Baseball De-emphasized

[The Cooterpoot]

Imagine a business pushing a product that loses money over there largest product than is their big money maker. That business model won't work out. College athletics is a business now. State people can accept it and support it or they can have nothing down the road.

 

[mstateglfr]

Lots of folks on this thread and others are forever defeatist when it comes to football. But but my baseball wins…. We have fans that post here that frankly are just scared to compete in football and would rather take the easy way and say we can’t compete or we should just invest in baseball. This fan base needs to be all in on football and stop trying to make a non revenue sport something it isn’t.

You are the mindless fool who just yesterday claimed that MSU Football has been ranked #1 multiple times over the last 14 years. Oh, and you claimed that our 14 straight bowl games, many where we were at .500 or even under, shows we have been at the level needed to compete for CFP Championships.


Forgive me if I give almost 0 weight(or is it wait?) to your views on MSU Football.
I may even agree with your conclusion, but I am confident that how you got there will have been on an illogical path.

 

[ronpolk]

Lots of folks on this thread and others are forever defeatist when it comes to football. But but my baseball wins…. We have fans that post here that frankly are just scared to compete in football and would rather take the easy way and say we can’t compete or we should just invest in baseball. This fan base needs to be all in on football and stop trying to make a non revenue sport something it isn’t.

I can’t speak for others but I just enjoy baseball. I played baseball as a kid, in high school and a couple years in college. I like playing it and like watching it. Love being at the games too, any game not just state.

With all that said, I get the realities of college sports and football keeps the lights on the entire department. We certainly have to make sure football is the priority. But I think baseball is self sustaining. We don’t have to use football to cover losses in baseball at Mississippi state, or at least I don’t think we do. I think baseball generally is a cash flow provider for state. As long as that continues, I’d be disappointed if we moved sources away from baseball. Now, if baseball starts losing money maybe we are forced to do things differently.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Baseball was likely overly emphasized here for decades. De-emphasis doesn’t mean we don’t care about baseball anymore, it just means football and basketball take precedent. As they always should have. We will still spend on baseball and have higher expectations than most, but crap like us getting two different brand new baseball stadiums before we did any kind of major renovation to The Hump over the course of 50 years should not happen.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

I can’t speak for others but I just enjoy baseball. I played baseball as a kid, in high school and a couple years in college. I like playing it and like watching it. Love being at the games too, any game not just state.

With all that said, I get the realities of college sports and football keeps the lights on the entire department. We certainly have to make sure football is the priority. But I think baseball is self sustaining. We don’t have to use football to cover losses in baseball at Mississippi state, or at least I don’t think we do. I think baseball generally is a cash flow provider for state. As long as that continues, I’d be disappointed if we moved sources away from baseball. Now, if baseball starts losing money maybe we are forced to do things differently.

We lost about $2.3 million on baseball in 2023. The biggest problem is it generates zero TV rights revenue whereas football and men’s basketball both make a big chunk of their money from that.

TV rights fees are where the money is in college sports. Ticket sales are just a drop in the bucket comparatively.

 

[ETK99]

Let's just tell it how it is, the State fan base is struggling to adjust to what college athletics is now. Really, that's nothing new, as State and State fans have always been dragging up the rear of athletics. We don't want to spend money and we don't have the large base to overcome that. So, I'd suggest folks get with new world a bit and support ALL athletics instead of just bitching about everything. You want success, get involved.

 

[Maroon13]

Sark wanted the job and we were really close to hiring him. I mean, it was reallllllllllly close and we changed our minds.

 

[L4Dawg]

No doubt. Typical Mississippi State hire.

Yep, will turn out to be one of the worst hires we have ever made.

 

[dorndawg]

Nobody is saying defund football, hell they get the lion's share and should. I love football. Makes my dìck so hard the cat can't scratch it. By all means give more if you can... but mother17er baseball is America. Mississippi State Baseball is a big fat stiff eagle còck holding up the walls of collegiate baseball and in a way, America itself. We get 60+ games a year to root on our team, in a sport most of us grew up playing and still love. A vote to defund Mississippi State baseball, is a vote to defund America... You want to defund America you commie summabìtch? Are you Rebel scum? Eat a dìck. Wear a braided leather belt. Dress like a 58 year old lesbian. Go back to Jeanspage.

 

[ronpolk]

We lost about $2.3 million on baseball in 2023. The biggest problem is it generates zero TV rights revenue whereas football and men’s basketball both make a big chunk of their money from that.

TV rights fees are where the money is in college sports. Ticket sales are just a drop in the bucket comparatively.

If that’s the case, I agree you got to get it to a break even, at a minimum. Does MSU make the financial information public?

 

[patdog]

Yep, will turn out to be one of the worst hires we have ever made.

I doubt that. We've made some epic bad hires. Leach wasn't a great hire, it was OK though. But given the choice between Sark and Leach, it's not close. Even before Sark started winning at Texas.

 

[H8arebel]

Difference is, Mississippi is really investing in football and getting great returns on their investment. Us? Not so much.

Before the season even starts you know this? You can put all the stars you want on players and pay them what you want but know this they keep crowing about everybody coming in and building depth but just wait to those guys start bitching about playing time. See if the cancer spreads. With all the money they are spending only a natty will suffice.

 

[patdog]

Before the season even starts you know this? You can put all the stars you want on players and pay them what you want but know this they keep crowing about everybody coming in and building depth but just wait to those guys start bitching about playing time. See if the cancer spreads. With all the money they are spending only a natty will suffice.

Well, they're coming off the best 3-year stretch for any team in Mississippi in the last 60 years and return most of their players. So, I'm guessing they're probably gonna be pretty good. But just keep your head in the sand so you can ignore it.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

If that’s the case, I agree you got to get it to a break even, at a minimum. Does MSU make the financial information public?

You can find info for the whole university on the school website but it’s harder to find info specifically for athletics. Usually someone in the media puts in a FOIA request and gets that info every year. The numbers I’m pulling are from a CL article in February (I know it’s the CL, but Stefan is usually pretty solid with his info).

 

[retire the banner]

I don’t think it’s so much a decision to”de-emphasize” baseball. I think NIL and the ever moving goalposts for football and player compensation is going to strain every school to cut back everywhere they can just to keep all their programs running. The reality is football is still king, even for a traditionally strong baseball school.

Football has always been king, that’s never changed. We just have a very ignorant fanbase

 

[Seinfeld]

Lots of folks on this thread and others are forever defeatist when it comes to football. But but my baseball wins…. We have fans that post here that frankly are just scared to compete in football and would rather take the easy way and say we can’t compete or we should just invest in baseball. This fan base needs to be all in on football and stop trying to make a non revenue sport something it isn’t.

If this board applied this same logic to relationships, we’d all still be holding out for Margot Robbie and Salma Hayek while chugging diet dew and banging away on keyboards

Sometimes, recognizing your place in life and going to pornhub for the rest can be a better solution

 

[travis.sixpack]

Football has been above .500 in SEC play 7 times in the last 60 years.

Right. And if you think there's no way all the blue bloods in the SEC will look around and say "why are we propping up a school that is content to win 4 SEC games every 2-3 years, already shares a small, poor state with another member, doesn't fill their stadium, and is the weakest name-brand in the league", by all means let's continue the approach we've had for the last 60 years. Now is the time to go all-in on football.

What does that look like? Shifting more NIL dollars to football. Salary freezes across the board for non-revenue sports. Stop any givebacks of athletic dept. funds to the university. Tuition fees for sports. Adding uniform/field sponsors as soon as its approved. Sell naming rights to every athletic building on campus.

 

[retire the banner]

Lots of folks on this thread and others are forever defeatist when it comes to football. But but my baseball wins…. We have fans that post here that frankly are just scared to compete in football and would rather take the easy way and say we can’t compete or we should just invest in baseball. This fan base needs to be all in on football and stop trying to make a non revenue sport something it isn’t.

Amen, brother

 

[retire the banner]

Scared to compete? Do you think this is 7th grade and we're afraid to go to practice because it might hurt?

17 me... Why did Jeanspage have to fold and bring the panty-waste (no not waist, I'm talking about the discharge) to this board?

Here's a simple fact. We are the poorest school in the conference. With the poorest alumni/donor base. You can squeeze the shìt out of the turnip all you want, but it ain't gonna give you a pot of gold. The little resources it takes to make baseball competitive won't move the needle in football long term, but pulling it for a few years from baseball will be devastating.

We need a football coach that identifies undeveloped talent or runs a unique scheme that gives us an edge nobody else is working. We aren't going to win the money game. Get that through your thick, soft skulls rubes.

Nobody is saying defund football, hell they get the lion's share and should. I love football. Makes my dìck so hard the cat can't scratch it. By all means give more if you can... but mother17er baseball is America. Mississippi State Baseball is a big fat stiff eagle còck holding up the walls of collegiate baseball and in a way, America itself. We get 60+ games a year to root on our team, in a sport most of us grew up playing and still love. A vote to defund Mississippi State baseball, is a vote to defund America... You want to defund America you commie summabìtch? Are you Rebel scum? Eat a dìck. Wear a braided leather belt. Dress like a 58 year old lesbian. Go back to Jeanspage.

What a loser. This is lame ****. Go 17 yourself with this ***** *** attitude.

 

[Bulldawg77]

Scared to compete? Do you think this is 7th grade and we're afraid to go to practice because it might hurt?

17 me... Why did Jeanspage have to fold and bring the panty-waste (no not waist, I'm talking about the discharge) to this board?

Here's a simple fact. We are the poorest school in the conference. With the poorest alumni/donor base. You can squeeze the shìt out of the turnip all you want, but it ain't gonna give you a pot of gold. The little resources it takes to make baseball competitive won't move the needle in football long term, but pulling it for a few years from baseball will be devastating.

We need a football coach that identifies undeveloped talent or runs a unique scheme that gives us an edge nobody else is working. We aren't going to win the money game. Get that through your thick, soft skulls rubes.

Nobody is saying defund football, hell they get the lion's share and should. I love football. Makes my dìck so hard the cat can't scratch it. By all means give more if you can... but mother17er baseball is America. Mississippi State Baseball is a big fat stiff eagle còck holding up the walls of collegiate baseball and in a way, America itself. We get 60+ games a year to root on our team, in a sport most of us grew up playing and still love. A vote to defund Mississippi State baseball, is a vote to defund America... You want to defund America you commie summabìtch? Are you Rebel scum? Eat a dìck. Wear a braided leather belt. Dress like a 58 year old lesbian. Go back to Jeanspage.

You made my point without me having to make it.

I know its hard for you and others to understand but other than a few thousand fans or so baseball at state means nothing in the grand scheme of collegiate athletics. We sucked in 22 and 23 and still set attendance records… that’s cause it’s a party in the LFL and no one gives a **** about the final score. Meanwhile we have fan on here not wanting to go to fooball games or support the football team cause we might not win… won’t give to NIl cause they don’t believe in it… same fans will be in the outfield watching us get beat by an Arizona directional school spending thousand on dollars on meat to grill so they can serve the outfield and get Twitter and facebook famous . That sir is factual and you know it. Baseball is a non revenue sport and should be treated like one.

 

[retire the banner]

You made my point without me having to make it.

I know it’s hard for you and others to understand but other than a few thousand fans or so baseball at state means nothing in the grand scheme of collegiate athletics. We sucked in 22 and 23 and still set attendance records… that’s cause it’s a party in the LFL and no one gives a **** about the final score. Meanwhile we have fan on here not wanting to go to fooball games or support the football team cause we might not win… won’t give to NIl cause they don’t believe in it… same fans will be in the outfield watching us get beat by an Arizona directional school spending thousand on dollars on meat to grill so they can serve the outfield and get Twitter and facebook famous . That sir is factual and you know it. Baseball is a non revenue sport and should be treated like one.

All this ^^

But, I’m surprised you weren’t intimidated by the age-old SPS response of “go back to Jeanspage!!1!!” That one has been their go-to for decades

 

[Bulldawg77]

You are the mindless fool who just yesterday claimed that MSU Football has been ranked #1 multiple times over the last 14 years. Oh, and you claimed that our 14 straight bowl games, many where we were at .500 or even under, shows we have been at the level needed to compete for CFP Championships.


Forgive me if I give almost 0 weight(or is it wait?) to your views on MSU Football.
I may even agree with your conclusion, but I am confident that how you got there will have been on an illogical path.

I said ranked 1 and ranked other times not number one multiple times .
we only went to one bowl with a losing record and that was in 16. We went to one in a stupid Covid year in 2020 where we played only SEC games
I’m not the ignorant one here my friend.

 

[Son_of_34]

I have a hard time believing we’d make cuts on baseball given that the Dude is still so new. That would make that investment worthless if we don’t field decent teams in the future.

Does anyone know what it cost to have a rig? It was floated that the prices was going up a massive percentage, like 2000 to 3000 more than what it currently is, which Selmon didn't shoot down so prepare to have corporate owned rigs that are empty most of the year or full of opposing fans

 

[Maroon13]

We lost about $2.3 million on baseball in 2023. The biggest problem is it generates zero TV rights revenue whereas football and men’s basketball both make a big chunk of their money from that.

TV rights fees are where the money is in college sports. Ticket sales are just a drop in the bucket comparatively.

I assume just like football, basketball gets that tv money, win or lose.

So I assume, basketball making the ncaa tournament is a bigger check than baseball making the ncaa tournament?

However my concern is the GTR is a baseball area. State fans are baseball fans. The GTR is NOT a basketball area. People just don't care in the immediate area. So im afraid you'll always have attendance issues and financial commitment issues with basketball that you don't with baseball.

HOWEVER, im afraid a young AD will just look at the $$$$ and on paper think it is a great idea to take from one pot to invest more in basketball and football pots because their revenue potential is more (bowls and ncaa tournament). Then in reality you will hinder baseball and have all three sports crappy and no fans for any.

But there is the looming issue with paying tv revenue to players (huge expense). So that money has to come from somewhere. Currently, the only thing I'd like to see is more funds put into football recruiting budget(not talking nil but our actual budgeted number).

Selmon mentioned a IPF for football on the road dawgs tour, that just doesn't seem necessary at the moment. But Maybe our football facility is already dated. I have no idea on that. I guess maybe we need the latest PS27 and games. Who knows.....

 

[Bulldawg77]

All this ^^

But, I’m surprised you weren’t intimidated by the age-old SPS response of “go back to Jeanspage!!1!!” That one has been their go-to for decades

I can’t wait for them to tell me more about old main and how grand the tin gym was

 

[Son_of_34]

We lost about $2.3 million on baseball in 2023. The biggest problem is it generates zero TV rights revenue whereas football and men’s basketball both make a big chunk of their money from that.

TV rights fees are where the money is in college sports. Ticket sales are just a drop in the bucket comparatively.

We also had to pay out fxxxhall so i expect that number to be skewed some

 

[HuntDawg]

You made my point without me having to make it.

I know its hard for you and others to understand but other than a few thousand fans or so baseball at state means nothing in the grand scheme of collegiate athletics. We sucked in 22 and 23 and still set attendance records… that’s cause it’s a party in the LFL and no one gives a **** about the final score. Meanwhile we have fan on here not wanting to go to fooball games or support the football team cause we might not win… won’t give to NIl cause they don’t believe in it… same fans will be in the outfield watching us get beat by an Arizona directional school spending thousand on dollars on meat to grill so they can serve the outfield and get Twitter and facebook famous . That sir is factual and you know it. Baseball is a non revenue sport and should be treated like one.

You are dead on about the lounge.

if you eliminated the grills and coolers. You’d lose the LFL. Half the people there don’t even know who we are playing.

the performance of the baseball team would have to be really bad for a number of years in a row before you’d ever see the fans quit coming. There are people lined up to take the next lounge spot and buy the next chair back, and that isn’t going to change if we just put an average product on the field

 

[Mr. Cook]

Football has been above .500 in SEC play 7 times in the last 60 years.

This fact is disturbing on so many levels.

 

[Bulldog45]

We've won one SEC championship since 1989 in baseball. We played for the SEC championship in football in 1998. There's really little difference.

There’s a big difference. SEC championships aren’t really the proper measuring stick in my opinion. Look at the CWS as BCS Bowls/College Football Playoff games and compare those. And going down from there, a super regional is the equivalent to being in the thick of the college football playoff hunt late November or conference championship week, because you’re one step from competing for the national championship.

 

[Mr. Cook]

I can’t wait for them to tell me more about old main and how grand the tin gym was

I remember the Maine***********

 

[H8arebel]

Well, they're coming off the best 3-year stretch for any team in Mississippi in the last 60 years and return most of their players. So, I'm guessing they're probably gonna be pretty good. But just keep your head in the sand so you can ignore it.

No head in the sand at all chicken little. Why don't we just drop down to div 3? Sports history is filled with can't miss teams that fail. So they spend all this money and we're supposed to roll over?

 

[85Bears]

This fact is disturbing on so many levels.

Going .500 in sec are actually above average years and something I don’t see happening in the next five years.

 

[mstateglfr]

I said ranked 1 and ranked other times not number one multiple times .
we only went to one bowl with a losing record and that was in 16. We went to one in a stupid Covid year in 2020 where we played only SEC games
I’m not the ignorant one here my friend.

Oh good lord.
I see how you phrased that mumble 17 of a post and see you didnt say we were ranked 1 multiple times, you just mention we were ranked 1 and ranked multiple times.
Good lord- even your actual comment is terrible. Not as terrible as how I first read it, but still terrible. So the 17 what that we have been ranked multiple times in 14 years? The discussion in that thread was about competing for national championships and being ranked 18-25th for a week or two in a few seasons doesnt support your claim that we have been or will soon compete for national championships.

So it wasnt just 1 bowl where we had a losing record, it was 2. You even mention both above, yet say it was 1. 2016 and 2020 were both losing records heading into the bowl games.
Multiple other seasons had a .500 record heading into the bowl game, which is also something I mentioned, and also something that does not support your claim that the 14 year span shows we are capable of competing for national championships in a couple years. We were .500 after the regular season in '11, '13, and '19.


Your character on here is really goofy.
You seem to be playing some bullish character who belittles people for thinking MSU isnt dominant, while citing skewed and meaningless stats as defense of your bullish view.
Its really interesting to see.

 

[85Bears]

Actually Leachs last team was 9-4 and finished ranked in his third and final season here. that is historically a very good year at State and it was done in the era of NIL and the transfer portal which is much more difficult. I doubt it gets duplicated or surpassed in many years.

 

[patdog]

No head in the sand at all chicken little. Why don't we just drop down to div 3? Sports history is filled with can't miss teams that fail. So they spend all this money and we're supposed to roll over?

Or maybe we should get serious about investing in football (and the other sports) and try to compete with them instead.

 

[dorndawg]

Or maybe we should get serious about investing in football (and the other sports) and try to compete with them instead.

Ok sure I'm for it, but that means probably an additional $25 million a year beyond current contributions, between NIL, salaries, and facilities. Where's that coming from? That's an additional 25 grand from each of our top 1000 givers. Or finding an additional 25,000 people to give $1000 each (beyond tickets/BC).

Gotta tell you, I don't see it. And that really sucks.

 

[Bulldawg77]

Your character on here is really goofy.
You seem to be playing some bullish character who belittles people for thinking MSU isnt dominant, while citing skewed and meaningless stats as defense of your bullish view.
It’s really interesting to see.

Coming from you who is the six pack speak tough guy in any subject that doesn’t fit your narrative. I’ll take this as a compliment

here’s the thing. We lose money in baseball to the tune of around 2.3MM a year. For years we have gone cheap on football cheap on basketball and put baseball at the highest levels of funding we could. Again just a total shitastic move from the LT and cohen days. We don’t know how competitive we can be in basketball and football because it’s never been viewed upon the same level until now. You can ***** about this and that and say stupid **** like we went to bowl games with 6-6 and 5-7 (Covid year not withstanding ) but that’s how you build a championship program. No one cares that you went 6-6 but they do care that you are a known bowl team. You want to build a program well This is exactly what you have to do put wins on the score board put guys in the nfl and Put funding into real sports not non revenue sports like baseball. You have been belittling our accomplishments in football to make some point that we can’t compete it’s just stupid to do those things we should be building up our resume and our accomplishments but for some reason this fan base has a tendency to down play our wins and accomplishments unless it’s in baseball. Thanks god we finally have an AD who views are different

 

[The Cooterpoot]

We also had to pay out fxxxhall so i expect that number to be skewed some

Buyouts like that don't generally come out of the budget. Those funds are raised from boosters.

 

[Perd Hapley]

You made my point without me having to make it.

I know its hard for you and others to understand but other than a few thousand fans or so baseball at state means nothing in the grand scheme of collegiate athletics. We sucked in 22 and 23 and still set attendance records… that’s cause it’s a party in the LFL and no one gives a **** about the final score. Meanwhile we have fan on here not wanting to go to fooball games or support the football team cause we might not win… won’t give to NIl cause they don’t believe in it… same fans will be in the outfield watching us get beat by an Arizona directional school spending thousand on dollars on meat to grill so they can serve the outfield and get Twitter and facebook famous . That sir is factual and you know it. Baseball is a non revenue sport and should be treated like one.

You use the term “collegiate athletics” like its still a thing.

Its only professional sports, now. There’s a completely inverse relationship in how much money / revenue an NCAA sport makes and how much its athletes make as well, and how pure and wholesome that sport actually is as far as actually being in some way connected to the university, alumni / fans, the college town, and student body as a whole.

If MSU wins 11 games in football next fall….guess what? I don’t really give a shít. They aren’t my players. They don’t give a **** about me or my alma mater. Half of them will be gone to another “school” a year from now, another 25% will be gone to another “school” 2 years from now. They are simply people that what is now a corporation hired as their first entry level job. I no longer get no joy or sorrow at all from anything they do, or don’t do.

Will I still watch the games? When its convenient, yes, but that’s only because I like football and MSU football is the most convenient outlet for that. I’m not ever again going to build a single day of my life around an MSU football game unless its a trip back to Starkville where I’m just trying to get back together with old friends. And even then, I’ll tailgate and hang out but not really make any effort to go to games unless someone just hands me free tickets.

Back to baseball….its relative obscurity and lack of revenue generation is, in actuality, the only thing that makes it anything close to a real college sport anymore. 90% of the rostered players don’t get full scholarships. So you at least know the players that are there actually identify with the same school and program as you do to at least a certain extent. But even that is slowly eroding with NIL and the portal as well. Its all just a shítshow.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

There’s a big difference. SEC championships aren’t really the proper measuring stick in my opinion. Look at the CWS as BCS Bowls/College Football Playoff games and compare those. And going down from there, a super regional is the equivalent to being in the thick of the college football playoff hunt late November or conference championship week, because you’re one step from competing for the national championship.

The BCS isn't a 64 team tournament either. We could beat our chests about getting in if it was. You've got basically a .500 team playing in a super this year, so spare me all that talk.