B1G - USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon integration into the conference

[billybud]

UConn played 55 games...beginning in February...and now on to the Regional May 31...

 

[Rufus]

Not sure what the best thread was to post this article, so I'm posting it here. Top historical matchups between new conference rivals across all conferences with new members this coming fall.

OU-UGA, USC-Michigan, Clemson-Stanford (?!): Classic games from new conference rivals

Matchups once reserved for Rose, Orange or Insight Bowls are now conference games. Here are some of the best previous meetings.

www.espn.com

 

[ScottVib]

Starting in April would fundamentally change the seasons...Regionals are late May and, this year the Super Regionals June 3...and the CWS June 14...difficult to squeeze in 57 games (FSU's schedule this season) from April...and have the seniors graduate on time (finals and such).

Seniors routinely graduate before the end of the season. Heck even D3 where the athletes are even more similar to traditional students they graduate (or in the case of Birmingham Southern close the school) before the end of the season.

Starting in April (or more realistically mid-March) would limit the southern schools weather-advantage by not forcing the northern schools into weeks or month long road trips to the south. It might even help grow the game.

 

[NE Football]

I don’t think it’s about having seniors graduating on time or anything to do with academics. It’s all about money and baseball in June will draw huge crowds at B1G campus sites. Look how many Nebraska fans showed up for the B1G championship game this past Saturday. There is demand and that means revenue to be had

 

[billybud]

Maybe...playing in "Invitationals" in Arizona, Fla. and Cal is sort of an Ohio State tradition and a perk...the Frisco Classic, the Desert Invitational in Arizona, the Snowbird in Fla...

Smaller school Ohio began playing in Athens, Ohio on March 2...8 games from March 2-12.

FSU travelled to Ft. Worth in February to play TCU and to the First Pitch Invitational up in South Carolina on March 2.

Kind of like UConn's men's basketball playing in Portland, Oregon in the Phil Knight Invitational or the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahamas..

 

[billybud]

It could help some with attendance for more northern schools...but it would take a culture change as well....I mean, UCF is #43 in attendance besides having great spring weather.

Average attendance last year...Nebraska was #10, despite being a cold weather state, and the only B1G team in top 50.

Of the top 25 in attendance...12 are SEC, 3 are ACC...and you have the Arizona duo, ECU, three more Big 12 teams and Southern Miss.

Some differences in attendance can be attributed to culture...in 2022, Nebraska averaged 4,531...Rutgers 606, Penn State 495, Maryland 967, Ohio State 955, Michigan State 476.

Nebraska Cornhuskers: B1G baseball attendance is worse than you thought

Nebraska Cornhuskers fans are going to be a little surprised at just how bad the support for college baseball is in the Big Ten. Or maybe they won't.

huskercorner.com

 

[billybud]

I never really thought of attendance vs weather vs day of week played vs opponent vs culture...etc

UConn in Storrs...Tuesday games...April 16 vs Kansas State (attend 750)...April 23 vs UMass (455)...

vs Nova on Friday April 26 (1047)...vs Nova on Saturday April 27 (1081)...vs Creighton on Saturday May 11 (995)..... vs Creighton on Sunday May 12 (771).