(02-09-2017 11:11 PM)p23570 Wrote: Not sure if it's the same in other places but in Norman the Baseball stadium seats 2,700 people and it's doubtful that many watch on TV. The Basketball arena holds 11,500 and there are some people who watch on TV.
Again for those not reading the thread. The issue was about why basketball seemed to be deficient in the South. It starts (NOT AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL) in High School. Football is usually the sport chosen by the top athletes because it carries the most prestige. Baseball season doesn't interfere in High School with Football Season except for Spring Jamboree's. Baseball comes after Basketball in High School in the South. Baseball at the local level gets more acclaim in small towns and rural areas than does Basketball. Therefore more kids choose Baseball as their second sport. By the time they get to college there is no distinction between the two, but football still gets the cachet and by a very wide margin on most campuses.
It's not about attendance. It's not about revenue. It's about where the best athletes choose to invest their time and talent. It's different in the cities. In the cities more kids choose basketball over baseball, although football is still the clear #1 choice for High School athletes.
Here's a history and economics lesson for those of you too young to know, but Basketball supplanted football and baseball in the hills of Kentucky, North Carolina and much of Tennessee. Why? Bottom land came at a premium and 100 years ago the economy was rural. It took up less space to play basketball and it was easier to find a level place to play than it would have been if you tried to build a baseball diamond or a football field. And, as with soccer today for the poorer kids, and most of the hill kids were poor, it was easier to get a pair of sneakers and buy a ball than it was to equip a baseball or football team. The towns were also very small down in those valleys so it was much easier to field a basketball team. And more importantly basketball season didn't come in the Fall when all hands were needed for the harvest or in the Spring when they were needed for planting. Basketball was played while things were fallow.
In the rest of the South football and baseball were more popular at the local level during the High School years. Baseball has faded some but not as much in the rural areas. Basketball has grown in the cities.
Florida is different. It's culture from mid state - South is more Northern and most of it located there since the 1960's. It is what it is. It's not unusual for more than a few SEC baseball teams to draw crowds in excess of 10,000 and some even larger than that.
My initial assertion had nothing to do with college crowds or with revenue. But the SEC has really strong baseball attendance and is a revenue producer for most schools. But by the time they get to college the reason SEC basketball suffers is because most of the kids in our region (especially outside of the cities) who have athletic ability have already chosen their sports. Basketball simply isn't the priority for most that it might be in Kentucky or North Carolina, or in parts of mid to South Florida, or in large cities like Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, Birmingham, New Orleans, etc. And many of those kids may wind up signing grants to play at North Carolina or in the Big 10. Again they do this because they just don't get a royal appreciation at local universities where the football players are Kings. It's not right, but it is what it is.