central point. This isn't about the ineptitude of B1G baseball and making excuses for mediocrity. The point which you have not addressed is the interest of maximizing the value of the conference networks by having summer content. The Pac12 and SEC would stand to gain the most because their teams are better, their fans care more and would tune in. The fact that the B1G brought up the idea a few years ago (in a whining fashion might I add) didn't change anything about the structure of baseball except a uniform start date. What now has changed and why I think it will happen is not because the B1G wants it, but because of conference networks, the B1G, SEC, and Pac 12 will all want live summer events to broadcast.

(05-03-2014 12:45 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 11:42 AM)Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 10:50 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2014 09:07 AM)bullet Wrote:  Maine and Wichita St. and Nebraska can make the college world series.

B10 just hasn't put the money into it.

The SEC isn't going to support summer baseball when half their students are out of school. Baseball is close to being a revenue sport in some of the southern schools.

SUNY Stony Brook made the College World Series recently. If Stony Brook can do it, then frickin Ohio State should be ashamed to whine about the weather.

Oregon State has won two national titles in the past ten years. The best baseball teams in the Pac 12 this year are not ASU and UCLA, they are Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington.

I will openly state that the B1G sucks at baseball, it's not exactly a secret. This post isn't about why the B1G is terrible. I'm not even saying that we are terrible primarily because of weather. All I'm saying in the post is that there is now a very real financial motivation for 60% of the P5 to move baseball to the summer.

They could go black in the summer and it wouldn't hurt their carriage rates. Replays and coaches shows give them enough content to avoid distorting everything else for a relatively minor part of their revenue.

Carriage rates probably wouldn't change but advertising would go up. Advertisers pay more for higher rated programming.