IIRC Title IX wasn't an issue when baseball and men's swimming were cut, and it wouldn't be an issue if ISU were to bring it back now. BVDV just used it as an excuse to take a hacksaw to the athletic department and rip it to shreds...
How much would it cost...
- Thread starter arganbright2
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If ISU can find a Big $$$ booster, maybe Baseball would come back. Otherwise, look for Football and MBB to get most of the Resources.
Baseball Positives:
A) Iowa produces alot of baseball talent. You'll see a number of athletes from Iowa on other teams rosters.
B) ISU had a very good baseball team and history before it was axed.
C) Big 12 is a very good Baseball conference, I would think that we would out recruit U of I and pound them every year.
Baseball Negatives:
A) Need new Stadium or need work on current one.
B) Season starts in Feb and finishes in June? Just when the weather is getting nice, the season is over. There are usually only a couple of good weeks to watch baseball.
C) $$$ that could be spent on Football.
Baseball Positives:
A) Iowa produces alot of baseball talent. You'll see a number of athletes from Iowa on other teams rosters.
B) ISU had a very good baseball team and history before it was axed.
C) Big 12 is a very good Baseball conference, I would think that we would out recruit U of I and pound them every year.
Baseball Negatives:
A) Need new Stadium or need work on current one.
B) Season starts in Feb and finishes in June? Just when the weather is getting nice, the season is over. There are usually only a couple of good weeks to watch baseball.
C) $$$ that could be spent on Football.
Lincoln on average probably gets 4 or 5 fewer inches of snow per year than Ames. Lincoln has somewhat milder weather and teams are able to get outside at least a week earlier in the spring. Haymarket Park also has warming coils in the ground to melt residual snow and dry a wet playing surface.
Obviously the other issues are still there, but could you put games at Sec Taylor for awhile to reduce startup costs? Plenty of alums in the des moines area (and lets face it, if you're gonna make it viable, you need alums and their money to show up), and its not *that* far away.
Interesting. But since it serves Beer/Alcohol.....NCAA wouldn't let that fly? I know that ISU, ui and UNI all played there for like one game a year.....but is there some rule that you couldn't play at a facility like that? I mean, St. John's gets to play at Madison Square Garden all the time....why couldn't ISU baseball play in DSM?
Good post-
You need one more under "baseball negative:"
D) Lack of interest. No one around here cared about ISU baseball. Hardly anyone came to the games, even though they were free.
You can serve booze, just not if you want to host regionals or stuff like that. See: UNLV football.
I really think the "Sec Taylor" -Principal Park idea is incredible. It would be great to go see the Clones play in the Spring time there. What are the dates of Baseball season again?
College Baseball is roughly - Feb 19th through May 23.
The I-Cubs start April 8th.
Obviously, we would have to schedule games when they are out of town....or 7-8 hours before or after their games.
Could this work? I would like to see it try- Anything to get this program "afloat" again. Does anyone know if the Ath. Dept. has looked into this option?
College Baseball is roughly - Feb 19th through May 23.
The I-Cubs start April 8th.
Obviously, we would have to schedule games when they are out of town....or 7-8 hours before or after their games.
Could this work? I would like to see it try- Anything to get this program "afloat" again. Does anyone know if the Ath. Dept. has looked into this option?
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My son played baseball at a successful college program in Kansas, three teammates were drafted/signed and made triple A. So here's what little perspective I can add. Northern schools have a terrible disadvantage with Winter/Spring college BB coinciding with terrible BB weather. That's why the Big 10 never has any good BB programs. The Southern teams play year around-outside. In fairness to the fans at ISU who never went to games even though free, nobody wants to sit around and freeze while watching BB. Do not forget the wind blows in the Spring in Iowa everyday.
This is why I don't think you'll see baseball if ISU decided to add another sport. I know it's a shame, since there is history, but college baseball and Ames just don't seem to be a good match.
You really want to sit in four feet of snow and 20 degrees on Feb 19th and watch a baseball game?
You really want to sit in four feet of snow and 20 degrees on Feb 19th and watch a baseball game?
If I can drink during the game and actually see Iowa State Baseball as a real event.....then yeah. I guess I do. Better than not having a team at all-
U of Nebraska and u of iowa have cold weather.....and play ball. Why can't we?
In 2006 JP sent out a brochure titled "Taking The Next Big Step". In that he stated that restoring the baseball program would require $900K per year.
That was broken down as $350K for personnel, $200K for scholarships and $350K for operations each year.
Also stated that restoring swimming would cost $600K and restoring tennis would require $350K.
That was broken down as $350K for personnel, $200K for scholarships and $350K for operations each year.
Also stated that restoring swimming would cost $600K and restoring tennis would require $350K.
I think if we are going to add a sport, it should be a sport that splits facilities with another sport, like swimming and tennis. By adding a sport in which you are already maintaining facilities for, your are getting the biggest bang for your buck so to say. I would go with swimming and then add tennis after that.
I would guess that they have big enough athletic budgets to afford to have all of their Feb and March games played in sunny Florida or Arizona.:yes: The Huskers basically play all of their games from Feb 19 until Mar 10 in California or Texas. Their real first home game is Mar 10. Their practice begins this Saturday and is held indoors in the Hawks Championship Center.
Baseball - Schedule/Results - Huskers.com - Nebraska Athletics Official Web Site
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They would be cheaper. Unfortunately, and it pains me as a former swimmer to say this, nobody would care about those sports. I don't see JP adding something that he doesn't think has some potential to draw interest. That's why I think hockey would make some sense. If you could keep the current club team base and start grabbing some of the Des Moines Bucs/Iowa Chops crowd I think you could make that a fairly strongly supported program. I know there is a lack of high school hockey in Iowa, but I would think the slew of amaeteur/semi-pro teams based in Iowa and proximity to MN and WI would make for good recruiting. Is Hilton capable of converting to Hockey?
As others have said, Title IX isn't much of an issue at Iowa State.
Most of the good players from Iowa will go to another Big XII school or even an MVC school rather than Iowa. Both conferences commit more to baseball and have better competition.
There was actually some talk of partnering with Sec Taylor Stadium for a regional bid in 2002 when Iowa State was looking to have a Top 25 team. That obviously got derailed by the announcement in 2001.
Nobody went to games at Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, or Mizzu before they committed to baseball. Iowa is FULL of baseball fans, but you have to give them something to watch, not hide a field in a remote corner of town with little to no promotion.
It's not near the advantage as you would think. With the facilities we had about the only advantages the southern schools have is the ability to take fly balls and everyone should be able to do that anyway at that level. The cold and wind were HUGE advantages for Iowa State. It was hilarious to watch Texas running to the bus between innings in Parkas while we were wearing pullovers and taking 2 out of 3 from them.
You really want to sit in four feet of snow and 20 degrees on Feb 19th and watch a baseball game?
No team has home games in late Feb that isn't a top 25 team in the south, even the good schools are at tournaments.
These figures cracked me up, you could put together a damn good staff for $200k, $350k would probably be one of the highest paid coaching staffs in the country. Not to mention the "operations" of $350k. I think salaries and operations combined were $350 in 2001.
IF they were to do it I just hope they do it right. Build a new stadium, a unique stadium, with a fun and family friendly environment. This would obviously take one donor to come in with a large donation and build it on campus, or someone to build a very nice private facility off campus and try to lour a Northwoods team as well, do this and you could also sell alcohol. I really wonder how much an extremely barebones dome would cost. You could make a ton of money renting it out to other colleges and private AAU teams, Perfect Game, etc. Every JC and small school in the state would want to rent it to have games in the early spring, right now they play at the Metro Dome at 2, 4, 6am and pay $500/hr to do so, not sure if it's doable, but it's a thought...
Pollard has said that he would not re-start the baseball program unless someone donated a $10,000,000 endowment that would generate the income needed each year for the program. He is not going to add a non-revenue sport that only sucks life out of the Athletic Department when there are so many other more pressing needs that must be met.
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So then the min should be a $20,000,000 one time donation with at least half of that to a stadium as well.
