Seems like this or something similar is coming. Now seeing coaches from low D1's advertising that "x" number of players from their program have gone onto P5s, or high level mid-majors. As well as coaches at that level passive aggressively posting about players being poached over the summer via their summer teams and/or training facilities. Seems inevitable.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Yes, that’s exactly where we are headed and I don’t think it’s good for college baseball. It’s only good for the very best players in college baseball. It’s a problem for everyone else. But you have to remember that this is what MLB wants and the NCAA (who is supposed to look after student athletes but never does) is complicit in what’s going on. There is only a fraction of schools that have the right combination of ingredients to compete for a CWS championship. Those ingredients being a rabid fan base, an institutional commitment to baseball, wealthy donors that give to baseball, top of the line facilities, a history of success, and above all a desire to play the game of being a professional sport disguised as something amateur.
The idea the NCAA once implemented the sit out transfer year and APR because players weren’t progressing towards degrees seems almost funny now. Now transferring from mid major to major conference (can’t call it P5 anymore) is the first step on the potential minor league ladder. There are players who have attended three schools in four years.
What I dislike as a fan is an underdog team like Kent State is very unlikely to make the CWS anymore. A team like Coastal is unlikely to win a CWS. Can Eastern Carolina, Southern Miss and similar programs survive long term in the new environment?
funny you mention Kent, was thinking that about them. I heard they were projected to do really well this year and didn’t do well at all.
@adbono posted:Yes, that’s exactly where we are headed and I don’t think it’s good for college baseball. It’s only good for the very best players in college baseball. It’s a problem for everyone else. But you have to remember that this is what MLB wants and the NCAA (who is supposed to look after student athletes but never does) is complicit in what’s going on. There is only a fraction of schools that have the right combination of ingredients to compete for a CWS championship. Those ingredients being a rabid fan base, an institutional commitment to baseball, wealthy donors that give to baseball, top of the line facilities, a history of success, and above all a desire to play the game of being a professional sport disguised as something amateur.
Didn't NCAA VS v. ALSTON ruling provide the opening for what we are observing?
"In a blistering concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh added that the sports traditions near and dear to alumni and others "cannot justify the NCAA's decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate," he said, adding: "The NCAA is not above the law."
@adbono posted:Yes, that’s exactly where we are headed and I don’t think it’s good for college baseball. It’s only good for the very best players in college baseball. It’s a problem for everyone else. But you have to remember that this is what MLB wants and the NCAA (who is supposed to look after student athletes but never does) is complicit in what’s going on. There is only a fraction of schools that have the right combination of ingredients to compete for a CWS championship. Those ingredients being a rabid fan base, an institutional commitment to baseball, wealthy donors that give to baseball, top of the line facilities, a history of success, and above all a desire to play the game of being a professional sport disguised as something amateur.
I agree that is where we're headed. Playing devil's advocate, I'm not so sure this would be a bad thing.
Not everyone plays college baseball with the desire and skills to play professional baseball. Many do it because they love the game, and the history of the game. Agree there is only a fraction of schools (" FBS"in the P4) that have the right ingredients to play for a national championship at the highest levels. There are many, many other schools that are on equal footing in terms of money, committment, etc....that could make an "FCS" model just as exciting. Honestly, I don't see it being that much different than the existing D2 and D3 championships. The NCAA would just be re-classify many schools back into the Division 1-A and Division 1-AA model, and hold an additional championship that would bring in more TV money...I think I just got the NCAAs attention. Call it whatever you want, but it can be done.
JMO
In fact, the schools with all of the ingredients that adbono says could license out their names to teams that pay their players as employees who entertain students and alumni. No need to be students. They could form their own league. And then the rest could actually have student athletes on scholarship.
@anotherparent posted:In fact, the schools with all of the ingredients that adbono says could license out their names to teams that pay their players as employees who entertain students and alumni. No need to be students. They could form their own league. And then the rest could actually have student athletes on scholarship.
I think you need to have student athletes to keep interest in watching. Otherwise it's just minor league baseball which doesn't have ratings.
@nycdad posted:I think you need to have student athletes to keep interest in watching. Otherwise it's just minor league baseball which doesn't have ratings.
@nycdad , I don't know, currently there is a lot of gray matter in collegiate sports.
The MBL (Metal Bat League) has a very strong following.
@nycdad posted:I think you need to have student athletes to keep interest in watching. Otherwise it's just minor league baseball which doesn't have ratings.
I've felt this way for a while. To me, the appeal of college sports is knowing the players and I had something in common and would both have degrees and a sense of pride for the same university. This current version of college athletics has lost a lot of my interest. Most of the P5 players I talk to don't even step foot in the classrooms. They have virtual classes and only use the baseball facilities and dining halls (sometimes).
Honestly, the way that the big-time sports are marketed across the country, I don't really think that anyone cares who the athletes are. Sure, current students, and maybe some alumni would feel less engaged if the players weren't "students just like them", but that is not really who the t.v. networks are appealing to. They assume it's not just people with connections to Michigan and Ohio State who want to watch the game. In other words, they are marketing it as professional.
Very few people watch D1 college baseball until the CWS, in most parts of the country - and not even then.
@anotherparent posted:Honestly, the way that the big-time sports are marketed across the country, I don't really think that anyone cares who the athletes are. Sure, current students, and maybe some alumni would feel less engaged if the players weren't "students just like them", but that is not really who the t.v. networks are appealing to. They assume it's not just people with connections to Michigan and Ohio State who want to watch the game. In other words, they are marketing it as professional.
Very few people watch D1 college baseball until the CWS, in most parts of the country - and not even then.
You're probably right. What I said previously probably isn't the case. People root for laundry. It's likely that people will root for the school they want to win, regardless of where the players come from, or if they're actual students.
