Moving College baseball start date back, again?

4,532 Views | 46 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by MooseJr1994
96ags
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG


I don't understand the argument that this would help southern schools increase revenue. It seems it would be just the opposite to me.
aggietony2010
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I think the analysis of "regional host attendance" showing an increase in the later months is incredibly flawed.

You mean that teams that are doing well have their attendance increase?!? Wow! Shocker. Let's go ahead and have half the conference season when students are at home.
96ags
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
College baseball catered to the northern schools once before and it doesn't appear to have done much for their support levels. Why would this time be different?
Aggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Are we gonna move the start of football season because it's too hot in the South in September?

College baseball start date has already been moved up once.. Games used to start the 1st week of February.

And if you go into June that is going to greatly effect the college summer leagues. Which have a limited window as it is.
student attendance would suffer for games after classes end.. overall attendance would suffer IMO for regular season games played
Not a great idea
tjack16
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I think moving the season back a whole month is a bit much... but maybe moving it back a week or two wouldn't be too bad. Start last weekend of February and schools in the north should be able to host by week 2 or 3
TexAgs1992
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Huge fan of the idea for a number of reasons.

1. I do feel some sympathy towards the programs up north that spend the first four weeks traveling down south and to the West Coast to play games. It takes a toll on the kids. I know because a couple of my good friends played at Villanova and Siena and were apart of this experience.

2. Attendance would certainly see an uptick across the country. College baseball relies minimally on student attendance. But it does rely heavily on alum and families in many of these markets. Nicer weather up north will drive families across the midwest and Northeast to college games

3. Which brings me to my third point, minor league baseball is sadly going to take a huge hit due to COVID-19. There will be a sports void in many small-medium sized markets where teams go defunct. Think about SEC country alone. Fans in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Arkansas will be hungry for sports in the summer if there is no minor league baseball for a family of four to attend. This fills that void and even then some.

4. It's hot in June and doesn't seem that much hotter in July across the South.

5. Weather delays are a fiasco at the beginning of the year. There always seems to be cancellations, postponements, and double headers having to be played often the first month of the season. I would presume a later start reduces this.

Looking at the big picture, this makes a lot of sense. Glad college coaches are coming together on this and presenting this as a possible proposal.
Aggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Moving the season up is not going to change the attendance of college baseball in areas affected by weather.
Fact is college baseball is just not that popular In those regions of the country .
96ags
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Quote:

3. Which brings me to my third point, minor league baseball is sadly going to take a huge hit due to COVID-19. There will be a sports void in many small-medium sized markets where teams go defunct. Think about SEC country alone. Fans in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Arkansas will be hungry for sports in the summer if there is no minor league baseball for a family of four to attend. This fills that void and even then some.
Then why involve colleges at all? Just let minor/independent/summer leagues take over that gap between high school and paid ball. They would have a baseball only focus and no NCAA to limit scholarships or conferences. They have better facilities in a lot of cases and can cater to the fans without having to deal with the red tape of a university.

The bottom line is that northern areas in general have not and will not support college baseball regardless of when it is played. Just like southern schools aren't jumping on the hockey band wagon. This is an attempt to move to the lowest common denominator in the name of equality.

The schedule was adjusted before to accommodate those schools and it made little to no difference.

College sports played outside of the academic calendar is a recipe for extinction in my opinion. I just don't think you are going to replace student attendance.
BQ_90
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
if that means less mid week games and better weekend series games I'm for it as a season ticket holder
twk
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I don't think it will do much to make baseball popular up north. It probably would be something of a wash down south--a longer season will generate a little bit more money, but it will also cost more, probably offsetting any increased revenue.

People who don't think July is hotter than June need to think again. Yes, it can get hot in June, it can also be only tolerably warm sometimes in July, but, on average, July is hotter than June--there's just no arguing that. The Florida MLB teams, the Astros, and now the Rangers, play indoors for a reason.
jkag89
How long do you want to ignore this user?
The real plan is revealed, northern schools will demand regionals based on the fact "it is too darn hot" to play down south in July.
ensign_beedrill
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Is it really appreciably warmer in March than in February? Come on. Those teams will still have to practice in February. It's not fair for them to have to do that. Start the season in late April at the earliest.

Where does it end?
jkag89
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Two weeks?
aggietony2010
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
And it's wrong to compare July to June anyway. The games being replaced are the ones in Feb and March, which are often spectacular weather, especially day games.
TXAggie2011
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
ensign_beedrill said:

Is it really appreciably warmer in March than in February? Come on. Those teams will still have to practice in February. It's not fair for them to have to do that. Start the season in late April at the earliest.

Where does it end?
The average temperature goes up like 10 degrees a month in a lot of those places. One issue is snowfall, which often peaks or is near-peak in February in much of the north but then falls off a cliff in March.

Also, I hate parades of horrible arguments...
W
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
for the classic 2011 regional final between A&M and Arizona on June 7th...

I believe the Olsen scoreboard thermometer hit 101 degrees
JDay
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I've lived in the midwest (KC Area) all my life and I can tell you with 100% certainty that changing the starting date will have no benefit for northern schools. If they wanted to compete, they would. KU, MU, and KSU have no interest in being competitive because the students and community don't care or know anything about baseball. Northern schools flat out don't care. The only reason they want to push the date back is in hopes of limiting the revenue of baseball programs in the SEC/ACC. Again, if they wanted to be competitive they would be. Iowa Western, Cowley, and Crowder at the JUCO level are top 10 programs. These programs go to Grand Junction on a regular basis and have success. Cowley won back-to-back NC's in 1997 & 1998 and plays in a conference that can compete with any in the country. The Jayhawk Conference in no joke. Iowa Western won 3 NC's in 5 years from 2010-14. The University of Central Missouri (UCM) and Emporia State have been very successful programs in division II since the 80's. Dave Van Horn wan a NC at UCM before going to Nebraska and Dave Bingham won multiple NC's at Emporia State in the 80's when they were NAIA. He then took Kansas to the CWS in 1993. Bottom line is that changing the start date will not change the value D1 programs in the north place on baseball. If they really wanted to compete they would. Since they don't, they want to screw it up for everyone else. That is what this is all about.
It is too bad the season was cancelled for a lot of reasons, but for this argument it would have been great to get some input from Aggie fans who would have driven 8-12 hours to see the Aggies play in Columbia last weekend in beautiful weather and get to pick their seats because there would be no more than 150 people at the game. Weather would not have been a factor. The fact that most of the community and students don't even care that they have a baseball program would. Changing the starting date would not change that one bit. Kids from this area know that and most choose to go south and play if they have legit D1 talent.
Anonymous Source
How long do you want to ignore this user?
S
W said:

for the classic 2011 regional final between A&M and Arizona on June 7th...

I believe the Olsen scoreboard thermometer hit 101 degrees
...in the third inning. Topped off at 103.
Gig 'Em
ensign_beedrill
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Anonymous Source said:

W said:

for the classic 2011 regional final between A&M and Arizona on June 7th...

I believe the Olsen scoreboard thermometer hit 101 degrees
...in the third inning. Topped off at 103.
Meanwhile in April

With the wind it definitely felt 10 degrees colder. We deal with cold, too. Had a game snowed out once. Tech played a game with no fans a few years back because the stands were iced over. It's not as bad as northern schools, but it's cold here in Feb/Mar, even April, too. But I think most of us would rather have games in this weather than games in July.
Hop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Staff
AG
TexAgs1992 said:

Huge fan of the idea for a number of reasons.

1. I do feel some sympathy towards the programs up north that spend the first four weeks traveling down south and to the West Coast to play games. It takes a toll on the kids. I know because a couple of my good friends played at Villanova and Siena and were apart of this experience.

2. Attendance would certainly see an uptick across the country. College baseball relies minimally on student attendance. But it does rely heavily on alum and families in many of these markets. Nicer weather up north will drive families across the midwest and Northeast to college games

3. Which brings me to my third point, minor league baseball is sadly going to take a huge hit due to COVID-19. There will be a sports void in many small-medium sized markets where teams go defunct. Think about SEC country alone. Fans in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Arkansas will be hungry for sports in the summer if there is no minor league baseball for a family of four to attend. This fills that void and even then some.

4. It's hot in June and doesn't seem that much hotter in July across the South.

5. Weather delays are a fiasco at the beginning of the year. There always seems to be cancellations, postponements, and double headers having to be played often the first month of the season. I would presume a later start reduces this.

Looking at the big picture, this makes a lot of sense. Glad college coaches are coming together on this and presenting this as a possible proposal.
California weather is great...and attendance is abysmal on the west coast. UCLA with all of its recent success is lucky to get 500 people at their games with some of the best baseball weather in the country.
TXAggie2011
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
There's another thread worried about some college baseball programs getting cut due to financial issues.

Not forcing programs that already lose lots of money on baseball to be on the road for 4 weeks would make those programs more sustainable.


Its especially costly for northern schools to fly south to play each other. An example: Ohio State, Kent State, St. Josephs, Pittsburgh, Indiana State, and others all camped out in Florida to play each other to start this most recent season.
Aggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I wouldn't say 500 at California schools games ..
midweek games around 1000 and 1500-2000 at weeekend series

this year at the Southern California baseball Classic UCLA played 2 home games

# 5 Vanderbilt vs # 2 UCLA at 6pm on a Friday night with 60 degree weather and had 2215

Then they played TCU on Saturday at 2pm with again temps in the 60s and had 952 people

Sunday UCLA and USC played at USC and just over 2000 attendeed.

2000 is a really good crowd for California college baseball

UCLA super regional vs Michigan last year they had right at 2000 for each of the 3 games


Now NE schools.. yes 500 is a very good crowd .. even late in the season. So to me weather has nothing to do with it.
Aggie09Derek
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Schedule is fine like it is

Also allows college players to go play summer ball all over the country and get back and ready to go for fall ball/school.
TXAggie2011
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Perhaps moving the start to the beginning of March could be a nice compromise.

A lot of teams up north start to host games in mid-March when its time to start conference play. Moving the start to mid-March would allow them to potentially spend 2 or 3 weeks of non-conference play at home, or near home.
MaxPower
How long do you want to ignore this user?
If this happens, how long until we get a lid on Kyle?
94chem
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Let's start college football on 9/19. One bye week, and season ends on 12/12. Conference title games on 12/19. All minor bowls played between 12/21 and 1/10. NY6 played on NY. Semis on 1/2. Finals on 1/11.

94chem
How long do you want to ignore this user?
TXAggie2011 said:

Perhaps moving the start to the beginning of March could be a nice compromise.

A lot of teams up north start to host games in mid-March when its time to start conference play. Moving the start to mid-March would allow them to potentially spend 2 or 3 weeks of non-conference play at home, or near home.


As long as it's coupled with hockey parity, let's do it.
Hop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Staff
AG
Aggie said:

I wouldn't say 500 at California schools games ..
midweek games around 1000 and 1500-2000 at weeekend series

this year at the Southern California baseball Classic UCLA played 2 home games

# 5 Vanderbilt vs # 2 UCLA at 6pm on a Friday night with 60 degree weather and had 2215

Then they played TCU on Saturday at 2pm with again temps in the 60s and had 952 people

Sunday UCLA and USC played at USC and just over 2000 attendeed.

2000 is a really good crowd for California college baseball

UCLA super regional vs Michigan last year they had right at 2000 for each of the 3 games


Now NE schools.. yes 500 is a very good crowd .. even late in the season. So to me weather has nothing to do with it.

If you take non-tournament home games into account, UCLA averaged 700 fans a game with no games over 1000 fans in non-conference play. And we're talking about a recent CWS winner and Top 10 program. I think my point is valid that simply weather will not significantly increase attendance at northern schools.
TXAggie2011
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
UCLA isn't lucky to pull 500. When conference play rolls around, they don't play games with less than 1,000 and will break 2,000 a number of times.

Long Beach State averaged over 2000 in 2019 and Cal Poly over 1500.

It definitely depends on the program out west and certainly depends on the program up north. And still would with a schedule change.

I still stay a big factor in this is travel cost.
ensign_beedrill
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
For another argument against:

I really like that conference tournaments are on Memorial Day Weekend.
Tex100
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
TexAgs1992 said:

Huge fan of the idea for a number of reasons.

1. I do feel some sympathy towards the programs up north that spend the first four weeks traveling down south and to the West Coast to play games. It takes a toll on the kids. I know because a couple of my good friends played at Villanova and Siena and were apart of this experience.

2. Attendance would certainly see an uptick across the country. College baseball relies minimally on student attendance. But it does rely heavily on alum and families in many of these markets. Nicer weather up north will drive families across the midwest and Northeast to college games

3. Which brings me to my third point, minor league baseball is sadly going to take a huge hit due to COVID-19. There will be a sports void in many small-medium sized markets where teams go defunct. Think about SEC country alone. Fans in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Arkansas will be hungry for sports in the summer if there is no minor league baseball for a family of four to attend. This fills that void and even then some.

4. It's hot in June and doesn't seem that much hotter in July across the South.

5. Weather delays are a fiasco at the beginning of the year. There always seems to be cancellations, postponements, and double headers having to be played often the first month of the season. I would presume a later start reduces this.

Looking at the big picture, this makes a lot of sense. Glad college coaches are coming together on this and presenting this as a possible proposal.
4. It's hot in June and doesn't seem that much hotter in July across the South.

I think it is.
falcon09
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
TXAggie2011 said:

ensign_beedrill said:

Is it really appreciably warmer in March than in February? Come on. Those teams will still have to practice in February. It's not fair for them to have to do that. Start the season in late April at the earliest.

Where does it end?
The average temperature goes up like 10 degrees a month in a lot of those places. One issue is snowfall, which often peaks or is near-peak in February in much of the north but then falls off a cliff in March.

Also, I hate parades of horrible arguments...
The 4 years I lived in South Dakota it always seemed like it snowed more in March than in February. A quick google search showed that several northern states still have 70-80% of their Feb snow fall in March. Not a big enough difference in my opinion to push the regionals into June and CWS into July.
TXAggie2011
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I mean, in some parts, yeah. But there's what? 2 baseball programs in the Dakotas?

The snow definitely slows downs a lot through most of the rust belt and on the east coast. 50%+ reductions often pretty normal. And a lot of the snow comes earlier in March, of course.

Pushing the start even just 2 weeks gets most baseball programs out of the snowy season.
Captain Pablo
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Aggie said:

Moving the season up is not going to change the attendance of college baseball in areas affected by weather.
Fact is college baseball is just not that popular In those regions of the country .



You keep saying moving the season "up", but I don't think you know what that means
Captain Pablo
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Aggie said:

Are we gonna move the start of football season because it's too hot in the South in September?

College baseball start date has already been moved up once.. Games used to start the 1st week of February.

And if you go into June that is going to greatly effect the college summer leagues. Which have a limited window as it is.
student attendance would suffer for games after classes end.. overall attendance would suffer IMO for regular season games played
Not a great idea


There it is again

Moving an event "up" means moving it to an earlier date
Page 1 of 2
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.