Ncaa baseball tournament 2022

[tulaneoutlaw]

Ecu gets to host, but is the only aac team in the field.

Sec and acc got 9 teams each. Pac 12 and big 12 5 teams each. The ACC has a legit gripe because NC St. At 32 rpi got left out.

Last four out were nc st, odu, Rutgers, and Wofford. All had an rpi of 45 or better.

Big winner in all this is the Sun Belt, which got 4 teams in. That league has done a better job positioning themselves than the aac imo. They are poised to challenge the aac for best of the rest in football and baseball for years to come. While we added metro areas with generally blah programs, the picked up strong college programs to augment their other solid programs. We will see how that plays out, but cusa didn't fare well relative to the belt over time.

[PeteRasche]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

[Poseidon]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

I would say no based on ESPN's lack of enthusiasm to broadcast even SEC baseball on anything beyond ESPN+. A weekend or so many SEC folks where pointing this out when ESPN and ESPN 2 were broadcasting obscure basically never to be heard of sports over top 25 SEC baseball games on Saturdays. Sure as a package it has some value, but I bet its negligible in the grand scheme of things.

[Poseidon]

Just to note:
Southeastern, ULL, Southern Miss, and La Tech all made the NCAA tourney.

As far as the AAC. It just seems to be going through a down period. Wichita State, USF, Houston, and UCF are all historically much better than they have been the past few years IIRC. That said and not to beat a dead horse, but imagine what TJ's Tulane teams would have done if the conference wasn't going through a down period.

[PeteRasche]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

I would say no based on ESPN's lack of enthusiasm to broadcast even SEC baseball on anything beyond ESPN+. A weekend or so many SEC folks where pointing this out when ESPN and ESPN 2 were broadcasting obscure basically never to be heard of sports over top 25 SEC baseball games on Saturdays. Sure as a package it has some value, but I bet its negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I think you misinterpreted. I am asking how much a program, or even a conference, makes by sending teams to the baseball tourney - not anything about the worth of baseball in a TV package.

My thought was that if the payout for making the baseball tourney were large enough to get a lower conference team within reach of a higher conference's annual payout, maybe when coupled with a football roadkill OOC game or whatever, it might make sense to spend more money and attention on baseball, despite it being still considered "nonrevenue". But my suspicion is that the NCAA baseball payout isn't that large.

[gerryb323]

Old article, and could have changed, but it appears none, other than travel costs...

https://businessofcollegesports.com/fin ... ld-series/

[waverider]

Just to note:
Southeastern, ULL, Southern Miss, and La Tech all made the NCAA tourney.

Southern was down by a run and hit into a game losing double play or they could have been there too.

I think USM is a tough matchup for lsu. Their pitching gives them an advantage and being at home may give them an edge.

[tulaneoutlaw]

The baseball tournament, and probably other sports like softball, lacrosse, and volleyball, is probably undervalued as an entity, especially the postseason tournament. In part this is because it's run in tandem with all the other sports and there haven't been opportunities to bid on baseball as a stand alone entity. Imo this might change once the new NCAA constitution takes effect and some subset of football programs break off. It would make more sense for sports like baseball to be marketed and sold separately as the markets are different.

For now though, baseball is third or fourth fiddle most places. I do think that football money impacts baseball performance for some conferences and I also think that some conferences, the Sun Belt in particular, have stronger visions across all their sports than the AAC does right now.

[PeteRasche]

The baseball tournament, and probably other sports like softball, lacrosse, and volleyball, is probably undervalued as an entity, especially the postseason tournament.

It's an interesting question these days compared to historically. In the past, ESPN was a channel you got on your (ubiquitous in every home and bar/restaurant) cable/satellite TV. People would plop down in front of the TV, flip to ESPN in the evening, and as long as whatever was on was somewhat interesting, they'd leave it on. So you'd add all those households to the number of fans purposely watching, plus all the bars/restaurants that just left ESPN on all the time.

Now, though, there are many more options for ESPN to televise an event like that. National championships get the main network (i.e., I watched the college lacrosse national championship yesterday afternoon on the flagship), but what about playoff games of these sports you mention? They might have the biggest name schools on ESPN or ESPN2, but most are probably on ESPN+ or ESPN3 or whatever. That means you have to purposely seek it out;
most folks aren't plopping down for the night, surfing to the app, then surfing through like 80 ESPN+/ESPN3 options, and picking that game if you weren't specifically a fan. It also is unlikely that bars and restaurants are going to tune into any of those unless it's a slow night and a patron specifically requests it.

Long story short, I suspect the number of viewers of, say, a Sweet 16 volleyball match on ESPN+ would be very different today (way lower) than maybe 10 years ago when maybe it was on ESPN Classic or ESPNU or whatever, but that might only be reflective of the viewing method required and the lack of "I'll watch whatever's on" viewers. There might actually be more fans out there, but the numbers would be lower because of the drop in the "casual/accidental" viewers. Do TV networks make assumptions about the number of eyeballs that are actively engaged (i.e., might pay attention to advertisements) vs. the simple number of devices playing the channel/stream? I would think they must, but I have no idea.

[Johnny Mac]

getting back to the tournament... it wouldn't surprise me to see LSU sneak out of Hattiesburg with that regional... they show up this time of year.. every year so they can never be counted out... ECU didn't get a cakewalk in their regional. UVA was a top 10 team earlier this season... Coastal Carolina is not an easy out, either... ECU has their hands full. I am curious how the Coral Gables regional will be since we're expecting to get Alex or the remnants starting this weekend (4 inches of rain and flooding predicted at this point)... if they were smart, they'd be on the phone with the Marlins to use their indoor park or they may not be done until Tuesday of next week.

[tjtlja]

One interesting tidbit for those gamblers out there, this is the first season where you could get action on college baseball every weekend throughout the season (usually about 20-25 games per day). The only times I have seen college baseball lines in the past were during the playoff’s.

[tulaneoutlaw]

One interesting tidbit for those gamblers out there, this is the first season where you could get action on college baseball every weekend throughout the season (usually about 20-25 games per day). The only times I have seen college baseball lines in the past were during the playoff’s.

I noticed that as well. New markets typically have inefficiencies that can be exploited or else the lines carry so much juice they aren't worth betting. Didn't look often enough to know which was true this year, but if lines are offered again next year it will mean enough money came in on games to make it worth the house's attention.

[ml wave]

Long story short, I suspect the number of viewers of, say, a Sweet 16 volleyball match on ESPN+ would be very different today (way lower) than maybe 10 years ago when maybe it was on ESPN Classic or ESPNU or whatever, but that might only be reflective of the viewing method required and the lack of "I'll watch whatever's on" viewers. There might actually be more fans out there, but the numbers would be lower because of the drop in the "casual/accidental" viewers. Do TV networks make assumptions about the number of eyeballs that are actively engaged (i.e., might pay attention to advertisements) vs. the simple number of devices playing the channel/stream? I would think they must, but I have no idea.

Not to mention just the sheer number of people watching cable/satellite is a fraction of what it was then.

[tjtlja]

One interesting tidbit for those gamblers out there, this is the first season where you could get action on college baseball every weekend throughout the season (usually about 20-25 games per day). The only times I have seen college baseball lines in the past were during the playoff’s.

I noticed that as well. New markets typically have inefficiencies that can be exploited or else the lines carry so much juice they aren't worth betting. Didn't look often enough to know which was true this year, but if lines are offered again next year it will mean enough money came in on games to make it worth the house's attention.

I played some games every week. Made a little bit for the year. There were a lot more games for the conference tournaments last week. I was looking at some of the adjusted lines Saturday night and Xavier was +50,000 with something like a 24-3 lead in the 7th inning against Creighton. Just crazy being old school.

Actually, I will likely never cash a bet like I did that same night. Had a parlay with Kentucky and UCLA. Kentucky beat lsu. UCLA was losing to Oregon State 21-12 in the bottom of the 9th. UCLA scores 9 to tie it at 21. Oregon State scores one in the 10th to go up 22-21. Bottom of the 10th, UCLA loads the bases. Oregon State balks in the tying run, and next pitch is a 3 run walk off. Final was 25-22 Bruins. I told my son this was a helluva lot easier than the stock market or crypto right now.

[PeteRasche]

Long story short, I suspect the number of viewers of, say, a Sweet 16 volleyball match on ESPN+ would be very different today (way lower) than maybe 10 years ago when maybe it was on ESPN Classic or ESPNU or whatever, but that might only be reflective of the viewing method required and the lack of "I'll watch whatever's on" viewers. There might actually be more fans out there, but the numbers would be lower because of the drop in the "casual/accidental" viewers. Do TV networks make assumptions about the number of eyeballs that are actively engaged (i.e., might pay attention to advertisements) vs. the simple number of devices playing the channel/stream? I would think they must, but I have no idea.

Not to mention just the sheer number of people watching cable/satellite is a fraction of what it was then.

I consider that effectively "part of" the point about less casual viewers. I suppose there are people who cut the cord and want to occasionally watch a sporting event but have to give up and admit they "can't", but if they really want it, they can go to the aforementioned bars/restaurants. Or do like most of my under-35 co-workers and stream it from a bootleg site - though that's not getting counted in eyeball counts...

[Poseidon]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

I would say no based on ESPN's lack of enthusiasm to broadcast even SEC baseball on anything beyond ESPN+. A weekend or so many SEC folks where pointing this out when ESPN and ESPN 2 were broadcasting obscure basically never to be heard of sports over top 25 SEC baseball games on Saturdays. Sure as a package it has some value, but I bet its negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I think you misinterpreted. I am asking how much a program, or even a conference, makes by sending teams to the baseball tourney - not anything about the worth of baseball in a TV package.

My thought was that if the payout for making the baseball tourney were large enough to get a lower conference team within reach of a higher conference's annual payout, maybe when coupled with a football roadkill OOC game or whatever, it might make sense to spend more money and attention on baseball, despite it being still considered "nonrevenue". But my suspicion is that the NCAA baseball payout isn't that large.

Ok, got you. I have no clue, but we would assume that the NCAA is paying for travel for all the teams and that has to be more than a cursory expense right.?. So I would wager your suspicion about the payout is correct.

The real question is what happens to the College World Series money. Does that go strait to the team or does your conference get to chare in the spoils?

[ml wave]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

I would say no based on ESPN's lack of enthusiasm to broadcast even SEC baseball on anything beyond ESPN+. A weekend or so many SEC folks where pointing this out when ESPN and ESPN 2 were broadcasting obscure basically never to be heard of sports over top 25 SEC baseball games on Saturdays. Sure as a package it has some value, but I bet its negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I think you misinterpreted. I am asking how much a program, or even a conference, makes by sending teams to the baseball tourney - not anything about the worth of baseball in a TV package.

My thought was that if the payout for making the baseball tourney were large enough to get a lower conference team within reach of a higher conference's annual payout, maybe when coupled with a football roadkill OOC game or whatever, it might make sense to spend more money and attention on baseball, despite it being still considered "nonrevenue". But my suspicion is that the NCAA baseball payout isn't that large.

Ok, got you. I have no clue, but we would assume that the NCAA is paying for travel for all the teams and that has to be more than a cursory expense right.?. So I would wager your suspicion about the payout is correct.

The real question is what happens to the College World Series money. Does that go strait to the team or does your conference get to chare in the spoils?

There's no spoils. There's no CWS money. This is why baseball is not a factor in conference realignment. There is no money there.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/espn-expand ... eal-298185

[gerryb323]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

I would say no based on ESPN's lack of enthusiasm to broadcast even SEC baseball on anything beyond ESPN+. A weekend or so many SEC folks where pointing this out when ESPN and ESPN 2 were broadcasting obscure basically never to be heard of sports over top 25 SEC baseball games on Saturdays. Sure as a package it has some value, but I bet its negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I think you misinterpreted. I am asking how much a program, or even a conference, makes by sending teams to the baseball tourney - not anything about the worth of baseball in a TV package.

My thought was that if the payout for making the baseball tourney were large enough to get a lower conference team within reach of a higher conference's annual payout, maybe when coupled with a football roadkill OOC game or whatever, it might make sense to spend more money and attention on baseball, despite it being still considered "nonrevenue". But my suspicion is that the NCAA baseball payout isn't that large.

Ok, got you. I have no clue, but we would assume that the NCAA is paying for travel for all the teams and that has to be more than a cursory expense right.?. So I would wager your suspicion about the payout is correct.

The real question is what happens to the College World Series money. Does that go strait to the team or does your conference get to chare in the spoils?

There's no spoils. There's no CWS money. This is why baseball is not a factor in conference realignment. There is no money there.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/espn-expand ... eal-298185

Right, like I posted yesterday. In this same thread.

[tulaneoutlaw]

I'm going to disagree about no money there. Football is all that drives realignment. Basketball is a distant second. But you can't tell me bundling baseball with lacrosse and volleyball and the other 17 sports mentioned in that article doesn't hamper its value. If they ever pitch baseball and the cws as a standalone product it would draw plenty of interest. Nowhere near basketball or football, but plenty all the same. ust my opinion, I'm often wrong

[gerryb323]

I'm going to disagree about no money there. Football is all that drives realignment. Basketball is a distant second. But you can't tell me bundling baseball with lacrosse and volleyball and the other 17 sports mentioned in that article doesn't hamper its value. If they ever pitch baseball and the cws as a standalone product it would draw plenty of interest. Nowhere near basketball or football, but plenty all the same. ust my opinion, I'm often wrong

I only meant there is no "unit money" like from the basketball tournament

[tulaneoutlaw]

Oh gotcha. Yeah no money there under the current structure. Someday I hope there is

[ml wave]

Honest question: how does the payout of sending 4 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament compare to the AAC annual ESPN TV contract vs. the SBC contract? Like, is the payout (even if one of their teams made the CWS) enough to justify investment in baseball, despite the financial perception that keeps their TV contract lower?

I would say no based on ESPN's lack of enthusiasm to broadcast even SEC baseball on anything beyond ESPN+. A weekend or so many SEC folks where pointing this out when ESPN and ESPN 2 were broadcasting obscure basically never to be heard of sports over top 25 SEC baseball games on Saturdays. Sure as a package it has some value, but I bet its negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I think you misinterpreted. I am asking how much a program, or even a conference, makes by sending teams to the baseball tourney - not anything about the worth of baseball in a TV package.

My thought was that if the payout for making the baseball tourney were large enough to get a lower conference team within reach of a higher conference's annual payout, maybe when coupled with a football roadkill OOC game or whatever, it might make sense to spend more money and attention on baseball, despite it being still considered "nonrevenue". But my suspicion is that the NCAA baseball payout isn't that large.

Ok, got you. I have no clue, but we would assume that the NCAA is paying for travel for all the teams and that has to be more than a cursory expense right.?. So I would wager your suspicion about the payout is correct.

The real question is what happens to the College World Series money. Does that go strait to the team or does your conference get to chare in the spoils?

There's no spoils. There's no CWS money. This is why baseball is not a factor in conference realignment. There is no money there.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/espn-expand ... eal-298185

Right, like I posted yesterday. In this same thread.

Some things need repeating, apparently.

[CletusRelm]

NC State got screwed by the NCAA Baseball Selection Committee. They had a better RPI than Ole Miss, a better record than Ole Miss, and Ole Miss got in after winning just 4 of 10 SEC conference series. (Ole Miss though did sweep LSwho)

[waverider]

Vandy lost in the first round of the Corvallis regional.

[waverider]

The team from Baton Rouge scored 10 runs in the 8th to beat Kennesaw St 14-11.
I think USM has a great shot at winning that regional with their pitching. At least I hope so!

ULL beat TCU so there will be no Schloss-bowl as they will face Texas A&M.