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Baseball's Coming Back


KNCLZip

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I heard from a senior administrator that baseball will never come back. He cited costs of operation more so than scholarships and coaches salaries. He said the university was not willing to put money into the practice and game facilities needed to run class operation in baseball. He also cited the effect adding baseball would have on the Title IX relationship of men's sports expenditures to women's sports expenditures. In other words, not having baseball makes the ratios look better. They must be comparable.

 

I think we should have seen this coming when the owner of the Rubber Ducks offered to let the Zips use his stadium for most home games provided the university sink a half million dollars in locker rooms and offices needed to accommodate game day activities. The AD declined. Too bad.    

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This kind of tells you all that you need to know about baseball.

 

Quote

Division I-A baseball programs reported a median loss of nearly $700,000 in 2012, the highest among men’s sports, according to the latest available NCAA report.

 

http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/when-it-comes-to-college-sports-revenue-even-a-powerhouse/article_29eb808c-edd8-11e3-9f88-0017a43b2370.html

 

It's a huge money loser and in a city where there is a AA team a few blocks away, there just isn't a market for the team. The only way I see baseball returning is if the MAC makes it a mandatory sport, which seems unlikely. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/27/2017 at 4:30 PM, zippy5 said:

Too much travel when you have to start the season mid-February

On 2/27/2017 at 2:54 PM, 72 Roo said:

 

 

 

Well they should get rid of softball too. Too bad equality only works one way. Which is obvious if you look at the two ball parks. :rolleyes:

 

Something should have been done for northern college baseball years ago. Start the season later, end it later, no out-of-state non-conference games, forget the dream of "making it big someday" (being Superregional fodder to some southern school that has a bigger baseball scouting and recruiting staff than your entire university). A tough pill to swallow I guess, until you become the next CSU/Akron.

 

At least we still have club baseball. In some ways it (like club hockey) is more fun than the sanctioned college programs. 

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1 hour ago, Spin said:

 

 

Well they should get rid of softball too. Too bad equality only works one way. Which is obvious if you look at the two ball parks. :rolleyes:

 

Something should have been done for northern college baseball years ago. Start the season later, end it later, no out-of-state non-conference games, forget the dream of "making it big someday" (being Superregional fodder to some southern school that has a bigger baseball scouting and recruiting staff than your entire university). A tough pill to swallow I guess, until you become the next CSU/Akron.

 

At least we still have club baseball. In some ways it (like club hockey) is more fun than the sanctioned college programs. 

Ha club baseball. We had a good team until we found out the guy running it was pocketing our money and never officially made us a club. Good times

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Lot of interesting wording in this press release. At face, I want to say its the best of both worlds, but are they "club" sports or not? I have very little faith on having enough community sports to have them.."funded". Essentially a club team in the MAC sounds like a disaster, at least from a competitive standpoint. However, it does give students a chance to compete at no additional cost to the U, which seems like a win?

 

http://www.gozips.com/news/2017/9/19/general-university-of-akron-looks-to-bring-back-mens-baseball-add-womens-lacrosse.aspx

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I am excited to see baseball return, the press release was very interesting, and a lot of things could (should) change between now and then.

 

The first oxymoron is the term "fiscally responsible". Sounds great in theory, but we're talking about major college sports. There is no such thing outside of say, an Ohio State. Right away they're holding the program to a standard that no other program is held to (or could dream of attaining). Let's be honest here. And does "fiscally responsible" mean no travel to the Sunbelt in March? You know, like Softball does? 

 

The next point is non-scholarship, or only scholarships that are outside funded. That's great. But in the next breath, he wants the program to play in the MAC. Where the typical program has 6-12 full scholarships. So, we get our asses kicked every game and nobody wants to watch. Me personally, I would either fund the sport like the rest of the MAC, or stay in our lane. I'd much rather play the Malone's and Woosters as a non-scholarship sport then try to play the funded Eastern Michigan's and Northern Illinois'. Some think that's below Akron's status, but they are the same people who don't understand college baseball to begin with, so who cares what they think? They won't come watch us play WestCentral Nowhere State anyhow.

 

Quick question, does the MAC have a Mercy rule?

 

Canal Park. Great idea. I always thought that was a missed opportunity. But you put a lousy product in there, you could play in heaven and nobody would care.

 

Another note, we're only going to recruit in Ohio? First do you really recruit if you have no scholly's? And if you did have them, do you want to limit your recruiting to a state with more scholarship programs per capital than anywhere else? Is a kid from, say, Cincinnati that much better than one from say Hermitage Pa? What the hell's the difference? 

 

I'm excited, yet I see so many ways the University can FUBAR this to unimaginable new depths.

 

 

 

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The idea sure seems half assed... I get the endowed schollys or coaches etc.. lots of Athletic Depts  have them... but you either are a legit d1 school or not. The Athletic Dept bleeds cash....nearly every cent cut from bb ($700,000) went to cost of attendance stipends which were added... the Dept doesn't seem to be in a position to maintain costs, but probably still should be cutting things.  If they see this as a positive cash play, then it should be put into play across the board-- right?

 

 To build on Spin... I don't get the need to recruit Ohio kids -- unless that is just a fundraising pitch.. If the athletic program is now working off a D3 model, where sports exist to attract students, then I would be interested in the walk-on from Florida paying out of state tuition... god forbid an APS good student  or one of LeBron's foundation kids (both of whom get to go to school for free) is a recruit...that will screw the finances up!

 

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