This is a proposition and not based on anything I've heard or read.

But it occurs to me that we basically have 3 months out of the year where NCAA sports do not occur. Given the economics of today's college sports, it makes sense to utilize this time of year to get your schools in front of audiences and prospective students.

The calendar currently looks like this as far as what has become marketable for the NCAA:

Fall = football season
Winter = basketball season
Spring = baseball and softball seasons

What if we used the Summer months to conduct a completely different set of sports? Sports that would be good for television but are crowded out at other times of the year?

I honestly think you could anchor this time of year with soccer...both men's and women's.

1. This time of year runs concurrent with the MLS season.
2. Warm weather for fans to come out although obviously some parts of the country are hotter than others.
3. Open broadcasts windows for one of the fastest growing sports in the country
4. You don't have to take away dedicated broadcast space from other sports that have proven to be more popular for fans.
5. Many students are in school year round now.

Thoughts?

You do understand that they are student athletes and kids need to be in school for the model to work,both from an athlete and fan perspective


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(04-02-2019 03:56 PM)indianasniff Wrote:  You do understand that they are student athletes and kids need to be in school for the model to work,both from an athlete and fan perspective


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In principle, yes, but students are generally done before the end of the spring season, and fall practices are taking place before most students return to campus.

I'm not sure where I stand on summer college sports, but if "kids need to be in school" is a requirement, then practice shouldn't start until the first day of the fall semester and the spring playoffs should be done and dusted by sometime in May.

(04-02-2019 03:56 PM)indianasniff Wrote:  You do understand that they are student athletes and kids need to be in school for the model to work,both from an athlete and fan perspective


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I've never heard of a college that doesn't offer Summer courses.

More to the point, most student athletes are already enrolled in Summer courses to help maintain eligibility or reduce their stress load when their actual sport is in session. All you'd have to do is adjust the calendar a bit for the athletes of any sport selected to be played during those months.

It's workable. It's just a matter of whether or not it would be worth the effort.

(04-02-2019 04:39 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(04-02-2019 03:56 PM)indianasniff Wrote:  You do understand that they are student athletes and kids need to be in school for the model to work,both from an athlete and fan perspective


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I've never heard of a college that doesn't offer Summer courses.

More to the point, most student athletes are already enrolled in Summer courses to help maintain eligibility or reduce their stress load when their actual sport is in session. All you'd have to do is adjust the calendar a bit for the athletes of any sport selected to be played during those months.

It's workable. It's just a matter of whether or not it would be worth the effort.

Many college & universities run summer camps in all kinds of sports for middle schoolers and high schoolers. That's how they get to know a considerable amount of their future recruits.

Football, soccer, etc. start reporting to campuses by mid-August for practices. There really isn't a huge summer break from campuses.

There's no financial incentive to do this.

Even pro sports don't crowd the summer, because TV viewing is lowest in summertime. The NBA finals end in early to mid June, the NFL regular season starts after Labor Day (and was pushed back one week several years ago).

MLS TV rights aren't that valuable. The TV contract only looks decent because US Soccer wrapped up MLS TV rights with the more valuable (because more viewers) rights for national team games. So it's difficult to see a TV outlet paying much of anything for a hypothetical summer season of college soccer.

Many athletes are not on scholarship or only on partial scholarships and would have to pay tuition and room/board for summer courses. Men's soccer has 9.9 scholarships to divide among the entire roster of each team. Men's tennis, golf, and volleyball each have only 4.5 scholarships per team. A lot of athletes getting only 25% of a full scholarship would want to get a summer job rather than stay on campus year round just for a 25% discount on summer tuition.

I think they could start baseball in late March and play through June and then start the playoffs in July. Could act like minor league baseball. It would also allow colleges in colder areas to be more competitive growing the sport.

Basketball should start in December to avoid clashing with football. April madness would work out fine.


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(04-02-2019 05:13 PM)Wedge Wrote:  There's no financial incentive to do this.

Even pro sports don't crowd the summer, because TV viewing is lowest in summertime. The NBA finals end in early to mid June, the NFL regular season starts after Labor Day (and was pushed back one week several years ago).

MLS TV rights aren't that valuable. The TV contract only looks decent because US Soccer wrapped up MLS TV rights with the more valuable (because more viewers) rights for national team games. So it's difficult to see a TV outlet paying much of anything for a hypothetical summer season of college soccer.

Many athletes are not on scholarship or only on partial scholarships and would have to pay tuition and room/board for summer courses. Men's soccer has 9.9 scholarships to divide among the entire roster of each team. Men's tennis, golf, and volleyball each have only 4.5 scholarships per team. A lot of athletes getting only 25% of a full scholarship would want to get a summer job rather than stay on campus year round just for a 25% discount on summer tuition.

TV viewing is low during the Summer months, I understand. Nonetheless, MLB has a game in every market every single night. The bulk of the MLS season is during the Summer and the average crowds are decent.

I'm not suggesting playing college soccer during the Summer would amount to the revenue that football or even basketball generates, but right now it doesn't generate much of anything. It's crowded into the calendar like every other minor sport and the vast majority of fans never pay attention to it.

Meanwhile, the value of soccer as a spectator sport is growing. It's come a very long way in 20 years so the question is what might it be in another 20 years? Especially if football falls out of favor with more people due to fears over CTE?

Will the average college sports fan plop down and watch a ton of soccer? Probably not, but the average college sports fan probably doesn't do that for baseball or softball either. Nonetheless, those sports have gained popularity and marketability if for no other reason than they occupy a spot on the calendar that gains them exposure.

(04-02-2019 05:13 PM)Wedge Wrote:  There's no financial incentive to do this.

Even pro sports don't crowd the summer, because TV viewing is lowest in summertime. The NBA finals end in early to mid June, the NFL regular season starts after Labor Day (and was pushed back one week several years ago).

MLS TV rights aren't that valuable. The TV contract only looks decent because US Soccer wrapped up MLS TV rights with the more valuable (because more viewers) rights for national team games. So it's difficult to see a TV outlet paying much of anything for a hypothetical summer season of college soccer.

Many athletes are not on scholarship or only on partial scholarships and would have to pay tuition and room/board for summer courses. Men's soccer has 9.9 scholarships to divide among the entire roster of each team. Men's tennis, golf, and volleyball each have only 4.5 scholarships per team. A lot of athletes getting only 25% of a full scholarship would want to get a summer job rather than stay on campus year round just for a 25% discount on summer tuition.

It would probably be good for the conference networks, but not so good that it would pay the costs for the schools to make it work.

Baseball players won't want it. Most are on a partial and they want to spend the summer in a wood bat league.

Soccer players won't want it. Most are on a partial and they want to spend their summer playing in NPSL, USL 2, UPSL, USASA, etc.

Golfers won't want it, they too are on partials generally and they tend to load their summers up with amateur tournaments and that goes for tennis players as well.

Unless you are shifting these kids to full rides and giving them much longer practice and playing seasons to keep them from losing competitions the idea works against their interests.

(04-04-2019 08:53 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  It would probably be good for the conference networks, but not so good that it would pay the costs for the schools to make it work.

Baseball players won't want it. Most are on a partial and they want to spend the summer in a wood bat league.

Soccer players won't want it. Most are on a partial and they want to spend their summer playing in NPSL, USL 2, UPSL, USASA, etc.

Golfers won't want it, they too are on partials generally and they tend to load their summers up with amateur tournaments and that goes for tennis players as well.

Unless you are shifting these kids to full rides and giving them much longer practice and playing seasons to keep them from losing competitions the idea works against their interests.

And even then, if they were on full rides they would still probably prefer how it is now, at least in Baseball and Soccer. Soccer leagues like NPSL and USASA have more talent than the NCAA squads and will improve the players more.

(04-02-2019 06:16 PM)Big Frog II Wrote:  I think they could start baseball in late March and play through June and then start the playoffs in July. Could act like minor league baseball. It would also allow colleges in colder areas to be more competitive growing the sport.

There would be considerable pushback on that from the players, MLB, and the colleges themselves. The overwhelming majority of college players aren't enrolled in summer school because they are typically playing in the wooden bat leagues like the Cape Cod, Coastal Plains, etc. Then you also run the risk of draft eligible players leaving in the middle of the season to start their pro career after the MLB draft. It's not a hard decision to stick with the team for a couple more weeks if you are playing in the CWS, it's a different story if you are at midseason and have to make the choice of staying in school or collecting a paycheck.

(04-02-2019 05:13 PM)Wedge Wrote:  There's no financial incentive to do this.

Especially when there's more money for the schools and coaching staffs in hosting camps than for some of the sports themselves.