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RE: Premier P5 coaches unveil ‘New College Baseball Model’
(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.
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