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Why does the nation care so little about college baseball and so much about MLB?
Posted on 6/28/17 at 8:59 am
Posted on 6/28/17 at 8:59 am
College fans are absolutely passionate about their school, whether they attended it or not. They come out in droves for football and basketball, and both garner national spotlight attention. But baseball, which is a major sport in America, is mostly ignored.
I got home late last night and turned on ESPN and they were leading off with the big stories of the day. They covered some MMA nonsense and then started showing MLB highlights. The LSU - Florida game had literally ended about 30 minutes ago and not a word was mentioned. Nor was there anything scrolling at the bottom.
It's just confusing why college baseball hasn't become more popular.
I got home late last night and turned on ESPN and they were leading off with the big stories of the day. They covered some MMA nonsense and then started showing MLB highlights. The LSU - Florida game had literally ended about 30 minutes ago and not a word was mentioned. Nor was there anything scrolling at the bottom.
It's just confusing why college baseball hasn't become more popular.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:01 am to LSUZombie
Boy we live in the south, football is KING!!
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:02 am to LSUZombie
quote:
The LSU - Florida game had literally ended about 30 minutes ago
quote:
turned on ESPN
They probably figured most of the viewers were watching what happened not even half an hour ago.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:03 am to LSUZombie
quote:
College fans are absolutely passionate about their school, whether they attended it or not. They come out in droves for football and basketball, and both garner national spotlight attention. But baseball, which is a major sport in America, is mostly ignored.
I think it is growing but you are correct, the coverage is not there yet.
Look at all the newer, bigger college ballparks coming up around the country. Give it a few more years and we will see a rise in national attention.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:05 am to LSUZombie
I don't think people care about baseball period too much.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:10 am to LSUZombie
quote:
It's just confusing why college baseball hasn't become more popular.
The talent discrepancy is massive. Yes you usually have a couple of college talents that could perform average or better at AA, but college as a whole is just not as talented as even high A.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:12 am to LSUZombie
Actually I think when you look at MLB popularity you get your answer for college baseball.
MKB is NOT a nationally popular sport but rather a regionally popular sport. The areas that have good teams LOVE their teams, which leads to high profitability. The league is struggling with its national brand however because it just doesn't resonate region to region. Recently, the list of most popular sports figure in America came out and basically includes none of the top baseball players in it. This is baffling because the game has never had more young marketable superstars that not does now. The problem? Baseball is not a game made for TV. It's a game to take in either live or on the radio- both of which require proximity.
College baseball is wildly popular in regions for the same reasons.
MKB is NOT a nationally popular sport but rather a regionally popular sport. The areas that have good teams LOVE their teams, which leads to high profitability. The league is struggling with its national brand however because it just doesn't resonate region to region. Recently, the list of most popular sports figure in America came out and basically includes none of the top baseball players in it. This is baffling because the game has never had more young marketable superstars that not does now. The problem? Baseball is not a game made for TV. It's a game to take in either live or on the radio- both of which require proximity.
College baseball is wildly popular in regions for the same reasons.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:13 am to LSUZombie
The northeast tv market gives 0 fricks about ncaa baseball.
The south is its biggest market. Nola is actually the largest college baseball viewing market
Actually most northeastern cities don't even give a shite about college football other than gambling. It's all about the pro game
The south is its biggest market. Nola is actually the largest college baseball viewing market
Actually most northeastern cities don't even give a shite about college football other than gambling. It's all about the pro game
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:14 am to LSUZombie
I think you are grossly overestimating how much the country cares about college baseball outside of LSU baseball fans.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:19 am to LSUZombie
quote:
They covered some MMA nonsense and then started showing MLB highlights.
Both of those sports have hundreds of millions of fans across the world. College baseball has maybe 1/50th of the fans, and that is being conservative.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 9:27 am to LSUZombie
1. The major population centers generally don't care about college sports as a whole (places like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, maybe some of the larger cities in Ohio notwithstanding).
2. College baseball is largely a regional game because of the weather. You just can't have many home games in Feb/March in the northeast or midwest (or at least games that will be well attended)
3. The very best HS players generally forego college baseball for the minor leagues. Plus, unlike with the NBA and NFL, there is no "connection" between MLB and college baseball. With football and basketball, the best college players are selected by the pros and go directly to their pro team. The impact is immediate. With baseball, even the best college player isn't going to make an immediate jump to the majors. He could remain "hidden" in the minors for 1-2 years or more.
4. It's never really been promoted as a major sport
LSU is the unbelievably rare exception. And it's that way because the rise of LSU baseball couldn't have been timed more perfectly. As LSU baseball was ascending, football and basketball were descending. LSU football was dead in the early 90's. Basketball had superstars on the roster, but was underachieving. LSU fans hadn't seen a national champion in one of the major sports in over 30 years when Bertman won his first in '91. For the whole decade of the 90's baseball was the consistent thing LSU fans could be proud of while the other two major sports were shell's of their past glory
If LSU's run of great baseball started in the 2000's vs. the late 80's/early 90's, I think it's popularity here would be slightly above it's popularity at places like Florida or Texas A&M. Something people enjoy when the team is winning, but not a must see event
2. College baseball is largely a regional game because of the weather. You just can't have many home games in Feb/March in the northeast or midwest (or at least games that will be well attended)
3. The very best HS players generally forego college baseball for the minor leagues. Plus, unlike with the NBA and NFL, there is no "connection" between MLB and college baseball. With football and basketball, the best college players are selected by the pros and go directly to their pro team. The impact is immediate. With baseball, even the best college player isn't going to make an immediate jump to the majors. He could remain "hidden" in the minors for 1-2 years or more.
4. It's never really been promoted as a major sport
LSU is the unbelievably rare exception. And it's that way because the rise of LSU baseball couldn't have been timed more perfectly. As LSU baseball was ascending, football and basketball were descending. LSU football was dead in the early 90's. Basketball had superstars on the roster, but was underachieving. LSU fans hadn't seen a national champion in one of the major sports in over 30 years when Bertman won his first in '91. For the whole decade of the 90's baseball was the consistent thing LSU fans could be proud of while the other two major sports were shell's of their past glory
If LSU's run of great baseball started in the 2000's vs. the late 80's/early 90's, I think it's popularity here would be slightly above it's popularity at places like Florida or Texas A&M. Something people enjoy when the team is winning, but not a must see event
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:01 am to Lacour
quote:
I don't think people care about baseball period too much.
this is correct. Baseball was bigger 40+ years ago, but now it's dying a slow death and losing out to other, more entertaining sports.
Demographically, baseball fans are much older, and once those old fans are gone, there won't be younger ones replacing them.
Look, I loosely follow LSU baseball because it's my school and we're very good, but baseball is a SLOW game with far too little actual action.
Fans nowadays (and not just millenials) want to be entertained, and young kids who play want to actually move around and do something. Too much standing around in baseball - it's just the nature of the sport.
A good personal example - I live it Atlanta and am 53, and none of my friends care much about baseball. We loosely follow the Braves because it's summer and nothing else is happening, but once football season starts, there's literally zero talk about baseball. ZERO.
This post was edited on 6/28/17 at 10:04 am
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:02 am to atltiger6487
For me personally....college baseball is much better to watch than MLB.
But I prefer college sports over their pro counterparts anyday.
But I prefer college sports over their pro counterparts anyday.
This post was edited on 6/28/17 at 10:04 am
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:07 am to LSUZombie
I couldnt imagine following a MLB season. Too long. I was somewhat relieved the CWS finally ended last night although I wanted one more game with Lange to bring home the hardware. It was a fun season but now on to the foosball.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:13 am to atltiger6487
quote:
this is correct. Baseball was bigger 40+ years ago, but now it's dying a slow death and losing out to other, more entertaining sports.
Well, you're just making shite up.
Mlb viewership is up like 20% from 2014.
Mlb baseball is far from a dying sport.
Last nights game is a perfect example of why its more entertaining to watch the pros, lsu got behind because of two simple plays that werent executed by the first baseman.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:35 am to Geauxld Finger
quote:
The south is its biggest market. Nola is actually the largest college baseball viewing market
Is nola really the largest college baseball viewing market in the country? That's pretty incredible. Is it the largest just when it starts getting towards the end of the season?
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:36 am to LSUZombie
Cities and areas with large populations love their MLB baseball.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:38 am to LSUZombie
Because when college baseball stats half of the country still is in temps in the 30's
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:48 am to LSUZombie
The talent level is so much lower than the other college sports, for obvious reasons. End of story.
Some of you may remember the only college baseball game on TV was the final game of the CWS on ABC wide world of sports, and nobody watched that. ESPN has made it *a lot* more popular.
Some of you may remember the only college baseball game on TV was the final game of the CWS on ABC wide world of sports, and nobody watched that. ESPN has made it *a lot* more popular.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 10:54 am to Jcorye1
quote:
The talent discrepancy is massive.
This is probably a large part of the answer. The quality of the games is light years apart. More akin to comparing Community College football to the NFL. Same game but vastly different speed, ability, talent, etc..
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