Usually I like going and watching most of the other games too. Those matchups SUCK.

I don't want to watch UConn vs Louisiana

jja79 said:

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But there are other options and believe it or not some of us far away would enjoy having the Aggies come to our towns. Not to mention some great trips for others.

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Well, it's what it is.

What towns are you talking about?

We don't ever go anywhere for the first month other than Houston or Dallas.

We get to go as first pitch Little League weekend is the last weekend of February. Why does it have to be domed? Play it at Dodger stadium, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, or Vegas.

annie88 said:

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jja79 said:

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But there are other options and believe it or not some of us far away would enjoy having the Aggies come to our towns. Not to mention some great trips for others.

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Well, it's what it is.

What towns are you talking about?

We don't ever go anywhere for the first month other than Houston or Dallas.

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Topeka Kansas!! Bring it!! (And your heavy coats)

There are 2 tournaments in Phoenix every year. The one at the Rangers complex will have Nebraska, Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara and Vanderbilt. The other is run by Major League Baseball, has 8 teams but the field hasn't been announced yet. It's played at several of the spring training stadiums around town to accommodate the larger field. The chance of bad weather isn't zero but it's as close as you can get which is why 15 MLB teams have spring training here.

We need to just play at Globe Life every year going forward if this is what it's going to be like at Minute Maid/Daikin; just looked at their (Globe Life's) lineup for next year and it is ridiculous. Sucks because this was a great tournament back in the day, good memories.

It's not up to the teams is it?

jja79 said:

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It's not up to the teams is it?

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I'm sure these tournaments invite teams, but I'm also pretty sure they do so while coordinating with their respective conferences and the schools. Remember how a few years back our former coach didn't want to play TCU in the Arlington tournament, so we played Arizona State twice instead? That tells me there is lots of negotiation that goes on in order to get the tourney field, opponents, and game times set.

I would like to ditch the Houston tournament since the opponents have become so blah, but I fear turning down an invite would blackball us with the organizers going forward. It would be our luck to opt out of the event...only to see the folks in Houston immediately raise the bar for who they invite.

Luke The Drifter said:

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I hope we get out of the Houston tourney rotation soon. We never get more than one marquee opponent when we go there. I don't understand playing UH (or Rice, Texas State, etc.) on a weekend when they're readily available to play on a Tuesday.

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I liked it better when the formula was 2 local teams (Rice and UH back when Rice didn't suck), tu or A&M, another Texas School (TCU, Tech, Baylor), and then 2 fairly big name out of state schools (Lsu, Arkansas, Louisville, Ole Miss, State, UT, OU, OSU, etc).

Dream lineup for the Houston classic

3 SEC: A&M or Texas, LSU, Arkansas
3 Big 12: Houston, Tech, Baylor or TCU

tjack16 said:

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Dream lineup for the Houston classic

3 SEC: A&M or Texas, LSU, Arkansas
3 Big 12: Houston, Tech, Baylor or TCU

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We left the Big 12 for a reason. There is zero reason to play any State of Texas team except on a Tuesday night. The Southwest Conference nostalgia tour needs to be played only during the mid-week, at least until Baylor, UH, Rice, tech, and/or TCU significantly improve their programs.

My ideal Houston lineup would be to make it an SEC-ACC challenge

FRIDAY:
Texas A&M vs. North Carolina
LSU vs. Georgia Tech
Texas vs. Florida State

SATURDAY:
Texas A&M vs. Georgia Tech
LSU vs Florida State
Texas vs. North Carolina

SUNDAY:
Texas A&M vs. Florida State
LSU vs. North Carolina
Texas vs. Georgia Tech

But it appears the Houston tourney has some sort of obligation to invite Houston and/or Rice every year...which is what makes this event so much less appealing.

I was talking from a strictly attendance perspective.

I agree I'd rather have some variety. Would love to play some ACC schools like a Clemson, UNC, Miami, or FSU. But if I'm the Houston classic people I'd be trying to get SEC teams first, then big 12 and maybe ACC.

tjack16 said:

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I was talking from a strictly attendance perspective.

I agree I'd rather have some variety. Would love to play some ACC schools like a Clemson, UNC, Miami, or FSU. But if I'm the Houston classic people I'd be trying to get SEC teams first, then big 12 and maybe ACC.

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If you have attractive games involving A&M and the sips, attendance will take care of itself.

dermdoc said:

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We get to go as first pitch Little League weekend is the last weekend of February. Why does it have to be domed? Play it at Dodger stadium, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, or Vegas.

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There is one in Vegas now, last year (2026) Vandy was in it, next year (2027) LSU is in it.
2027 Lineup
LSU
Oregon State
Iowa
Arizona State
https://www.peak.events/livelikelou-lasvegascbc

tjack16 said:

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I was talking from a strictly attendance perspective.

I agree I'd rather have some variety. Would love to play some ACC schools like a Clemson, UNC, Miami, or FSU. But if I'm the Houston classic people I'd be trying to get SEC teams first, then big 12 and maybe ACC.

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None of the old SWC/Big 12 schools will draw flies, attendance-wise. Heck, no one goes to UH, Baylor, or tech games on campus...why would they go to their games at a neutral site?

From a business perspective, I would much rather have marquee match ups on the field...even if it means sacrificing a few tickets, beers, and hot dogs sold. Besides, if you invite February cold weather teams like West Virginia, Duke, Virginia, Nebraska, or Oregon, they'd bring more fans than Baylor or tech anyway.

Whoever booked the weekend series at Globe Life was very good at their job. That lineup was top notch.

A-A Ron said:

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dermdoc said:

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We get to go as first pitch Little League weekend is the last weekend of February. Why does it have to be domed? Play it at Dodger stadium, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, or Vegas.

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There is one in Vegas now, last year (2026) Vandy was in it, next year (2027) LSU is in it.
2027 Lineup
LSU
Oregon State
Iowa
Arizona State
https://www.peak.events/livelikelou-lasvegascbc

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That would be awesome. Pretty expensive for the AD though.

dermdoc said:

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A-A Ron said:

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dermdoc said:

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We get to go as first pitch Little League weekend is the last weekend of February. Why does it have to be domed? Play it at Dodger stadium, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, or Vegas.

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There is one in Vegas now, last year (2026) Vandy was in it, next year (2027) LSU is in it.
2027 Lineup
LSU
Oregon State
Iowa
Arizona State
https://www.peak.events/livelikelou-lasvegascbc

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That would be awesome. Pretty expensive for the AD though.

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If Oregon State, Iowa, and Arizona State can afford it...Texas A&M can afford it. Granted, those teams won't be giving up a lucrative weekend's worth of ticket, parking, and concession sales, but I would definitely be in favor of going to Vegas or Arizona or somewhere similar in lieu of going to Houston or even Arlington.

There are 2 tournaments in Phoenix. Nebraska, Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara and Vanderbilt in one in 2027. The other is run by MLB and has 8 teams so it uses several of the spring training stadiums.

jja79 said:

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There are 2 tournaments in Phoenix. Nebraska, Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara and Vanderbilt in one in 2027. The other is run by MLB and has 8 teams so it uses several of the spring training stadiums.

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I am all for it. Just can't see our AD opting for that over bussing to Houston.

I think that is a modern day example of when the AD asks a donor or donors to underwrite the trip.

If you are looking to beef up the non conference schedule why not play a Tuesday night game with the evil one's over in Austin. You could play it a neutral site like Ole Miss and Mississippi State do each year.

Buford T. Justice said:

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I think that is a modern day example of when the AD asks a donor or donors to underwrite the trip.

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If I was AD I would ask donors to give more to NIL. And play in Houston.

jja79 said:

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It's not up to the teams is it?

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I don't know but several teams that were there this past year are going back.

I'm guessing that there is a group of local teams (ex. A&M, Texas, TCU, Tech, OU) that have an open invitation every year.

dermdoc said:

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Buford T. Justice said:

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I think that is a modern day example of when the AD asks a donor or donors to underwrite the trip.

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If I was AD I would ask donors to give more to NIL. And play in Houston.

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If you're the coach at A&M and you can't recruit Houston unless you play 3 games a year against terrible competition in Houston then you don't need to be a head coach anywhere.

Play in Houston. But demand that the tournament finds better opponents or dump their sorry ass.

I see minimal reason to play in Vegas or Phoenix. Playing bad teams in Houston at least gives 50,000 alumni a chance to see you close to home.

The real issue here, as we've talked ad nauseum, is that we need to schedule better in general. Stop playing Tennessee tech and Oakland. If you're playing a neutral site tourney get 1 win, 1 good win, 1 toss up/challenge. That should be the schedule for that weekend. This year in Arlington was nails. Even last year when we **** the bed against oSu, etc was fine.

50,000 don't show up to the Houston tournament do they?

jja79 said:

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50,000 don't show up to the Houston tournament do they?

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Over the course of a 3 day weekend maybe depending on the matchups. I know the LSU/Texas game a few years ago had about 25,000 in attendance.

So with the right matchups over 3 games you could absolutely draw that many. They had over 61,000 in 2024 with Texas, LSU, Vandy, Texas State, Louisiana and Houston. (3 name brands that fans will travel for, and 3 that will draw a smaller local crowd)

I meant not 50K Aggies. When I lived in Houston I saw the same people I saw at BBP.

jja79 said:

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I meant not 50K Aggies. When I lived in Houston I saw the same people I saw at BBP.

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True. I think for the 2019 TCU game it was the most crowded I've seen at one of those for an Aggie and it was probably 15,000 if I had to guess. But that's also because it was a heated baseball rivalry at the time with two ranked teams and a Saturday night.

The big issue also is the timing of the tournament. Baseball fever doesn't really hit Aggies until spring break it seems and conference play ramps up. That last weekend in February and first weekend in March are pretty dead due to basketball

I think if maybe it was a week later (start of spring break) and 3 big matchups that fans were excited for you'd see almost 35-40k Aggies. You could even throw in a conference rival like LSU and count it as non conference like Ole Miss and State do

A-A Ron said:

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dermdoc said:

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We get to go as first pitch Little League weekend is the last weekend of February. Why does it have to be domed? Play it at Dodger stadium, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, or Vegas.

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There is one in Vegas now, last year (2026) Vandy was in it, next year (2027) LSU is in it.
2027 Lineup
LSU
Oregon State
Iowa
Arizona State
https://www.peak.events/livelikelou-lasvegascbc

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Peak Events runs the tournaments at Frisco, RR, Jacksonville, Vegas, and maybe one or two more.
LSU has an agreement with Peak to play in 5 of their tournaments over 6 years.

tjack16 said:

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jja79 said:

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I meant not 50K Aggies. When I lived in Houston I saw the same people I saw at BBP.

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True. I think for the 2019 TCU game it was the most crowded I've seen at one of those for an Aggie and it was probably 15,000 if I had to guess. But that's also because it was a heated baseball rivalry at the time with two ranked teams and a Saturday night.

The big issue also is the timing of the tournament. Baseball fever doesn't really hit Aggies until spring break it seems and conference play ramps up. That last weekend in February and first weekend in March are pretty dead due to basketball

I think if maybe it was a week later (start of spring break) and 3 big matchups that fans were excited for you'd see almost 35-40k Aggies. You could even throw in a conference rival like LSU and count it as non conference like Ole Miss and State do

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Speaking of timing, I don't know how much this factors in for everyone else, but this tournament is always smack in the middle of HLSR. At least this year it isn't during the BBQ cookoff, but I'd say there is a decent venn diagram of people that would go to this and people that are involved in HLSR (I know my wife and I are at least 2 of them…)

tjack16 said:

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jja79 said:

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50,000 don't show up to the Houston tournament do they?

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Over the course of a 3 day weekend maybe depending on the matchups. I know the LSU/Texas game a few years ago had about 25,000 in attendance.

So with the right matchups over 3 games you could absolutely draw that many. They had over 61,000 in 2024 with Texas, LSU, Vandy, Texas State, Louisiana and Houston. (3 name brands that fans will travel for, and 3 that will draw a smaller local crowd)

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Unless we're playing Texas, A&M doesn't have the baseball following that LSU and Texas have. Just because the Tigers and Horns drew that kind of crowd, it doesn't mean A&M will come anywhere close to that number.

Also, outside of The Whistler, no one travels to watch Vandy baseball…and absolutely NO ONE travels to watch Texas State, ULL, or Houston. Texas and LSU brought the fans that year, no one else.

If there are 3 weekends in Arlington like there were this year (and I don't know if that is an annual deal), surely we could land a spot in at least one of those.