Why We Don’t Care About College Hardball

For the first time in my young life, I actually watched a college baseball game in its entirety, last night’s Super Regional contest between Fresno State and Arizona State on ESPN2. It was the typical collegiate sporting event with alumni, fraternity brothers, and families, all sitting in the stands rooting for their team. The mascot was roaming around the stadium, the cheerleaders were flashing signs to pump up the crowd, and the players were not playing for the paycheck.

While watching the game, I began to wonder why college baseball has failed to create TV ratings and an overall popularity level akin to that of college football and college basketball. Baseball has always been one of this country’s most popular sports, but it has failed to create any sort of buzz on the collegiate level while the college versions of football and basketball are multi-million dollar industries with the BCS and March Madness Tournament certainly being contributing factors.

With that in mind, I have begun to assemble a list of possible reasons as to why college baseball lags behind NCAA football and basketball.

Scheduling Conflicts

During the fall, college football is televised non-stop every Saturday from 9:00 AM PST to 10:00 PM PST, while the NFL primarily plays its games on Sunday afternoons. This scheduling allows a college football fan to watch his team on Saturday and watch his NFL team play on Sunday.

Unlike the NFL which is televised just once or twice a week, Major League Baseball is televised every single day of the week, leaving no open spots on ESPN of Fox Sports Net for NCAA baseball. The demand of MLB makes it next to impossible for college hardball to get an TV time.

No Gambling

Lets face it. One of the major reasons for the success of both collegiate football and basketball is the gambling that revolves around them. Each week during the fall, countless fans place bets on games that are usually against the spread and during March, millions of Americans fill out office pools. However, college baseball has neither of these options. Its large postseason tournament features very few gambling options. For example, neither ESPN nor Yahoo have tournament pickem’ leagues for the tournament.

The Minor Leagues

One of the reasons as to why millions of Americans watch college football and college basketball is because many of the athletes competing will one day reach the NFL or the NBA. That is not the case in college baseball as many of the top players had already been drafted out of high school and are already playing in the minor leagues. MLB also has a large variety of international players as well, and none of them have been playing NCAA baseball. Therefore, college baseball fans are likely watching players who will not be MLB stars in the coming years but rather teachers, accountants, or doctors.

I’ve given three possible reasons as to why college baseball has failed to garner the same attention that college football and college baseball have received during the fall and winter. Now, I want to know what you think, and if you have another idea as to why collegiate hardball has failed in this category please comment below.