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Can college baseball ever pass women's college basketball one day?
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:38 am
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:38 am
Interesting article about how college baseball has so much potential to grow its audience...
First, baseball as a sport is already popular. It makes sense that it should be easier to convince a current MLB fan to add in some college baseball to their viewing schedule
Second, the calendar looks good for college baseball. The College World Series starts in the middle of May, which is crowded with NBA and NHL playoffs, but not regular season games. By the middle of June, those sports are in their finals, leaving plenty of room for both softball and baseball to carve out a niche for their games.
https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/college-baseball-softball-best-bet-for-growth/
I think that one day college baseball may catch up to womens college basketball and pass women's college basketball and jump into the Big 3 (football, men's basketball, college basketball).
Right now isn't a great time though. The audience for last years women's basketball championship peaked at around 12.6 million. If Caitlin Clark is back in it this year, I wouldn't doubt if it gets up up to 18-20 million.
The College World Series also has never been hotter and set new viewership records last summer. At one point the championship game, the viewership was all the way up to 4.2 million.
College baseball is a great product, and I think one day it will pass women's college basketball and jump into the Big 3. It just won't be overnight though. College baseball just needs to keep a positive attitude and always remember where it came from.
First, baseball as a sport is already popular. It makes sense that it should be easier to convince a current MLB fan to add in some college baseball to their viewing schedule
Second, the calendar looks good for college baseball. The College World Series starts in the middle of May, which is crowded with NBA and NHL playoffs, but not regular season games. By the middle of June, those sports are in their finals, leaving plenty of room for both softball and baseball to carve out a niche for their games.
https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/college-baseball-softball-best-bet-for-growth/
I think that one day college baseball may catch up to womens college basketball and pass women's college basketball and jump into the Big 3 (football, men's basketball, college basketball).
Right now isn't a great time though. The audience for last years women's basketball championship peaked at around 12.6 million. If Caitlin Clark is back in it this year, I wouldn't doubt if it gets up up to 18-20 million.
The College World Series also has never been hotter and set new viewership records last summer. At one point the championship game, the viewership was all the way up to 4.2 million.
College baseball is a great product, and I think one day it will pass women's college basketball and jump into the Big 3. It just won't be overnight though. College baseball just needs to keep a positive attitude and always remember where it came from.
14
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:39 am to Violent Hip Swivel
quote:
College baseball just needs to keep a positive attitude and always remember where it came from.
what?
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:41 am to Violent Hip Swivel
quote:
football, men's basketball, college basketbal
hmmmm
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:41 am to Violent Hip Swivel
Here's the thing about womens college basketball. Even though the WNBA exists, womens college basketball is the pinnacle for their sport, which is why rating are infinitely higher for womens college ball compared to the WNBA. It's the only college vs pro sport that's like that. College baseball will never be the pinnacle of the sport of baseball. That said, more and more elite high school players are going to college ever year. The number of drafts picks getting cut in half and the development they receive now in college compared to 20 years ago has a lot to do with it. Many times, you have a much faster track to the majors if you played college ball as opposed to going pro out of high school. Add NIL (for the larger schools at least), college baseball is a much more appealing option for high school players than it once was. So I do expect the college baseball game continue to grow.
As far as ratings, College baseball also has the issue of having the CWS right in the middle of the NBA finals and Stanley Cup finals.
As far as ratings, College baseball also has the issue of having the CWS right in the middle of the NBA finals and Stanley Cup finals.
This post was edited on 2/19/24 at 11:46 am
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:41 am to Violent Hip Swivel
They view baseball as "not racial diverse enough", so it will never receive the same attention.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:44 am to Violent Hip Swivel
Sadly, it all depends on if ESPN wants to make it a priority.
If they'd rather air a WBB game over an intriguing college baseball game and place the baseball on ESPN8+, then the popularity of college baseball isn't going to grow.
Since ESPN has the WNBA for TV, it is in their interest to show WCBB games then then hope someone will continue watching any of the popular WBB players in the WNBA. ESPN has really reduced their baseball coverage compared to the days of Baseball Tonight airing nightly after SportsCenter.
If they'd rather air a WBB game over an intriguing college baseball game and place the baseball on ESPN8+, then the popularity of college baseball isn't going to grow.
Since ESPN has the WNBA for TV, it is in their interest to show WCBB games then then hope someone will continue watching any of the popular WBB players in the WNBA. ESPN has really reduced their baseball coverage compared to the days of Baseball Tonight airing nightly after SportsCenter.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 11:46 am to Violent Hip Swivel
0.5/10
Posted on 2/19/24 at 12:24 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
College baseball is huge in the SEC and south/southeast in general and thats all the really matters to us.
The biggest issue facing college baseball nationally is simply the time it starts is way beyond any northern fans interest because their teams arent even playing at home generally speaking until sometime in March. They have to go weeks traveling out west and to southern locations just to play games. Hard to be a fan of a team when they cant even play at home for a month of the season to start every single season. As a by-product of that hardly any northern schools invest any money in college baseball, because why would you when you cant even get people to come to games for the first month of the season.
Of the Top 25 teams in NCAA tournament baseball appearances all time, only 2 of them come from northern teams. St. Johns who hasnt been to the NCAAT since after 2018 now. Minnesota who has only been to the NCAAT twice the last 12 years. So both those programs are relatively dead now on the national scene from the north. Michigan, UConn and maybe Notre Dame have more recent success getting in the NCAAT, but historically are pretty low on the totem pole for NCAA baseball still.
The biggest issue facing college baseball nationally is simply the time it starts is way beyond any northern fans interest because their teams arent even playing at home generally speaking until sometime in March. They have to go weeks traveling out west and to southern locations just to play games. Hard to be a fan of a team when they cant even play at home for a month of the season to start every single season. As a by-product of that hardly any northern schools invest any money in college baseball, because why would you when you cant even get people to come to games for the first month of the season.
Of the Top 25 teams in NCAA tournament baseball appearances all time, only 2 of them come from northern teams. St. Johns who hasnt been to the NCAAT since after 2018 now. Minnesota who has only been to the NCAAT twice the last 12 years. So both those programs are relatively dead now on the national scene from the north. Michigan, UConn and maybe Notre Dame have more recent success getting in the NCAAT, but historically are pretty low on the totem pole for NCAA baseball still.
This post was edited on 2/19/24 at 12:29 pm
Posted on 2/19/24 at 12:27 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
The fact that women’s BB is ahead of baseball is one of life’s greatest mysteries.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 2:46 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
No. Simply because of the lack of interest in the northern states in College Baseball. I wish ESPN would give College Baseball better coverage though. They provide 10x the coverage to Women's college basketball and softball.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:05 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
It is too regional of a sport to ever be very popular. Up here it is all about the pros. Why watch college baseball when you can watch MLB?
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:58 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
I love when fans with teams with crappy baseball programs try to poo poo on college baseball. They just show their arses.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 4:28 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
If ESPN would give it more coverage it would have more viewership than WBB. If they dissolved the sport I wouldn’t gaf
Posted on 2/19/24 at 8:25 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
Nobody cares about baseball
Posted on 2/19/24 at 8:26 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
I know no one that watches girls basketball!
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