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CU Baseball?

CanadianDuck

Well-Known Member
I was curious if CU had any intention on adding baseball now that it is in the Pac-12? This may have been discussed before, but I couldn't find anything about it.
 
We would have to build new facilities and the spring weather is a big concern
 
Start up costs, money loser, lack of ability to get JuCo's in, weather to some, little to no fan support are just off of the top of my head.

Well weather in Eugene sucks in the spring, but I guess snow is worse then rain. Thanks for the much better answer tini.
 
Well weather in Eugene sucks in the spring, but I guess snow is worse then rain. Thanks for the much better answer tini.

Weather is the least of the issues.

One of the other big ones is the costs, including what it would take for travel. Very few programs are a bus ride away.

I think we'll see hockey or wrestling at CU before we'd see baseball. They would have a lot more going for them on every measure except not being a spring sport. All signs point to the AD making Men's and Women's LAX the marquee spring CU sports into the future.
 
With the addition of Women's LAX, are we in good Title X standing to add Men's LAX?
 
With the addition of Women's LAX, are we in good Title X standing to add Men's LAX?

Not really. That basically got us into good standing. From what I understand, it didn't give us a big cushion. I think we'll still need another women's sport.

Rowing would be a nice option. Very low costs and it delivers 20 women's scholarships. That would probably be the cushion that could get us M-LAX and also get M-Tennis back.

Here's a dated but good article about the Rowing game: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/sports/othersports/28xrowing.html?pagewanted=all

Plus, it's a Pac-12 sport with 7 member programs already competing: http://www.pac-12.org/ABOUT/ParticipatingTeams.aspx

California, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

The women's club Crew won a national championship as recently as 2009, so we could probably be decent too. Here's a great paper on why women's rowing makes sense at CU as a varsity sport (written in 1999): http://www.coloradocrew.org/varsity-prop.htm

Count me as a supporter of W-Rowing at CU.
 
Not really. That basically got us into good standing. From what I understand, it didn't give us a big cushion. I think we'll still need another women's sport.

Rowing would be a nice option. Very low costs and it delivers 20 women's scholarships. That would probably be the cushion that could get us M-LAX and also get M-Tennis back.

Here's a dated but good article about the Rowing game: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/sports/othersports/28xrowing.html?pagewanted=all

Plus, it's a Pac-12 sport with 7 member programs already competing: http://www.pac-12.org/ABOUT/ParticipatingTeams.aspx

California, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

The women's club Crew won a national championship as recently as 2009, so we could probably be decent too. Here's a great paper on why women's rowing makes sense at CU as a varsity sport (written in 1999): http://www.coloradocrew.org/varsity-prop.htm

Count me as a supporter of W-Rowing at CU.
Good info Nik. You are a great hunter-upper of documents; particularly the 1999 proposal for varsity at CU.
 
I was curious if CU had any intention on adding baseball now that it is in the Pac-12? This may have been discussed before, but I couldn't find anything about it.

I'd much rather see wrestling, swimming, or hockey before baseball. Fan support is the problem. We'd have to build a big facility and no one really wants a baseball team. It would be a huge drain and no one would go to the games.
 
Baseball presents some problems, chiefly real estate. It is also a sport with a lot of games and we are not a bus ride away from a bunch of regional games as 'Nik mentioned. I played BB at a similar climate but we could bus ride for the weekend into warmer climates and play a bunch of games over 3 days in places like SoCal, Phoenix, Tucson.... CU can't do that. It would mean flying.

Colorado is a hotbed in Lacrosse - actually read that on a recruiting site today doing research for my 10th grader. Essentially, they consider the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic plus Colorado as hotbeds.

Programs may have up to 40 players, but I believe the limit (when fully funded, and few programs are fully funded) is 12.5 scholarships. They utilize the same facilities that the club team is using now.

The annual CSU/CU club LAX game takes in several thousand fans and is already a money maker. Over 12,000 paid to see Duke vs. Denver University on Friday night (there was a double header, with the early game featuring Penn vs. Virginia - but the stadium was much emptier for that game). Game was at Mile High Stadium.

DU fans were rocking it in the parking lot with some SERIOUS tailgating going on.

Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the country among youth. Unlike soccer, people who play it get hooked and watch it the rest of their lives (like hockey).

Colorado hosts some of the largest camps, recruiting showcases, etc in the country. Colorado is seriously becoming known for Lacrosse.

I heard that TV ratings for college lacrosse already eclipse college baseball. DU is making money in Lacrosse, as are most teams that field a team. It is revenue producing like Hockey, but without the cost of an indoor rink. Nobody is making money in baseball btw.

Commish Scott likes to be ahead of the curve. LAX is forward thinking. It's coming.

Baseball will not draw fans. It just doesn't.

CU is not adding any sports that lose money on the men's side (unless a major donor steps up and funds it, as happened at Penn State with hockey).

SEC teams will likely never participate!

Top programs include the IVY league schools, UNC, Duke, Notre Dame, Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia, the Academies, etc. and some regional traditional powerhouses such as UMBC, Johns Hopkins, Albany... newer programs at Ohio State, Michigan, and lots of investigative work going on out here. CSU and CU have traditionally been top 5 programs (CU is down this year, CSU is in top 3 I believe). Both clubs have a lot of Colorado kids on them. The club teams are pretty serious. National Tournaments and all.
 
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I understand that Baseball doesnt draw many fans, but I for one would be one of the first in line for season tickets
 
Hockey would be awesome! I'd go to every game. I'd be in favor of adding lacrosse too
 
Hockey would be awesome! I'd go to every game. I'd be in favor of adding lacrosse too


:nod: Agree. It would be fun to see and fits the area well. Natural local rivals and I am sure we would be hated from the begining by DU and CC. Fun times would be had.
 
Varsity Hockey at CU is a dream of mine. I've heard through the grapevine that as part of the Rec Center expansion that they're going to move the ice sheet and put in a lot more bleachers with an eye towards possibly moving to D-1. It would be a very small venue in comparison to DU or CC. Parking would be a challenge. But I'd love it. I would buy tickets.
 
Thanks for the explanation on why baseball is not a good fit at CU. I like Lacrosse, but I have no idea how many Pac-12 schools currently have a program. My dream would be for Oregon to get a D-1 hockey program, but sadly there is no fanbase here for hockey.
 
Lacrosse is a very Eastern US oriented sport. If the Pac were to field some teams, it would help spread the popularity of the game Westward.

Lacrosse is the only 100% completely American sport, BTW. At least that's what I've always been told. Baseball is an offshoot of cricket, football of rugby, basketball? Well, I don't know about basketball. :lol:
 
Lacrosse is a very Eastern US oriented sport. If the Pac were to field some teams, it would help spread the popularity of the game Westward.

Lacrosse is the only 100% completely American sport, BTW. At least that's what I've always been told. Baseball is an offshoot of cricket, football of rugby, basketball? Well, I don't know about basketball. :lol:

North American, not USA. Huge in Canada. Invented by the American Indians. Not sure which tribe (different searches say Cherokee, Huron, or Iroquois).
 
Lacrosse is a very Eastern US oriented sport. If the Pac were to field some teams, it would help spread the popularity of the game Westward.

Lacrosse is the only 100% completely American sport, BTW. At least that's what I've always been told. Baseball is an offshoot of cricket, football of rugby, basketball? Well, I don't know about basketball. :lol:

I thought baseball was an offshoot of rounders.
 
We would have to build new facilities and the spring weather is a big concern

I don't think we'll add anytime soon, and we would have to build facilities. However, I don't buy the spring weather issues overall (I know this is mentioned often, and not just your idea). Yes, we'd be behind the 8-ball in the PAC 12 regarding spring weather, but when compared to schools with excellent baseball programs in the midwest and east coast, our weather is mild.
 
Basketball is a purely American sport. Naismith invented it as a PE activity in the winter.

Lacrosse is a fun sport to watch and Colorado has a healthy HS competition in the sport with a number of quality players coming out each year.

As mentioned above it is focused on the Eastern US but there are enough local programs to reduce the travel burden and create some rivalries that would draw public attention (DU, AFA closest) and if CU added a D1 program it would be probable that CSU would follow. Utah and BYU also have strong club level teams that may follow CU into D1 level competition.
 
I thought baseball was an offshoot of rounders.


Actually, yes. But the baseball history I've read seems to believe that rounders was an offshoot of cricket. In any event, nobody has ever really heard of rounders except people who have studied the history of baseball, so the cricket origins make more sense.
 
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