Where is Hog Baseball in terms of growth?

[chopsooie]

lowbren said:

Several years ago I brought my lifelong Hog fan wife to watch a game at Baum Stadium.

I would hope she is your lifelong wife!! ;D

[HomerHog®]

chopsooie said:

lowbren said:

Several years ago I brought my lifelong Hog fan wife to watch a game at Baum Stadium.

I would hope she is your lifelong wife!! ;D

Based on Drizzle's infield fly qualifications, they'll probably be OK.

[vandy05]

Thought I might add my two cents from a Vanderbilt perspective. I grew up mostly in Florida, though I did spend a couple years in Little Rock, and played baseball year around till moving to Tennessee. Like Arkansas in the early 90s, Vandy basketball in the 80s and early 90s was the greatest thing going in Nashville. Fans literally hanging out of the rafters at every game. With the Titans and an NHL team in town, there's a lot more big city style sports going on. It's really a shame that while new venues opened up, Vandy sports went through some really rough years, even by our standards. It's been very tough getting those sidewalk fans back, but Vandy baseball is starting to fill a niche. Unfortunately, we suffer with some the same early season weather as y'all do, but I think your spring gets nicer a little sooner.

I hope programs like Arkansas and Vanderbilt can continue to build college baseball. Even with the metal bats, I think it's a better game than the pros. Certainly each game is more important because of the shorter schedule. My visit to Baum this spring was spectacular. I'd love to see an upper deck go up top of the skyboxes. In Nashville started to turn things around with a new stadium in 2002. It was a good size for our program at the time, around 1500, but after Tim Corbin arrived we quickly outgrew it. We certainly don't have the room for a massive expansion, but the way our facilities are nestled together we can still go up and will have a truly unique stadium built into the side of the football stadium. The fanbase isn't huge yet, but it has a strong nucleus, and heck anyone professing to be a Vandy fan is going to be a good, loyal fan hands down. We already have a couple big moments: Worth Scott's 3-run homer with 2 outs in in the 9th to sweep rival tennessee and clinch a spot in the SECT for the first time in 7 years.

In situations like Arkansas and Vanderbilt, the product is already there. Fans need to be shown that baseball is another legitimate college sport. I know plenty of people who can't stand the NBA and don't have much feeling for basketball as a sport to play, but absolutely love college basketball. For all their faults, ESPN and the rest of television have really helped build college basketball into a marquee event. Likewise, college football is much bigger in some parts of the country than the NFL will ever be. Baseball in general suffers from a perception of a slow sport, or an old person's pasttime. While fans show up at games around the country, it is not a hot cultural event. The connection that needs to be made is that the things people like about college football and basketball are also significant in college baseball: amatuers/students, passion for the game, regional pride, no trades, loyalty, etc. Buying season tickets in the MLB is a huge commitment of time and money, but college baseball is considerably more affordable and really comes down to just a few more big weekends than football. 5 home conference weekends + 3 weeks or so of postseason play.

I think more TV coverage and better print coverage is necessary to bring more people to the product. Right now, most of the coverage is to fill a niche that the mainstream media mostly skims over and you see it in websites like Rivals, Scout, or Baseball America. Unfortunately, to get that information you have to be looking for it, and paying, in the first place. I've said plenty of times the SEC should take the lead in helping build this. Almost the whole conference has live streaming of home baseball games. Why not find a way to make these available on a larger scale. The smart move would be to create a conference cable channel, but heck, why not feed the streaming to current regional cable lineup. Coverage might be poor but you're going to get more viewership than reruns of last month's regional paintball championship or whatever else they air. The way schools like Ark and Vandy have it set up, you don't even need to send a crew.

After March Madness the mainstream college sports fan kills time with intersquad scrimmages and the drafts. College athletics is more about the the school than sport. It makes business sense to bring the already loyal consumer to the product, college baseball, that already exists.

[Charlie]

Good post. I'll just say: I'm not that concerned that baseball is a niche market. In fact I kinda like it that way.

[vandy05]

Agreed Charlie, that's part of the charm. I just want to be able watch more games on TV.

[lowbren]

chopsooie said:

lowbren said:

Several years ago I brought my lifelong Hog fan wife to watch a game at Baum Stadium.

I would hope she is your lifelong wife!! ;D

I still get misty thinking about it.

[freedomcounty]

I think a big part of our success the year Toops invented Razorback Baseball (Al Gore style) was the sweep at LSU that year. The media ate that up, and I for one was hooked. That was the first time I had ever heard a buzz on campus about baseball. That LSU series was the turning point for me in going from a fan that had been to some games to obsessed.

I think the LSU sweep got the ball rolling.

[Tschepihawg]

I think Hog baseball is almost maxed out in NWA/Fort Smith, but there is plenty of room for growth with the rest of the Razorback fanbase in other parts of the state and nearby.

I'm still curious what impact, if any, the new minor league team will have.

The Travs have really improved their attendance with the new stadium in NLR. Maybe that will translate to more baseball fans (and Hog baseball fans?) in central Arkansas? Just throwing stuff out there.

[vandy05]

What is the population base of the Fayetteville area? I know you've got a bunch of cities around there, but basically, how many people can get off of work at 6:00 and be in their seats by the time to call Sooie for a 7:00 game?

[HomerHog®]

baumer2 said:

I think Hog baseball is almost maxed out in NWA/Fort Smith, but there is plenty of room for growth with the rest of the Razorback fanbase in other parts of the state and nearby.

I'm still curious what impact, if any, the new minor league team will have.

The Travs have really improved their attendance with the new stadium in NLR. Maybe that will translate to more baseball fans (and Hog baseball fans?) in central Arkansas? Just throwing stuff out there.

I would strongly disagree that they are maxed out in NWA and the River Valley. There are tons of people who haven't tried it yet or are just discovering it. The Naturals will not hurt Razorback attendance in terms of creating a drop, but through better promotions, more games, etc., they will appeal to the person with a passing interest who I think is just beginning to notice Razorback baseball.

[georgecolevet]

Touching on something Vandy said. I love baseball. But the MLB has lost a lot of its charm for me because players move around so much. From year to year I have to try to learn the new faces and it's frustrating.

I think that is why College baseball is the best! For the most part, you have the same guys playing for 4 years, and you get to know them in a way you don't get to know the Pro players.

[Tschepihawg]

jschlut said:

baumer2 said:

I think Hog baseball is almost maxed out in NWA/Fort Smith, but there is plenty of room for growth with the rest of the Razorback fanbase in other parts of the state and nearby.

I'm still curious what impact, if any, the new minor league team will have.

The Travs have really improved their attendance with the new stadium in NLR. Maybe that will translate to more baseball fans (and Hog baseball fans?) in central Arkansas? Just throwing stuff out there.

I would strongly disagree that they are maxed out in NWA and the River Valley. There are tons of people who haven't tried it yet or are just discovering it. The Naturals will not hurt Razorback attendance in terms of creating a drop, but through better promotions, more games, etc., they will appeal to the person with a passing interest who I think is just beginning to notice Razorback baseball.

Other than the newbies moving to Benton County who for the most part have little to zero connection and only passing interest at best to the Razorbacks (including all sports), I haven't met many locals who aren't already aware or haven't been to Baum.

That's just my experience, which is definitely a tiny sample size. Plus, most of my interaction is within the WM supplier community, those who have only been here for a short amount of time and many who don't expect to stay permanently.

Vandy, last estimates I saw, the Fayetteville-Rogers metro population is around 385,000 people with another 275,000 in the Fort Smith area, so excluding the Sooner fans around FS, I'd estimate about 600,000 people live within an hour of Baum Stadium.

[chopsooie]

baumer2 said:

Plus, most of my interaction is within the WM supplier community, those who have only been here for a short amount of time and many who don't expect to stay permanently.

You need to leave that community.

[dadoshoat]

hawgleg said:

....I also think you can compare the baseball program to what the basketball program went through in terms of growth from the Sutton years to the Nolan years...

Having sat thru basketball games in Barnhill in the pre-Sutton years I would agree with your line of thinking.

Just a couple of additional points to ponder. Might the relatively short recent history of high school baseball in the state of AR also be a factor? What has it been, within in the last 15-20 years that a significant number of high schools began offering baseball again? (mine didn't - yes, the dinosaurs were extinct back then but just by a few years)

My thought here is that baseball does not have the same history and tradition going for it that basketball and football have in the minds of the typical Arkansan. Granted, American Legion summer ball has a long-standing tradition in the state. And, the advent of more competitive ("u-trip", etc.) teams is bringing more interest to the younger levels (still considerably fewer players involved however).

So, unless you fit into the demographic that played high school ball or were fortunate enough to perhaps play past high school, most of the ticket-buying public does not have the same knowledge, experience or tradition with baseball as the other "major" collegiate sports.

Just something to ponder. As we saw with the basketball program from the early 70's thru the mid-90s - success cures a multitude of ills and I have no doubt that the same would be true for Hog baseball.

[Dr. HeathHog]

georgecolevet said:

Touching on something Vandy said. I love baseball. But the MLB has lost a lot of its charm for me because players move around so much. From year to year I have to try to learn the new faces and it's frustrating.

I think that is why College baseball is the best! For the most part, you have the same guys playing for 4 years, and you get to know them in a way you don't get to know the Pro players.

I'll agree that MLB free agency has taken a lot of the charm away, but you're arguing that college baseball is more stable when at most you get 4 years. Of course the change in transfer rules may slow some of this down, but between that and JuCo guys there's not much stability in college.

The media guide lists 15 hitters that batted for us last season. By my count 8 of those have batted this year. Similarly for pitchers, I believe I get 6 of 12 returners.

I love college baseball, but I also like arbitrarily shooting holes in peoples theories. Sorry it was yours this time GCV.