Monday, April 5, 2010

Give Us Coverage


It's time to give college baseball it's due. This is baseball we are talking about...not some fringe or country club sport. America's Past Time at the amateur level...Compared to amateur football and basketball and using that as a measuring stick, baseball could be just as popular as the pro game.

It doesn't matter if it's college or MLB...it's high level collegiate baseball played by top performing and sought after athletes. If fans like the Dodgers, Yankees or Red Sox they will like the brand of baseball that UCLA, Arizona St. LSU and more play.

Again, what the dailies and broadcast media fail to realize is that once they start covering college baseball, the more supporters they will get....the more people like me that will e-mail and call them wanting more...They may not get requests now because they already know that they aren't a resource...most of us have to go to Rivals or CBS Gametracker to get our info...But we all WANT to see it in on ESPN and our metro dailies.

So, here's my suggestion...The major market dailies totally ignore college baseball...They think the public doesn't care...OK dailies...Do the college baseball community a favor...Write one feature article about the former, all metro high school stars and their impact on the colleges they play for...You will find that your local market has dozens of local and former high school stars playing college ball...If you run that article, YOU WILL get phone calls, letters and interest. It happened in L.A. and they have been covering it ever since. JUST ONE ARTICLE...

Also a mention in page 2's Calendar would be nice as well. College baseball games for the upcoming weekend and Tuesday games should be in that section. Some are broadcast on local college stations...all are on CBS's Gametracker...many televised via Gametracker as well

I just think sports editors are underestimating the power of college baseball. There could be huge fan interest if there is knowledge. The pro game trickles down very well to the college game...especially if there are pro prospects on those college teams. Here in my hometown, there are 11 former Stanford players playing on MLB teams right now...23 in the minors. Cal has 10 in the majors and dozens in the minors. Can you say that about their football or basketball players?

A brief mention of college baseball is not enough...This sport deserves it's own section..they need to test it for a season...for a month..they will see benefits beyond their expectations...I know...I have seen it done on other markets with tremendous success to the teams, their attendance and to the bottom line of the dailies and broadcast media that supported it.

No comments: