Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

What makes you think baseball is gaining on basketball? Pretty sure over the last 50 years the trend has been the other direction.

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

Baseball is only a regional sport that is huge in the south. Because it seems to be so big in those areas peoples perception of the sport is somewhat distorted. College baseball barely gets a peep up north. But lacrosse and hockey are huge. College football and basketball will continue to be 1 and 2 and the other sports will continue to be a bunch of other sports in various regions.

(07-01-2019 12:55 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

Baseball is only a regional sport that is huge in the south. Because it seems to be so big in those areas peoples perception of the sport is somewhat distorted. College baseball barely gets a peep up north. But lacrosse and hockey are huge. College football and basketball will continue to be 1 and 2 and the other sports will continue to be a bunch of other sports in various regions.

You must have misunderstood when said “(baseball) lags so far behind as basketball”

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

Rising up....I guess winning the Atlantic division of the league every year since joining The ACC except one and setting the record for the best ACC conference record, qualifies as rising.

Even though Louisville had already been to three College World Series BEFORE The ACC I guess it qualifies as “rising up”....

(07-01-2019 12:59 PM)Garrettabc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 12:55 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

Baseball is only a regional sport that is huge in the south. Because it seems to be so big in those areas peoples perception of the sport is somewhat distorted. College baseball barely gets a peep up north. But lacrosse and hockey are huge. College football and basketball will continue to be 1 and 2 and the other sports will continue to be a bunch of other sports in various regions.

You must have misunderstood when said “(baseball) lags so far behind as basketball”

No misunderstanding on my part. Its a regional sport plain and simple, unlike fb and basketball. That's why baseball lags behind.

I don't think it will. Basketball appeals to youth because it is easy to play. Less equipment, less people, less time. You can play indoors or out. Baseball is a longer, slower paced game.

While I don't think it will catch basketball, I think it has definitely grown in the last decade

I don't really follow baseball that much, but I tune in more and more to the CWS. It is definitely fun to watch

(07-01-2019 03:03 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 12:59 PM)Garrettabc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 12:55 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

Baseball is only a regional sport that is huge in the south. Because it seems to be so big in those areas peoples perception of the sport is somewhat distorted. College baseball barely gets a peep up north. But lacrosse and hockey are huge. College football and basketball will continue to be 1 and 2 and the other sports will continue to be a bunch of other sports in various regions.

You must have misunderstood when said “(baseball) lags so far behind as basketball”

No misunderstanding on my part. Its a regional sport plain and simple, unlike fb and basketball. That's why baseball lags behind.

Except Michigan made the Championship

The West Coast does pretty good at baseball as well

The fundamental flaw for college baseball is the fact that the players in it, do not go directly to the Major leagues, like football or basketball. Even pro sports fans have a passing interest in the college hoops game, or football game, because they know that next year, the best of the collegiate level will be rookies in their league.

So I never see college baseball ever catching up to basketball. The 40 round draft, where high schoolers are also selected, make it way to removed from the big leagues for the common fan.


This doesn't mean college baseball can't continue to grow ... and it has grown. Or that it can't become a source of limited revenue for some schools ... like Women's Hoops has for some schools.

But the giant is football.

And the next biggest thing (while objectively not close to football) is hoops.

(07-01-2019 06:26 PM)EvilVodka Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 03:03 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 12:59 PM)Garrettabc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 12:55 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 11:48 AM)Garrettabc Wrote:  Hard to believe that the sport that is as American as apple pie lags so far behind as basketball even though I find the baseball NCAAT almost as exciting as March Madness. The ACC as a whole does well in baseball and has teams that have a history of success and some new blood teams (UofL) that are rising up. What’s missing? The biggest difference to me is the student support. You can get hundreds if not thousands of students to a football or basketball game, but not baseball. What to do about that?

Baseball is only a regional sport that is huge in the south. Because it seems to be so big in those areas peoples perception of the sport is somewhat distorted. College baseball barely gets a peep up north. But lacrosse and hockey are huge. College football and basketball will continue to be 1 and 2 and the other sports will continue to be a bunch of other sports in various regions.

You must have misunderstood when said “(baseball) lags so far behind as basketball”

No misunderstanding on my part. Its a regional sport plain and simple, unlike fb and basketball. That's why baseball lags behind.

Except Michigan made the Championship

The West Coast does pretty good at baseball as well

So because Michigan made the championship, and the west coast is good at baseball, in your mind that makes it more a national sport like basketball? Look, I know that some of you guys are very passionate about college baseball, and that's fine. But its not a third national sport, nor is it a third revenue sport, no matter how much you wish it to be. There are actually other regional sports that get as much attendance and revenue as college baseball.

(07-01-2019 08:19 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  ...I know that some of you guys are very passionate about college baseball, and that's fine. But its not a third national sport, nor is it a third revenue sport, no matter how much you wish it to be...

When folks talk about TV revenue, the formula that's always tossed out is 80% football, 20% basketball. Since 80% + 20% = 100%, that leaves nothing for other sports - including baseball. Just something to do between the end of basketball season and the beginning of football season.

Perhaps I should ask, when or how could baseball become a revenue sport? It probably will never catch basketball, but what would it take to attract more fans to the ball park?

BTW- LSU averages about 15k fans a game (tops for something like 20+ years). For them and a few other schools baseball may already be s revenue sport.

Never. People prefer the campiness of minor league ball. Dollar beers, light-up guitar scoreboards, and biscuit mascots FTW.

We already make money on baseball at UofL. We are in our third of fourth season of season tickets. We had 34 regular season home games, only 17 were ticketed. This is directly from the email I received last fall encouraging me to buy season tickets.

“The 2019 reserved chairback ticket packages, which include one ticket to each of the 17 ticketed games, are priced at $110 for adults, $90 for senior adults/youths and $90 for families of four or more. Season tickets for the Left Field Berm are also available at $50 per ticket.”

Not sure if baseball is generating an income but UofL is certainly trying.

We offered these promotions this year:

Season Long....



Special Events....

(07-01-2019 10:34 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  We already make money on baseball at UofL. We are in our third of fourth season of season tickets. We had 34 regular season home games, only 17 were ticketed. This is directly from the email I received last fall encouraging me to buy season tickets.

“The 2019 reserved chairback ticket packages, which include one ticket to each of the 17 ticketed games, are priced at $110 for adults, $90 for senior adults/youths and $90 for families of four or more. Season tickets for the Left Field Berm are also available at $50 per ticket.”

Not sure if baseball is generating an income but UofL is certainly trying.

We offered these promotions this year:

Season Long....



Special Events....

It appears your athletic department is doing a good job marketing. I don’t recall any such promotions at FSU.

I think it is because baseball has a very established minor league system, unlike football and basketball, which has a minor league system, but it's not well known like baseball's minor league system. If baseball itself were a regional sport though, IMO, why are the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Mets, etc. all extremely popular up north?? I'd be willing to bet $5 that there would be more fans at a Red Sox or a Yankees game than there would be at a Bruins or a Rangers hockey game.

(07-02-2019 08:44 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I think it is because baseball has a very established minor league system, unlike football and basketball, which has a minor league system, but it's not well known like baseball's minor league system. If baseball itself were a regional sport though, IMO, why are the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Mets, etc. all extremely popular up north?? I'd be willing to bet $5 that there would be more fans at a Red Sox or a Yankees game than there would be at a Bruins or a Rangers hockey game.

We are talking about college baseball being a regional sport.

A few thoughts...(note, for disclosure I am a huge college baseball fan)

1. I think we will see a lot of ACC baseball games on the new network next spring. I believe we will possibly see some of the traditional weekend series that normally go Friday thru Sunday staggered to games on Thursdays and perhaps Mondays for televising on the network live. Probably not until late March at the earliest as March Madness winds down or perhaps in April once the focus on that completes.

2. One thing that hurts college baseball is the length of the games. Not only do casual fans lose interest because some games can and do go 4+ hours, but it is a pain in the buttocks for scheduling televised games. Throw in a weather-related delay and a network TV schedule is messed up. The best games for TV tend to be the 1st games of a weekend series when each team throws their aces. Those usually go quick with pitchers who can hit the strike zone and limit base runners and scoring. A weeknight game (normally non-conference) can last forever with Charlie Wholestaff for each team starting typically with a freshman and 5 or more pitching changes, each team scoring double digit runs, etc.

3. Basketball usually starts and finishes within 2 hours. Much more friendly time-wise for the casual viewer. I'm far more likely to watch BC play Pitt in MBB or WBB knowing the game will be over in a couple of hours - and, in truth, I can just watch the last 10 minutes or even less of the game and be entertained. While a BC-Pitt baseball game (that I typically have no rooting interest) could last for 3-4 hours. No thanks.

4. Baseball, even with major leagues, is a game that fans tend to attach themselves to a team and sticks only with that team throughout the season. I'm a Braves fan from birth. Over 50 years watching them suck and then the glory years I'm hopeful we are getting back to. I pay for the MLB.tv package since I'm outside the Atlanta regional TV market. Watch 140+ games online every season. I don't care to and won't watch a MLB game not involving the Braves until the playoffs. Yet, with hoops, I often watch lots of games that don't involve my favorite team(s). College baseball has roughly 55 regular season games before postseason. College hoops has about 30. One win or loss means more in hoops. And, it is one of the many reasons why I think American football is so popular - that is, because one win or loss in a 12-game (college) or 16-game (NFL) regular season means so much more as compared to other sports with larger number of regular season games.

5. Money. College baseball isn't playing for millions. Every game an ACC team advances in March Madness means millions for each of the conference members. UNC and Duke might torque me off during the regular season (and that's actually a compliment to their success over the years), but when it comes to March Madness I root for them if for no other reason their success means financial success to the entire conference. Same of course for all the ACC schools in March Madness.


edit note: I think one reason collegiate softball is rising in popularity among fans and especially TV folks is the games are usually fast-paced and completed in 90-120 minutes...heck, if you get two dominant pitchers, the game can be finished in closer to an hour...you can easily complete a softball doubleheader before 1 college baseball game is finished...good for TV

It seems most here are talking tv which is part of it, but the other part is attendance. I’ll address both with a few radical thoughts.

TV/Streaming - Maybe the ACCN will do this, but they should have Sportscenter style highlights, breakdowns and a whole game day experience. It just does not get enough hype.

Attendance - baseball is slow paced, I agree. It’s hard to keep me interested past the 6th, but I stick it out, so I can imagine how hard it is for everyone else. Really, to keep children and young adults amused at the ball park I think you need other things; arcade, carnival games, etc. For adults that have a little more patience, I’d say quit gauging us at the concessions. I never bought a thing there because of the price. Slash that cup of lemonade in half and I might be tempted to pay $3 for it. How bout a ballpark museum in the same concourse with a gift shop? Sometimes you need a break from the game.