I know this is posted every single year

[Danny Noonan]

I love baseball, I even tried out for the baseball team after being all league in high school. Now for the reality check. First you'd have to add two women's sports to sustain baseball. For a competitive division 1 baseball program, you're talking 20 scholarships, when we had baseball it had 1 scholarship for a real baseball player and maybe 5 others for football players who happened to play baseball (when that was legal). Thus you would need to add 20 women's sports scholarships (possibly 22-30 given the current disparity). Baseball has 25 players or so to a team, thus you would need women's sport(s) that has participation by 30-40 women. That's 42 scholarships minimum at $30,000 per athlete, you're talking $1.2 Million per year added to the athletic budget and you haven't hired coaches, gotten equipment, paid for travel. Those will cost another $1 Million per year. And you still haven't built a stadium. Also, the reason there is so much coverage of the college super regionals this year is because the NHL is on strike, so ESPN is filling airtime in an inexpensive way. When the Stanley Cup returns college baseball coverage goes down. So, as I have continuosly stated if you have an extra $100-200 Million lying around without a purpose, give it to the athletic department to start a baseball/softball program and build a stadium in your name. Otherwise, this discussion is worthless.

Couldn't we cover all the women's scholarships by adding one softball team? Then have them play in the same stadium as the baseball team?

All I can say is TCU, Rice, and Tulane somehow make the numbers work.

[davidsmu94]

I love baseball, I even tried out for the baseball team after being all league in high school. Now for the reality check. First you'd have to add two women's sports to sustain baseball. For a competitive division 1 baseball program, you're talking 20 scholarships, when we had baseball it had 1 scholarship for a real baseball player and maybe 5 others for football players who happened to play baseball (when that was legal). Thus you would need to add 20 women's sports scholarships (possibly 22-30 given the current disparity). Baseball has 25 players or so to a team, thus you would need women's sport(s) that has participation by 30-40 women. That's 42 scholarships minimum at $30,000 per athlete, you're talking $1.2 Million per year added to the athletic budget and you haven't hired coaches, gotten equipment, paid for travel. Those will cost another $1 Million per year. And you still haven't built a stadium. Also, the reason there is so much coverage of the college super regionals this year is because the NHL is on strike, so ESPN is filling airtime in an inexpensive way. When the Stanley Cup returns college baseball coverage goes down. So, as I have continuosly stated if you have an extra $100-200 Million lying around without a purpose, give it to the athletic department to start a baseball/softball program and build a stadium in your name. Otherwise, this discussion is worthless.

Couldn't we cover all the women's scholarships by adding one softball team? Then have them play in the same stadium as the baseball team?

All I can say is TCU, Rice, and Tulane somehow make the numbers work.

The fact is, YOU DO NOT have to have the same number of women's scholarships as men, read the OCR's Clarification at the link below.

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oc ... ional.html

[Dooby]

The fact is that any lawyer on behalf of a plaintiff could meet that burden with little effort. And if SMU said that it was going to add a baseball team and not a softball team, the case would be a slam dunk.

1) Men are already overrepresented in so far as funding and opportunities;

2) Adding baseball would be a major investment;

3) There is no evidence of a demand from the student body for such.

You can apply the opinion you referenced to a claim that sports should not be eliminated, but adding a new sport is something else entirely. I think that is clear from the reading. By the way, the Supreme Court just denied the College Wrestling Coaches Assoc's writ of certiorari concerning Title IX, so the courts are not going inclined to do SMU any favors.

[MrMustang1965]

I really don't know...

[PK]

I really don't know...

You won't hear that coming from Stallion's lips very often. Perhaps we ought to have that emblazened on a bronze plaque and displayed in front of Ford Stadium or somewhere like that.

[MrMustang1965]

I really don't know...

You won't hear that coming from Stallion's lips very often. Perhaps we ought to have that emblazened on a bronze plaque and displayed in front of Ford Stadium or somewhere like that.

The concession stand near Section 203 would be good. That's where my season tickets are this year.

[DallasDiehard]

This is killing me, too. Every year at this time, ESPN and Fox waste airtime on a game that looks like baseball but isn't, because they're using metal bats. At this time of year, we should be enjoying the Stanley Cup playoffs/finals, which (aside from football) is the greatest sport on TV.
Now if only someone would actually resolve the NHL's labor dispute so they could play the damn games ....

[BrianTinBigD]

The $30,000 an athlete is always something I have an issue with. The costs are really books, food, equipment, housing and coaching. We are already paying the professors and a few more people in a class does not cost any more money. A more realistic number is something like:

Books - $500 after the Athletic department gets them back and cashes them in.
Room- $3000
Food - $2000
Equipment -$500
Coaching - $2000

Total = $8,000 a scholarship and even that number is probably too high since I am including listed costs from SMU for room and board. I am sure that SMU is making some margin on those numbers. The $30,000 number is a bs internal chargeback number that the Athletic Department carries. $8,000 is the cost that SMU is really out of pocket for.

[SWC2010]

have the economics of college baseball changed in the last few years. It seems like a lot of schools and especially a lot of private schools seem willing to pour a lot of money into the sport. It used to be an afterthought but with expanded cable opprtunities is college baseball a more financially possible alternative? I really don't know but as for building a stadium-TCU, Rice and Tulane have each built one in the last 2 years.

-----------------
In baseball, unlike football, you can give "partial" scholarships. Based on this, I have completely changed my idea about bringing the game back to the Hilltop.

20 players= 10 scholarships (more or less). Girls game is same. The challenge is land for the fields & this is where TCU ( and others) kick our [deleted]. Land costs...

But unlike other sports, we could recruit DFW & get top-tier players for a competitive team. A number of NCAA teams in the "World Series" has TX HS players.

Will it be profitable? Absolutely not. Would it be an enjoyable on-campus sport for SMU students? I think so.

[NavyCrimson]

yeah - but do we know for sure if it wont be profitable ?

if its a winner, it'll be profitable!
after all, the only sports today that have any chance of being profitable is football, basketball & baseball...

the others, well, i guess they look good on paper but forget anything else!

the public could care less & they're the ones spending the doe!

[PK]

That would be dough NavyCrimson...not some female deer.

[NavyCrimson]

LOL!!!!!!

%%$##!!! i knew i was hungry!!

i need to go eat!!!

[MrMustang1965]

have the economics of college baseball changed in the last few years. It seems like a lot of schools and especially a lot of private schools seem willing to pour a lot of money into the sport. It used to be an afterthought but with expanded cable opprtunities is college baseball a more financially possible alternative? I really don't know but as for building a stadium-TCU, Rice and Tulane have each built one in the last 2 years.

-----------------
In baseball, unlike football, you can give "partial" scholarships. Based on this, I have completely changed my idea about bringing the game back to the Hilltop.

20 players= 10 scholarships (more or less). Girls game is same. The challenge is land for the fields & this is where TCU ( and others) kick our [deleted]. Land costs...

But unlike other sports, we could recruit DFW & get top-tier players for a competitive team. A number of NCAA teams in the "World Series" has TX HS players.

Will it be profitable? Absolutely not. Would it be an enjoyable on-campus sport for SMU students? I think so.

Sweet Christmas! We can't even get students to attend the football and basketball games. What the heck makes you think they'd attend a baseball game?????

[LakeHighlandsPony]

Well Get used to it. With the current admin, nothing is getting done.

Jim Copeland's optimism is infecting the hilltop. Our "Can-Do" spirit is pitiful. We need some new blood at AD so SMU can start to dream again about new possibilities.

[Danny Noonan]

Well, glad that we've decided to bring the team back. that was the hard part.

Do you think we'll be able to enter as D-I, or will we have to work our way up?