Is Mustang BASEBALL on the horizon?

by **Bergermeister** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:17 am

Seems there is some real $erious "talk". Thought I would throw this out on the "Football" board since no one has clicked on "Other Sports" since March (2009). Anybody?

by **StallionsModelT** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:23 am

Anything you can share w/ the board? I've only heard cursory mentions of baseball coming to SMU, but nothing concrete. Also, where would we play our games? Would we have to build a stadium? There's not any more room on campus especially w/ the Master Plan construction projects on the horizon. I hope you're right but it seems like there is a lot on SMU's plate right now.

by **RGV Pony** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:31 am

I'll go ahead and ask the obvious...add this, and what women's sport? Softball or bowling?

by **NickSMU17** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:48 am

Once again, I still have 1 year of eligibility left...

by **Water Pony** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:52 am

Great idea, but Men's Track & Field should be given consideration too. As for Title IX requirements, add Women's Lacrosse and/or softball. Candidly, any of these moves $ound unlikely due to budget challenges.

by **Pony Grey Hair** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:39 am

Need Baseball to be invited to BCS conference. That is driving discussion. We will add it if we are assured of receiving a BCS invite.

by **DanFreibergerForHeisman** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:40 am

Bergermeister wrote:Seems there is some real $erious "talk". Thought I would throw this out on the "Football" board since no one has clicked on "Other Sports" since March (2009). Anybody?

Anybody who does not regularly check the Other Sports board is missing a lot.

I assume we would have to add baseball and softball to move to a BCS conference so I'm sure it will happen at some point.

by **GrapevineMustang** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:26 pm

I assume the only reason this is still on the football board is the speculation about baseball factoring into a possible conference move. However:

â€” No men's team will be added until at least one women's team (and probably two) gets added.

â€” Considering the athletic department continues to dump loyal employees to save marginal salary money, it's hard to believe any additional sports would be looming on the horizon.

â€” Absolutely no way baseball should be added, anyway. If you want baseball with a metal bat, go visit the local high school or junior high. The men's sport that should be added before any and all others is track and field. SMU has a world-class coaching in place in Dave Wollman, and adding another sport â€” especially one that would require the construction of another new facility â€” while not taking full advantage of Coach Wollman and his staff would be financially idiotic.

by **alyssa** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:48 pm

Water Pony wrote:Great idea, but Men's Track & Field should be given consideration too. As for Title IX requirements, add Women's Lacrosse and/or softball. Candidly, any of these moves $ound unlikely due to budget challenges.

I don't mind baseball and softball added. La Crosse is good. One of my tribes still plays stick ball, which is much more difficult with a small net.

Athletics (Track&Field) is my specialty though. To be a Top 25 program in athletics we need about $500,000 per team, or $3 million a year for men's and women's Cross Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track. I'd want $4 million a year for the athletics programs. That's where I would not be shy about hitting up SMU's billionaire lawyers. Many lawyers are runners. ETC.

I've been waiting for so long for the running teams to come back and be strong nationally.

by **skyscraper** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:31 pm

Baseball would be great. It sucks that the department pretty much goes dark from late March to late August b/c only the country club sports are in season.
But I'm not holding my breath for baseball returning. For all the reasons already stated above.

by **gostangs** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:34 pm

i dont think we will ever get baseball back - and I also dont get those that say we have to have it to go BCS - dont agree with that at all.

I have heard we are much more likely to add lacross then to add baseball. Not judging that call, i have just heard that is the case.

by **Longtime** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:38 pm

Agree that men's track and field would be the simplest sport to add, but wouldn't necessarily bring the biggest payoff.

Yes, there were would be some high start-up costs with bringing back baseball, but it's the one sport we don't have that could possibly turn a profit. And bring more attention to SMU.

Once basketball season ends, SMU does not have a team sport that can draw any kind of following or get any kind of consistent interest from local media. In other words, other than the occasional golf or tennis highlight, SMU drops off the sports map in the spring.

Smart universities have learned that you can make money with baseball if you market it. Go to a TCU game when they have a good opponent in Fort Worth and tell me that's not something that would be a big benefit to SMU. They have a great, fan-friendly ballpark and they market the sport.

It's the same at Baylor and Rice. If those Texas private schools can field competitive baseball, why can't SMU?

Of course, SMU has a men's soccer team that has lots of marketing potential, especially with the local MLS franchise moving way out to Frisco. Lots of soccer families inside the LBJ loop would spend an evening watching SMU soccer if SMU would market it and put together a good fan experience. SMU's inability to create a good game experience would be my biggest concern about SMU having a viable baseball program.

The facility issue is a roadblock. Baseball would really work best with an on-campus facility so students could walk to the games from dorms and frathouses. Glencoe Park might be an option if SMU can work a deal with the city of Dallas. You might be able to squeeze a ballpark into the park next to Sorority Row, but I doubt the neighborhood would allow it.

But give me a break about your aversion to metal bats. Millions of people enjoy watching amateur baseball - only the major and minor leagues use wood bats anymore. The metal bats have been "tuned down" now so that you don't get the ridiculous homerfests anymore. College baseball has a pretty big following. Just because they don't use wood bats is no reason for SMU to miss out on a great opportunity.

by **NickSMU17** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:54 pm

The new bats they use, although still metal have changed the college game again in a good way. You still get the ping and the bloopers that should never have fallen but it is almost back to being a pitchers game the way it was invented.

by **ObeyMyDog** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:39 pm

Baseball - no way it will happen in the foreseeable future, simply no way. There is not a single motivation for the school to bring it back right now besides nostalgia.

Track and Field- Possible, but the budget holds it back amongst other things. If it did come back, that come back is still a ways off.

Bottom line - Title IX is flat out upsetting. I don't care what PC argument anyone would like to advance, it is so stupid. I believe we should absolutely have women's sports, but requiring a 1 for 1 match up is downright dumb. The most profitable women's sport, basketball, drew about 1/10th to 1/11th (ballpark #, I think it is around here but correct me if I am wrong) of the men's viewing audience for the championship games. And, the men's game was one of the most boring games ever. Translate that fraction of a viewing audience to the money advertisers pay for game slots, and you are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars more that is generated by the men as opposed to the women. And that is just the advertisers, we aren't even talking TV contracts yet. Ugh, I could go on and on.

Regardless, there has to be enough money to fund the men's sport (which will probably lose a good chunk of money, at least for awhile) against one or two women's sports (which will bleed so much money you'd pass out). We don't have enough money to burn right now, nor the real estate to deal with adding 2 or 3 sports. (even if it is baseball and softball and you use the same field) That's really what it comes down to.

Simple.

by **ponyfan08** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:09 pm

It is a long dry spell from basketball to football. Since we no baseball at SMU, I follow Dallas Baptist in baseball. DBU is a great team and one of the offensive powerhouses in college baseball. CUSA should have voted them in. DFW is a hotbed for talented college baseball players. SMU could be competitive in a short period of time. Maybe it will happen one day soon.

Nice victory tonight for DBU against TCU, thatâ€™s twice this year.

Looking forward to September!