How much would it cost...

[Clonefan94]

I went to two Iowa state baseball games back in the day. Only people that would go were the parents of the players. Yet everyone now seems to want to bring it back for some reason

I went to a couple of games while I was at ISU. 90-94. Problem is with baseball, if it's cold as **** and they dont sell booze, baseball sucks. I've been to Cubs games in April that I have left in the third inning because it was too cold. And they sell beer and have places to hide inside.

The romanticism of baseball on a sunny warm afternoon with a beer and a hot dog in hand is just a pipe dream, it rarely exists in Iowa in April.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I went to a couple of games while I was at ISU. 90-94. Problem is with baseball, if it's cold as **** and they dont sell booze, baseball sucks. I've been to Cubs games in April that I have left in the third inning because it was too cold. And they sell beer and have places to hide inside.

The romanticism of baseball on a sunny warm afternoon with a beer and a hot dog in hand is just a pipe dream, it rarely exists in Iowa in April.

And by the time it is warm enough for a beer and a hot dog in hand, Ames has lost half its population and the other half has proven not to care about ISU baseball.

How much does it cost to restart the baseball program? More than it's worth.

 

[CloneGuy8]

If/when athletic budgets recover, ISU should do D1 hockey instead of baseball if we're adding anything.

 

[06_CY]

If/when athletic budgets recover, ISU should do D1 hockey instead of baseball if we're adding anything.

While that's a nice sentiment, I would rather every open penny goes to football.

 

[BCClone]

While that's a nice sentiment, I would rather every open penny goes to football.

Agreed, we need some of those 20k Big Macs for the recruits.

 

[motorcy90]

If we have enough money to bring back baseball it will be spent on football.

rightfully so, hell if we start another D1 sport it should be bumping the club hockey team up first.

 

[Cychl82]

to resurrect the baseball program at Iowa State? I was just curious if anybody had any insight as to how much it cost to run the program from year to year and what the costs would be if the program was given a 10 year run. I am embarassed and think it is completely Un-American not to have a baseball team at one of the best universities in the U.S.

I thought you were going to ask what it would take to resurrect basketball

 

[JM4CY]

While that's a nice sentiment, I would rather every open penny goes to football.

This.

 

[CyCrazy]

Why do we need to bump 10 year old threads?

 

[CYdTracked]

Pretty sure after 2020 the last thing Pollard is thinking about is bringing back baseball. I get the nostalgia around it and it would be great to have it back but reality is we probably will never see baseball at ISU again.

 

[ISUTex]

College baseball is like wrestling. It's regional, and realistically, nobody really cares on a national level. Does Texas have a wrestling team? No? Why not?

 

[motorcy90]

College baseball is like wrestling. It's regional, and realistically, nobody really cares on a national level. Does Texas have a wrestling team? No? Why not?

which is why Hockey would be better here.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

This does make me wonder, does anybody know how the Big 12 Now contract works and if it's split evenly among schools regardless of what sports they have? I've heard that baseball has become a more valuable 3rd tier TV right by keeping streaming subscribers for more of the year.

 

[IASTATE07]

I was surprised to learn there are more D1 wrestling programs than hockey programs.

 

[theshadow]

I was surprised to learn there are more D1 wrestling programs than hockey programs.

And a bunch of the D1 hockey schools are D2 or D3 in the "major" sports.

 

[jdoggivjc]

And a bunch of the D1 hockey schools are D2 or D3 in the "major" sports.

I'm one of those that would support the ISU men's and women's hockey teams jumping up to the NCAA level if it makes financial sense to do so for the simple reason that the club programs do really well in terms of attendance - at least they did really well while I was going there. That was a really popular weekend activity for the students. I can tell you I went to a lot more hockey games (at least 10) than I did baseball games (0). And I suspect attendance would be even better if it were at the NCAA level.

The big elephant in the room, though, is does it make financial sense? I'm not sure it does. Right now ISU is fighting for its survival in an arms race at the P5 level where football and to a much lesser extent basketball are the only sports that matter. While ISU has put itself in much better position to survive what could possibly be a seismic shift in the NCAA over the next 5 or so years, and has done so by pouring as much money into football and basketball as it can all while still investing in its other sports, the future is still uncertain. While our footing seems to be more solid than it was a decade ago, we certainly don't have Texas' or Oklahoma's security. We don't even have Iowa's security. If it ends up being only 64 schools that survive the shift, ISU will be in the fight for its life. Which means we don't have the resources to be investing in new sports that won't help us survive into the future. If ISU survives the next 5 years through either the shift in or stabilization of the landscape, then we can revisit this.