The Mississippi schools have been way ahead of the curve going back 4-5 decades in terms of making it fun for fans. I recall back in the 80's (and likely before that) the folks in Starkville had beer (and food) trucks pull up and stationed just outside the outfield wall where fans drank beer, razzed the opposing outfielders, but pretty much were harmless while having a great time. They could beyatch about balls and strikes all they wanted out there and the HPU/batter/battery couldn't hear them.

Not everybody drinks I realize, but it was a great way to get folks out to spend 3+ hours...not too entirely different than what the professional minor leagues do.


edit note: I do miss 96 cent pint beer nights at the old Salem (VA) Bucs home games back in the early 90's. 96 cents came from the local rock station (96.3 WROV, the Rock of Virginia) in Roanoke who sponsored games.

Miss. St. and probably Ole Miss. as well have great attendance. Whatever they do, other schools should take note.

By no means an excuse, but I think when you find a college campus where the city/area/region revolves highly around the university, you will find much better attendance...especially if/when successful. Take UVA, for example. There isn't much else going on in Charlottesville as far as competition to their baseball program. Same for most of the P5 for that matter. Yet, back when UVA was awful (and I mean AWWWWWFUUUUL), they might draw 300 fans and 200 of them were for the opposing team...and, nothing was competing against them back then.

Texas Tech for years has drawn big numbers for home baseball. But, there isn't much else going on in Lubbock all the time, especially between March and May. Then, you have Miami, Ga Tech, Vanderbilt, etc. Lots of competition for folks' entertainment dollars. Back when GT was rolling, attendance was very good. Since Vandy's rise to being a national title contender they of course draw well. And the folks in Coral Gables have normally supported their team pretty well. If BC Baseball stopped existence, I wonder if anybody in Boston would even notice though. (note, no offense to the BC faithful...just an example for illustrative purposes...GT baseball is horribly attended for the most part since the program nose dived about a decade ago)

(07-01-2019 02:13 PM)CardinalJim 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?

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”....

UL Pitcher made his major league debut for Tampa Bay the other day. He rose to the moment.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sp...600998001/

(07-02-2019 12:51 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 02:13 PM)CardinalJim 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?

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”....

UL Pitcher made his major league debut for Tampa Bay the other day. He rose to the moment.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sp...600998001/

Yes he did Mark. McKay is a great player. He wants to DH the days he isn’t pitching but not sure the Rays will let him.

(07-02-2019 10:11 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  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.

A-FREAKIN'-MEN.

This is a huge issue. And you can even see it on the Major League level compared to the up-and-coming Major League Soccer, where games only take 2 hours MAX.

Baseball takes forrrrreeeeeevvvveeeerrrrr ... especially college baseball.

Great point. I wish I had made it, especially since I ***** about it all the time.

(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.

Baseball isn't a regional sport, but college baseball is. MLB doesn't start until April and runs until October. College baseball, by the necessity of academic calendars, starts in January and runs until June. For northern schools, that means they mostly play on the road in warmer climates for most of the first half of their season. So while their baseball teams are either idle or playing down south, fans are flocking to their indoor hockey arenas.

(07-02-2019 01:47 PM)Pervis_Griffith Wrote:  

(07-02-2019 10:11 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  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.

A-FREAKIN'-MEN.

This is a huge issue. And you can even see it on the Major League level compared to the up-and-coming Major League Soccer, where games only take 2 hours MAX.

Baseball takes forrrrreeeeeevvvveeeerrrrr ... especially college baseball.

Great point. I wish I had made it, especially since I ***** about it all the time.

And yet, if anyone proposes to go to seven inning games, baseball fans scream “Apostasy.” Baseball fans demand that the game never change even though it clearly has changed dramatically but slowly over the decades in ways that hurt its appeal. Do whatever it takes to shorten games to around two hours if you want to save the game.

(07-04-2019 11:16 AM)Hallcity Wrote:  

(07-02-2019 01:47 PM)Pervis_Griffith Wrote:  

(07-02-2019 10:11 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  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.

A-FREAKIN'-MEN.

This is a huge issue. And you can even see it on the Major League level compared to the up-and-coming Major League Soccer, where games only take 2 hours MAX.

Baseball takes forrrrreeeeeevvvveeeerrrrr ... especially college baseball.

Great point. I wish I had made it, especially since I ***** about it all the time.

And yet, if anyone proposes to go to seven inning games, baseball fans scream “Apostasy.” Baseball fans demand that the game never change even though it clearly has changed dramatically but slowly over the decades in ways that hurt its appeal. Do whatever it takes to shorten games to around two hours if you want to save the game.

In my memory, which admittedly has dimmed with time, games were about two hours long when I first became a Dodger fan in the 1951 season. Since then I've googled actual box scores that suggest they were actually more than two, but still less than two and 1/2 hours on average.

Back then equipment was simpler, and you didn't have all kinds of velcro accessories that somehow need to be adjusted after every pitch. You didn't have both pitchers and batters preening between pitches, knowing that a TV camera is on them. There were more complete games, and not an endless stream of relief pitchers.

This year, when watching the NCAAT, I pretty much just tuned in during commercials on whatever else I was watching, and found that very little action had transpired since the previous round of commercials. I can't imagine how bored I would get if I were actually at the ball park for one of those snoozefests.

(07-04-2019 10:47 AM)ken d Wrote:  Baseball isn't a regional sport, but college baseball is. MLB doesn't start until April and runs until October. College baseball, by the necessity of academic calendars, starts in January and runs until June. For northern schools, that means they mostly play on the road in warmer climates for most of the first half of their season. So while their baseball teams are either idle or playing down south, fans are flocking to their indoor hockey arenas.

Your overall point stands, but the college baseball season actually starts in February. Opening day this year was Feb. 15th.