Why does ESPN hate college baseball so much?

[sleepy dawg]

NFL
MLB
NBA
NHL
NCAAF
NCAAM
NCAAW
NASCAR
Soccer
Golf
CollegeSoftball
Tennis
MMA
Lacrosse
Racing
Recruiting
Horse Racing
Poker
MMA
Cricket
Rugby
X Games
Olympics

All of these sports above (college sports in bold) get good coverage on their website. Each of these has their own page under ESPN.com. That's right, even softball and lacrosse have their own espn page... College baseball? It gets about 2 articles and a power rankings and falls under other college sports. Also, the power rankings are terrible. Can anyone fathom why? It can't be revenue... It can't be. You can't make me believe there isn't a better market for college lacrosse, softball, and women's hoops than there is for college baseball. I can accept that they don't show it in their prime time spots, but they can't even cover it on their GD website?

Example of what I mean by "it's own page": http://espn.go.com/mma/. For college baseball though you have to dig around under the general college sports page.


Edited to add: I'm sure there are numerous other dedicated pages I didn't list. I know some cities and countries have their own too.

[Cabo32]

My opinion and it's not a popular one around here..bc a lot of people think it's boring as hell

[Dawg61]

They'll probably add it once baseball gets going. MSU fans are way ahead of basically every other school. We have to have the most passionate college baseball fan base in America.

[bully99]

I've never seen a page dedicated to college baseball on espn. Florida State Niagara playing on espn 3 right now.

[Dawg61]

I've never seen a page dedicated to college baseball on espn. Florida State Niagara playing on espn 3 right now.

It'll be there eventually. For sure once the SECNetwork starts showing games and ESPN sees the ratings and realize there's money to be had. Maybe MSU will have the highest baseball ratings and we'll get to see more of our games than others?

[missouridawg]

$$$$$$$$$

Plain and simple.

[War Machine Dawg]

"Location, location, location." ESPN is headquartered in Connecticut. College baseball in the Northeast is pretty much non-existent and the schools that do play it are tuuuuuuurrrrable. Therefore, ESPN doesn't give a shit.

[Dawg61]

Yes ESPN is in Connecticut butttt the new SECNetwork is in Charlotte and ESPN just spent a truckload of money building it (I think) so it's coming boys.

[Todd4State]

Part of it is politics as well. It's not a women's sport.

[sleepy dawg]

$$$$$$$$$

Plain and simple.

So how does that explain the support of college lacrosse?

[thf24]

Part of it is politics as well. It's not a women's sport.

Yup. I wonder how much money they lose giving softball as much coverage as they do.

[missouridawg]

So how does that explain the support of college lacrosse?

Because it's a helluva lot cheaper to cover college LAX than college baseball. It's not bottom line dollars. Its return on investment.

[Todd4State]

Yup. I wonder how much money they lose giving softball as much coverage as they do.

They claim that girls watch it. I don't know anyone that watches it.

I've seen the Team USA softball team play before and I was honestly disappointed by the product I saw on the field from an entertainment standpoint. I would equate it to semi-pro baseball. Part of the reason people watch sports is because we want to be entertained by people that have significantly better skills than the normal person. And no, I'm not saying that I'm better at baseball than anyone on Team USA softball. I'm saying in relation to a pro baseball player there is a huge gap.

Softball is a boring product. The offensive strategy seems to be to get a hit, walk, or reach on an error, bunt twice and then hope the other team messes up. Why they don't steal bases more with the catchers in those leagues blows my mind.

Softball also has the misfortune of not having very many supermodel type players like Jenny Finch playing it. I'm not saying that they are ugly or that I wouldn't date some of them- in fact I probably would like dating some of them since they likely know more about baseball than the average girl. But the fact is, sex sells. Ask women's tennis.

[Dawg61]

I'm much more likely to watch women's baseball than softball. Why don't they play baseball again?

[Todd4State]

I'm much more likely to watch women's baseball than softball. Why don't they play baseball again?

In the 90's there was an all-women's team called the Colorado Silver Bullets coached by Phil Neikro. And yep- they were sponsored by Coors.

I think it didn't catch on because they lost almost all their games. But I do agree with you- I would much rather watch women play baseball than softball.

[Majors42]

They claim that girls watch it. I don't know anyone that watches it.

I've seen the Team USA softball team play before and I was honestly disappointed by the product I saw on the field from an entertainment standpoint. I would equate it to semi-pro baseball. Part of the reason people watch sports is because we want to be entertained by people that have significantly better skills than the normal person. And no, I'm not saying that I'm better at baseball than anyone on Team USA softball. I'm saying in relation to a pro baseball player there is a huge gap.

Softball is a boring product. The offensive strategy seems to be to get a hit, walk, or reach on an error, bunt twice and then hope the other team messes up. Why they don't steal bases more with the catchers in those leagues blows my mind.

Softball also has the misfortune of not having very many supermodel type players like Jenny Finch playing it. I'm not saying that they are ugly or that I wouldn't date some of them- in fact I probably would like dating some of them since they likely know more about baseball than the average girl. But the fact is, sex sells. Ask women's tennis.

I agree with you. Not bashing Cohen, but that seems to be our philosophy as well. Hoping that changes as the season goes on. I was happy that we didn't bunt when we got our first base runner tonight. On another note, it was cold as hell out there tonight. I'm still cold