quote:
Yes, but it will never come close to basketball. If you grow up in a large city, or even the suburbs, you'll see the fanaticism around youth/AAU/high school basketball. Culturally, there are just a lot more people interested in basketball in this country. I mean I enjoyed college baseball coverage this year, and I usually give zero fricks about college baseball, but it's growth will be measured. Nothing earth shattering.

I'm not sure anyone is here advocating that there will be Earth shattering growth. But for many regions of the country that don't have major league teams, collegiate baseball-provided ESPN provides sustained increases in coverage and visibility on its platforms as it is now-will continue to fuel a growth in the sport.

As far as a comparison to AAU and Youth Leagues, man...You haven't kept up much with the rise of travel ball baseball teams have you? It costs more $ to play and doesn't get the coverage but I assure you that travel ball teams and parents with pockets that are far, far deeper than AAU Teams are spending discretionary income to get their kids noticed.

Again, nobody's saying it'll be Earth Shattering. But growth is coming and that's not in question at all. My point is that comparing the sport's exposure NOW in terms of TV ratings to NCAA Men's Tournament games isn't logical and is only an opportunity for confirmation bias of a singularly held opinion of an individual.

It isn't merited in logic and doesn't hold up to scrutiny when discussed with facts and context.