Here in South Carolina, and most of the southern states, college baseball is bigger than even MILB. They don’t make much revenue, but the interest is definitely there. South Carolina’s baseball program is why Columbia went so many years without having a minor league team. Early last decade, South Carolina was selling out their 8,242 seat stadium for almost every SEC game.

I’m in favor of moving the season back at least a couple of weeks, maybe not the full month. I’m a College of Charleston alum. We have a pretty high-level program for our league, selling beer at the games. But who wants to go to a game in February? You could start the season the first weekend of March.

CofC “averaged” 540 fans this year (our stadium seats 2,000). But this was with so many home games in February. Except for a very few (schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, a few others), basketball is what almost everybody is talking about in February and what students are going to.

Most of the time the players on both teams are counted and even the staff. There are many games where half that number is probably more logical.

You’re also competing against high school baseball and softball in most of the nation in March through May. Minor league baseball and college baseball get two completely different audiences in most places. Minor league gets the casual folks just looking for a night out, college baseball the die-hard fans.

And in markets where there’s no MILB, things would be even better. UNCW basically has the entire Wilmington market to itself, other than a CPL team. They have a 3,500 seat stadium. Play some home games in June when you’re pretty much the only thing in town? You’d get bigger crowds.

Minnesota played 14 games in Feb and March at home this season at US Bank Stadium. I come back to this, and I know I am not in the majority, they are students first.

How do you "It's going to improve the attendance!' folks square the fact that it's going to push the season past when school is in session and student attendance, especially for mid-week games, drives attendance?


But yes, bullet is right that this is just the latest example of the Big 10's constant excuse-making as to why they aren't better in baseball instead of putting the blame where it belongs: squarely with the Big 10 schools lack of commitment.

(05-21-2020 08:57 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  How do you "It's going to improve the attendance!' folks square the fact that it's going to push the season past when school is in session and student attendance, especially for mid-week games, drives attendance?


But yes, bullet is right that this is just the latest example of the Big 10's constant excuse-making as to why they aren't better in baseball instead of putting the blame where it belongs: squarely with the Big 10 schools lack of commitment.

I don't personally think the season should be pushed back. I see why Northern schools would want this, but it's just too far into the summer when school is out.

What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is why support from southern and western schools too? What would they gain from this? I'm not understanding why one conference is being called out when there is more than just one conference supporting this change.

(05-21-2020 09:12 PM)cubucks Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 08:57 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  How do you "It's going to improve the attendance!' folks square the fact that it's going to push the season past when school is in session and student attendance, especially for mid-week games, drives attendance?


But yes, bullet is right that this is just the latest example of the Big 10's constant excuse-making as to why they aren't better in baseball instead of putting the blame where it belongs: squarely with the Big 10 schools lack of commitment.

I don't personally think the season should be pushed back. I see why Northern schools would want this, but it's just too far into the summer when school is out.

What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is why support from southern and western schools too? What would they gain from this? I'm not understanding why one conference is being called out when there is more than just one conference supporting this change.

Because it's the same song and dance we hear from the Big Ten whiners every couple of years. "It's not fair!" They alternate between whining about baseball's season and whining about there being no premiere bowls in the frozen north.


What this will do is kill baseball at a number of smaller programs that are hanging on by their fingernails already financially due to the increased cost in spending housing and feeding these players for an extra almost two months than they do now because the players instead of being at home for the summer or playing ball in one of the wooden bat leagues will now be on campus and the responsibility of the program. Nothing kills a non-revenue sport faster than increasing costs. SO instead of growing teh game it's going to shrink it even further.

Ok, some great points about costs and the affect it could have on cash strapped programs. Appreciate that perspective on things, Kaplony.

Here in Athens there is a team that's part of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, The Southern Ohio Copperheads. This would impact that league and I'd be a little bitter about that. It's good baseball and we get to see talent from around the country.

(05-21-2020 01:07 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Graduation day in spring semester at the University of Michigan is the first Saturday in May. The Michigan coach wants to keep playing "college" baseball for 12 weeks after the end of his spring semester. In other words, every time he utters the phrase "student-athlete", he is lying. His baseball players are just unpaid employees to him.

What the Michigan coach really wants is to prevent every other college baseball team in the USA from playing games until the weather is nice for baseball in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Which would benefit the student-athletes AS STUDENTS. Three to four weeks on the road is a lot more disruptive to the study of "student athletes" than playing games after final exams are over.

_____________________

(05-21-2020 09:12 PM)cubucks Wrote:  I don't personally think the season should be pushed back. I see why Northern schools would want this, but it's just too far into the summer when school is out.

We play summer sports either in the fall or the spring because a majority of students in the US do not attend class during summer session. That doesn't change the fact that baseball has been a summer sport in the US since before it evolved as a separate sport from rounders.

And unlike football and basketball, there is a well established pathway for young baseball athletes who are NOT interested in pursuing a college education to simply pursue baseball. A baseball season which is so disruptive of study during the Spring semester while they are defraying the cost of their attendance by playing varsity baseball undermines the pursuit of the college degree that is the reason many of them did not go pro out straight out of high school.

Quote: What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is why support from southern and western schools too? What would they gain from this?

The Western conferences tend to be more spread north to south ... the PAC-12, MWC, WCC all have "Northern baseball" schools in them, and they may well have some favors in the favor bank with some of their southern conference mates ... or current issues where some of their southern conference mates would be willing to barrel roll votes.

Which southern schools are supporting it? I wouldn't be shocked if there are some who would benefit financially from a two weeks later start, and if you want that, the way to get there is to get the ball rolling and then jump on board when someone proposed a compromise between the four week move and the status quo.

Quote: I'm not understanding why one conference is being called out when there is more than just one conference supporting this change.

Because it's the Big Ten. If it was Boise State or or Washington or Gonzaga raising it, the conference wouldn't be singled out.

(05-21-2020 08:51 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 07:55 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 03:07 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 10:14 AM)bullet Wrote:  Makes no sense for student-athletes to push it further into the summer. This is just another attempt by the Big 10 to justify their failure to achieve success.

I can understand the argument that it doesn't make sense for the student-athletes. If schools want to argue that their semesters are long completed prior to July and that's why they can't start the baseball season later, then that's fair.

However, the lack of success of baseball in the Big Ten is largely artificial due to the schedule. Of course the Big Ten teams are going to be weaker when they play at least the first 4 weeks of the season on the road and it's *entirely* due to the weather! It's not about the money or commitment from the Big Ten (see the facilities at places like Michigan and Ohio State) or the popularity of baseball in the North (as MLB's most popular franchises consistently include the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and Cardinals), but simply the weather during the college baseball calendar.

Now, I can understand why Southern teams may not want to give up that artificial advantage, but we shouldn't pretend that the fact that half of the country is inhospitable for baseball for the first month of the season doesn't have a huge impact on which schools perform well in college baseball and its popularity.

Wichita St. traditionally was very good in baseball. Maine, Kent St. and Oregon were making it in the college world series. The only reason the Big 10 went 40 or 50 years out of it was a lack of committment. They have the money. And there is talent.

Maine hasn't made it since they eliminated the geographic based regions (someone from the Northeast HAD to make it. Kent has been to the College WS ONCE. Oregon went ONCE - in 1954. Wichita State hasn't been since 1996.

I was thinking about Oregon St., not Oregon. They have 3 titles and 7 CWS appearances, 6 in the last 15 years. Wichita St. was a power for decades. They have 7 CWS visits, 6 between Michigan's 1984 trip and the next Big 10 trip (IU) in 2013.

Big 10 has 2 trips since 1984 (MI 2019 in addition to IU). Nebraska had 3 trips to the CWS in the 2000s, but from the Big 12. Michigan does have 8 trips, but none between 1984 and 2019. Minnesota has 5, but none since 1977. Ohio St. had 4 but none since 1967. Those 3 schools had 7 titles from 1953 to 1966. The rest of the conference only has 3 CWS visits as Big 10 members and none since 1972. If Coastal Carolina, Rice, Wichita St. and Oregon St. can win titles today, the Big 10 can if they put in the resources as they started doing in Volleyball which used to be dominated by Pacific schools.

There's no doubt that the B1G is investing in baseball. From 2010-2014, the conference got one at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. From 2015-2019, that number was 14.

But regardless of that number, having opening day for baseball on Valentine's day is silly.

(05-21-2020 04:43 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 04:31 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  However, anyone that's trying to argue that it's somehow better to start playing baseball in February anywhere other than Arizona or south of Orlando compared to the end of March is trying to protect an artificial weather advantage that *only* occurs in college baseball and doesn't exist at any other level of baseball.

Artificial weather advantage is BS. Oregon State has won the College World Series three times in recent years, from a campus that is cold and rainy the entire winter, and where they don't have a Michigan-sized budget for indoor practice facilities.

The real "weather advantage" for various college baseball teams is in where the recruits are. There are more top baseball players growing up in places where they can play travel ball year round or almost year round, that's the south, Texas, Arizona, and southern California. You can't fix that issue by taking the "college" out of college baseball.

The temps in Corvallis in February are much closer to, say, Raleigh or Norman than anywhere in the Big Ten.

(05-22-2020 08:46 AM)Go College Sports Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 04:43 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-21-2020 04:31 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  However, anyone that's trying to argue that it's somehow better to start playing baseball in February anywhere other than Arizona or south of Orlando compared to the end of March is trying to protect an artificial weather advantage that *only* occurs in college baseball and doesn't exist at any other level of baseball.

Artificial weather advantage is BS. Oregon State has won the College World Series three times in recent years, from a campus that is cold and rainy the entire winter, and where they don't have a Michigan-sized budget for indoor practice facilities.

The real "weather advantage" for various college baseball teams is in where the recruits are. There are more top baseball players growing up in places where they can play travel ball year round or almost year round, that's the south, Texas, Arizona, and southern California. You can't fix that issue by taking the "college" out of college baseball.

The temps in Corvallis in February are much closer to, say, Raleigh or Norman than anywhere in the Big Ten.

That's a silly comparison. It rains in Corvallis pretty much every day in the winter. I know a lot of folks from the east think every place on the west coast has the same weather as San Diego, but try again.

(05-21-2020 01:07 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Graduation day in spring semester at the University of Michigan is the first Saturday in May. The Michigan coach wants to keep playing "college" baseball for 12 weeks after the end of his spring semester. In other words, every time he utters the phrase "student-athlete", he is lying. His baseball players are just unpaid employees to him.

What the Michigan coach really wants is to prevent every other college baseball team in the USA from playing games until the weather is nice for baseball in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

It's just going to get worse next year.
How will the football players participate in the Thanksgiving weekend classics and study for and take exams the last 2 1/2 weeks of the season?

(05-22-2020 08:21 AM)Go College Sports Wrote:  There's no doubt that the B1G is investing in baseball. From 2010-2014, the conference got one at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. From 2015-2019, that number was 14.

But regardless of that number, having opening day for baseball on Valentine's day is silly.

As I said, that is a different question than pushing the season into July.

Honestly, I'm confused by the pushback here.

Other than the fact that college baseball traditionally finishes up in June, and no one ever likes discussing changing schedules, what is the point by point issue with this plan?

I'll expound on why it's a good idea.

1. Frankly, I don't care if the Big Ten or other Northern leagues benefit or not. That's wholly irrelevant. For one, I'm not scared. Secondly, it would actually be better for the popularity of college baseball if leagues like the B1G improved and it was more closely followed throughout the country.

One of the reasons basketball and football make money is because everyone cares about it. The average fan follows it even if they're not necessarily tied to a school. Take multiple regions out of the equation and those sports don't really make so much money. Baseball is a traditional American sport and should be able to make some money at the college level. If nothing else, with the removal of a ton of minor league franchises, there will be plenty of people looking for a local or fairly local team to fill the gap. The conferences, the schools, and the networks will all benefit from that sort of schedule change.

2. I'm still unclear as to why this is an academic issue. As others have pointed out, the travel during the Spring semester isn't exactly conducive to the best academic experience anyway. If you shift some of that travel to the Summer weeks then it allows more baseball players to focus on their schooling before taking so many trips.

3. Even if most schools graduate in May, the baseball players at most schools are already playing past that point. It's already happening. Many football players graduate in the Fall and continue to stay obligated through December and January for the postseason practices and games. What's the difference? More to the point, if we're only worried about the Seniors here(because most other athletes are probably taking Summer classes anyway) then is an extra month going to harm their job prospects? We already know it's not going to affect their ability to compete in pro baseball, but what about the guys that are ready to move on to other things?

Ok, what about the guys pursuing grad school? You can exclude them because they'll be continuing school.

What about the guys that will never play competitive baseball again in their entire lives? The guys that have played this game since they were little kids? Do you think an extra few weeks of focusing on baseball without worrying about classes is really going to bother them? I mean, I guess we need to hear from the players on that, but I have no idea why they'd balk at that up front.

4. Yes, most other students will leave town when the semester is over, but not all because athletes aren't the only ones that take Summer classes. Other students stay in town simply because that's where they live if they haven't decided to occupy a dorm...there's nowhere else to go unless they simply want to visit people back home. But again, how many of these students are attending games in February and March when the weather kind of sucks? The weather may be prohibitive up North, but as I said, it's not exactly pleasant down South on most days.

I'm not particularly stoked about sitting in 100 degree heat to watch a game in June, but I'm a heck of a lot more likely to do that instead of sitting in the cold and rain of February.

5. The overall revenue for these programs will increase across the country and that's the responsible financial move rather than depending upon other sports or student fees to generate adequate revenue. This two fold...greater ticket and concession sales along with more spots on TV that don't compete against other sports. Heck, even if fewer fans show up then they'll still get more TV revenue from this sort of schedule.

6. For the sake of the student athlete, training during the colder months is not best for them. It's simply not. That is not my opinion. For a skill oriented sport where your muscles and ligaments need proper stretching and activity, running around and then standing for any length of time in cold weather is bad for you. Show me evidence to the contrary.

7. The increase in revenue will make a greater case that baseball should be a head-count sport. Is it not better for the student athletes to have full rides across the board?

To be perfectly honest, I'm really struggling to see a downside here. Maybe you lose a few student attendees during the last few weeks because of school being out. I guess that might suck for the atmosphere, but given everything else that is gained; I think this is best for the game and the player.

(05-22-2020 04:27 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Honestly, I'm confused by the pushback here.

Other than the fact that college baseball traditionally finishes up in June, and no one ever likes discussing changing schedules, what is the point by point issue with this plan?

I'll expound on why it's a good idea.

1. Frankly, I don't care if the Big Ten or other Northern leagues benefit or not. That's wholly irrelevant. For one, I'm not scared. Secondly, it would actually be better for the popularity of college baseball if leagues like the B1G improved and it was more closely followed throughout the country.

One of the reasons basketball and football make money is because everyone cares about it. The average fan follows it even if they're not necessarily tied to a school. Take multiple regions out of the equation and those sports don't really make so much money. Baseball is a traditional American sport and should be able to make some money at the college level. If nothing else, with the removal of a ton of minor league franchises, there will be plenty of people looking for a local or fairly local team to fill the gap. The conferences, the schools, and the networks will all benefit from that sort of schedule change.

2. I'm still unclear as to why this is an academic issue. As others have pointed out, the travel during the Spring semester isn't exactly conducive to the best academic experience anyway. If you shift some of that travel to the Summer weeks then it allows more baseball players to focus on their schooling before taking so many trips.

3. Even if most schools graduate in May, the baseball players at most schools are already playing past that point. It's already happening. Many football players graduate in the Fall and continue to stay obligated through December and January for the postseason practices and games. What's the difference? More to the point, if we're only worried about the Seniors here(because most other athletes are probably taking Summer classes anyway) then is an extra month going to harm their job prospects? We already know it's not going to affect their ability to compete in pro baseball, but what about the guys that are ready to move on to other things?

Ok, what about the guys pursuing grad school? You can exclude them because they'll be continuing school.

What about the guys that will never play competitive baseball again in their entire lives? The guys that have played this game since they were little kids? Do you think an extra few weeks of focusing on baseball without worrying about classes is really going to bother them? I mean, I guess we need to hear from the players on that, but I have no idea why they'd balk at that up front.

4. Yes, most other students will leave town when the semester is over, but not all because athletes aren't the only ones that take Summer classes. Other students stay in town simply because that's where they live if they haven't decided to occupy a dorm...there's nowhere else to go unless they simply want to visit people back home. But again, how many of these students are attending games in February and March when the weather kind of sucks? The weather may be prohibitive up North, but as I said, it's not exactly pleasant down South on most days.

I'm not particularly stoked about sitting in 100 degree heat to watch a game in June, but I'm a heck of a lot more likely to do that instead of sitting in the cold and rain of February.

5. The overall revenue for these programs will increase across the country and that's the responsible financial move rather than depending upon other sports or student fees to generate adequate revenue. This two fold...greater ticket and concession sales along with more spots on TV that don't compete against other sports. Heck, even if fewer fans show up then they'll still get more TV revenue from this sort of schedule.

6. For the sake of the student athlete, training during the colder months is not best for them. It's simply not. That is not my opinion. For a skill oriented sport where your muscles and ligaments need proper stretching and activity, running around and then standing for any length of time in cold weather is bad for you. Show me evidence to the contrary.

7. The increase in revenue will make a greater case that baseball should be a head-count sport. Is it not better for the student athletes to have full rides across the board?

To be perfectly honest, I'm really struggling to see a downside here. Maybe you lose a few student attendees during the last few weeks because of school being out. I guess that might suck for the atmosphere, but given everything else that is gained; I think this is best for the game and the player.

No matter what side of the argument you are on, this is a great post! I'm for keeping it the way it is, but this post has my wheels turning.

Attendance, at least in the south, would be up across the board. It would give people things to do in late May and June when most are out of school and they aren’t ready to go on vacation just yet.

College baseball at most schools is even cheaper than minor league baseball. At College of Charleston you can buy a ticket to an entire weekend series for $14, $10 for 18 and younger. $7 for a single game.

My local minor league team charges one of the highest prices in A ball. $5 to park then a ticket costs at least $8 to sit in the bleachers out in left, $10-11 for the upper level, $18-20 for a field level seat.

The Citadel charges $8 for most games, $5 for youth. At least in my experience, most families only take their kids to 2-3 minor league games a year in most places. It’s a night out. And not a cheap one. Once you’re adding in 4 or 5 people, plus food, the price adds up quickly. In these next few years, with the recession we’re gonna be in, college baseball can take advantage of the cheaper price of tickets.

Even if you move the season back just 3 weeks, that gives you supers on July 4 weekend most years, then the CWS. The All-Star Game is held on that 2nd Tuesday of July. You could take that day off after CWS games the first 4 days, then Wednesday-Friday games. They’d be the only thing going on that Wednesday and most of that Thursday.

This would also grow softball even more. You could maybe move softball back a week to when the baseball season usually starts. Softball starts even earlier than baseball. Softball is an even tougher proposition than baseball in most of the country in February. Many of the top schools play the first couple weeks of their season in CA or FL, even a couple international tourneys.

(05-22-2020 04:27 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  7. The increase in revenue will make a greater case that baseball should be a head-count sport. Is it not better for the student athletes to have full rides across the board?

No, that would not be better for the athletes, even if it sounds like a paradox.

If college baseball was a headcount sport, there would be about 25 players on full scholarship. That change would require any college that has a baseball team to add another women's sport or two to account for the large increase in men's scholarships. Baseball and softball are already the most costly sports other than football and basketball at pretty much every college that has a baseball and/or softball team. Doubling the number of scholarships would make baseball an even fatter target for ADs looking to cut sports. It would be enough to motivate a lot of lower-revenue athletic departments to discontinue baseball.

(05-21-2020 04:38 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  Message to TCU, Vanderbilt and Louisville coaches Frank.

Don't like the weather at home early on? Hit the road then. Come out west. California and Arizona schools would like to host you.

Spot on. Sac State has regularly had some mid-tier to low-tier Mid-West programs come for a visit in the first month of the season. No reason the top tier can't do the same.

(05-22-2020 04:46 PM)cubucks Wrote:  

(05-22-2020 04:27 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Honestly, I'm confused by the pushback here.

Other than the fact that college baseball traditionally finishes up in June, and no one ever likes discussing changing schedules, what is the point by point issue with this plan?

I'll expound on why it's a good idea.

1. Frankly, I don't care if the Big Ten or other Northern leagues benefit or not. That's wholly irrelevant. For one, I'm not scared. Secondly, it would actually be better for the popularity of college baseball if leagues like the B1G improved and it was more closely followed throughout the country.

One of the reasons basketball and football make money is because everyone cares about it. The average fan follows it even if they're not necessarily tied to a school. Take multiple regions out of the equation and those sports don't really make so much money. Baseball is a traditional American sport and should be able to make some money at the college level. If nothing else, with the removal of a ton of minor league franchises, there will be plenty of people looking for a local or fairly local team to fill the gap. The conferences, the schools, and the networks will all benefit from that sort of schedule change.

2. I'm still unclear as to why this is an academic issue. As others have pointed out, the travel during the Spring semester isn't exactly conducive to the best academic experience anyway. If you shift some of that travel to the Summer weeks then it allows more baseball players to focus on their schooling before taking so many trips.

3. Even if most schools graduate in May, the baseball players at most schools are already playing past that point. It's already happening. Many football players graduate in the Fall and continue to stay obligated through December and January for the postseason practices and games. What's the difference? More to the point, if we're only worried about the Seniors here(because most other athletes are probably taking Summer classes anyway) then is an extra month going to harm their job prospects? We already know it's not going to affect their ability to compete in pro baseball, but what about the guys that are ready to move on to other things?

Ok, what about the guys pursuing grad school? You can exclude them because they'll be continuing school.

What about the guys that will never play competitive baseball again in their entire lives? The guys that have played this game since they were little kids? Do you think an extra few weeks of focusing on baseball without worrying about classes is really going to bother them? I mean, I guess we need to hear from the players on that, but I have no idea why they'd balk at that up front.

4. Yes, most other students will leave town when the semester is over, but not all because athletes aren't the only ones that take Summer classes. Other students stay in town simply because that's where they live if they haven't decided to occupy a dorm...there's nowhere else to go unless they simply want to visit people back home. But again, how many of these students are attending games in February and March when the weather kind of sucks? The weather may be prohibitive up North, but as I said, it's not exactly pleasant down South on most days.

I'm not particularly stoked about sitting in 100 degree heat to watch a game in June, but I'm a heck of a lot more likely to do that instead of sitting in the cold and rain of February.

5. The overall revenue for these programs will increase across the country and that's the responsible financial move rather than depending upon other sports or student fees to generate adequate revenue. This two fold...greater ticket and concession sales along with more spots on TV that don't compete against other sports. Heck, even if fewer fans show up then they'll still get more TV revenue from this sort of schedule.

6. For the sake of the student athlete, training during the colder months is not best for them. It's simply not. That is not my opinion. For a skill oriented sport where your muscles and ligaments need proper stretching and activity, running around and then standing for any length of time in cold weather is bad for you. Show me evidence to the contrary.

7. The increase in revenue will make a greater case that baseball should be a head-count sport. Is it not better for the student athletes to have full rides across the board?

To be perfectly honest, I'm really struggling to see a downside here. Maybe you lose a few student attendees during the last few weeks because of school being out. I guess that might suck for the atmosphere, but given everything else that is gained; I think this is best for the game and the player.

No matter what side of the argument you are on, this is a great post! I'm for keeping it the way it is, but this post has my wheels turning.

Its a thoughtful, detailed post, but its all wrong!!!

1. Moving the season past the end of the school year kills attendance. If the northern schools invest, they can succeed as Oregon St. and Wichita St. have. As some of them did in the past.
2. See #3.
3. For all but 64 of the 300+ teams, the season ends with the school year. This would push it back for everyone. For all but 16, it ends by the end of May. For all but 8 by mid-June. That's thousands of players whose career, travel or summer job plans get interfered with.
4. Wishful thinking. Less than half the students-less attendance. And the kids there will go out to the lakes or beaches on weekends.
5. There is no significant revenue outside the tournament. I don't know why late June, July gets more TV revenue than late May, early June. People are on vacation. That's why TV shows reruns. And with few students on campus, attendance and interest will decline.
6. Everybody is doing some training, even if its on their own, year round and there are a lot of indoor facilities.
7. Locally generated revenue will decrease. Title IX says there aren't going to be increases in scholarships in a men's sport.

Do they really need the season as long as it is with 60+ games? No. They play more games than they used to many years back. So they could delay the start a couple weeks. But they should not extend it. Its not fair to the players and decreases interest when the students are gone before the season ends.

Author from D1 baseball should be called out for using "P5" in title of his story. There are many, many examples in college baseball to dispel this labeling. If we sit back and say nothing about these statements it will only get worse. I count FIFTEEN out of the top thirty (March 2020 RPI) schools as so-called non p5.