Great News!

[Boca Vol]

Besides MO, it is the worst in the league....after next year....when FL and UK open new 50 mil parks.

I haven't been to LNS in a long time. I didn't realize it was thought of so poorly.

 

[vol66]

I haven't been to LNS in a long time. I didn't realize it was thought of so poorly.

My feeling is it's not that bad from a fan's perspective, but compared to the other facilities it's nothing special, if that makes sense.

I got to do the porch deal this year and that was a lot of fun...CTV wants to expand on it somehow.

OTOH apparently one of the first things CTV noticed was a leak in the weight room that had apparently been there for a while.

He wants something done down the third base side and wants to get rid of the bleacher type seats down the 1B/RF side.

He addressed some other issues that don't pop into the old noggin at the moment.

The one issue that I think needs to be given some consideration is selling beer. They let people bring alcohol to LNS if they have porch tickets, not unlike folks who can afford sky boxes in football, basketball, etc...Seems like it's okay as a perk, in my opinion they ought to try to capitalize on it.

Other schools are out front in this regard. What better program to start with then baseball? How rowdy are 500-1000 people gonna get?

As far as a new stadium, I just don't know where they would put it...although all those intramural fields over on Sutherland don't seem to get a lot of use...that would be off campus but that's a great west Knoxville location. I have no idea how feasible that is.

Another idea is sharing a park with a minor league team if we ever get one back in Knoxville, don't know how feasible that is either.

Something else I was thinking about is that you have Helton and J.P. over there too...this is a great time to start looking at this issue.

 

[tdbigo]

Any talk of moving the Smokies back downtown when their contract in Kodak is up and UT using the park they would build there around the old city? I've heard rumors of that for a while now.

 

[tdbigo]

Any talk of moving the Smokies back downtown when their contract in Kodak is up and UT using the park they would build there around the old city? I've heard rumors of that for a while now.

Just saw your comment 66, I'm late to the party....

 

[Boca Vol]

My feeling is it's not that bad from a fan's perspective, but compared to the other facilities it's nothing special, if that makes sense.

I got to do the porch deal this year and that was a lot of fun...CTV wants to expand on it somehow.

OTOH apparently one of the first things CTV noticed was a leak in the weight room that had apparently been there for a while.

He wants something done down the third base side and wants to get rid of the bleacher type seats down the 1B/RF side.

He addressed some other issues that don't pop into the old noggin at the moment.

The one issue that I think needs to be given some consideration is selling beer. They let people bring alcohol to LNS if they have porch tickets, not unlike folks who can afford sky boxes in football, basketball, etc...Seems like it's okay as a perk, in my opinion they ought to try to capitalize on it.

Other schools are out front in this regard. What better program to start with then baseball? How rowdy are 500-1000 people gonna get?

As far as a new stadium, I just don't know where they would put it...although all those intramural fields over on Sutherland don't seem to get a lot of use...that would be off campus but that's a great west Knoxville location. I have no idea how feasible that is.

Another idea is sharing a park with a minor league team if we ever get one back in Knoxville, don't know how feasible that is either.

Something else I was thinking about is that you have Helton and J.P. over there too...this is a great time to start looking at this issue.

Sharing a park near the Old City would solve the alcohol problem. Adding a 2nd deck for the sake of adding a 2nd deck doesn't make a lot of sense.

Columbia, SC has managed to build USC and a Low Single A team new stadiums in recent years. Surely, K-Town could build one for UT and the Smokies.

 

[Grayvol]

CTV wants to do double-decker porches in left, and create a student section in right. Fulmer is pumping in money, and dead area on 3B line is priority #1. All in all, the stadium isn’t bad to me. Sun is a bit of an issue on 3B bleachers, and especially on porches.

 

[99gator]

I will say that tons of money is being poured into baseball across the SEC. in some places, it’s actually a revenue producing sport.

I think there is an expectation that it can be a revenue producing sport at numerous places. I believe there is growth potential in college baseball as the product is high quality and the cost is as reasonable for a sporting event as it can get

Florida is building a brand new stadium

 

[vol66]

I will say that tons of money is being poured into baseball across the SEC. in some places, it’s actually a revenue producing sport.

I think there is an expectation that it can be a revenue producing sport at numerous places. I believe there is growth potential in college baseball as the product is high quality and the cost is as reasonable for a sporting event as it can get

Florida is building a brand new stadium

I have been saying this for a couple of years. My reasoning is based on the televising/streaming of the games.

I have felt that there is a philosophy that almost desires non revenue sports to remain non revenue sports because they have to figure out a way to spend all the money from the revenue sport, mostly on coaches' salaries and buildings...Rather than, trying to figure out ways to monetize the sport. College baseball isn't going to get smaller, interest in it is not going to lesson, it's only going to grow.

I'm in my 50's...look at how women's basketball has grown over the decades, mostly due to Television, but now couple in streaming and you can watch every game.

I'm not sure, even Pat Summitt would recognize the SEC now, it was nowhere close to this competitive when she was coaching.

The same thing is happening in baseball and softball.

Embrace it. Capitalize on it, but not to the degree that has happened in football, where average folks can no longer go to the games.

 

[99gator]

Found an article that indicated that in 2015-16, 5 sec baseball programs made money or broke even (LSU, A&M, Vandy, Arkansas and Ole Miss).

Same article showed that only Vanderbilt spent more money on the baseball program than Tennessee.

Don't know where they got their numbers.

LSU dwarfs most SEC brethren, others nationwide in baseball revenue, profit | LSU | theadvocate.com

 

[vol66]

Found an article that indicated that in 2015-16, 5 sec baseball programs made money or broke even (LSU, A&M, Vandy, Arkansas and Ole Miss).

Same article showed that only Vanderbilt spent more money on the baseball program than Tennessee.

Don't know where they got their numbers.

LSU dwarfs most SEC brethren, others nationwide in baseball revenue, profit | LSU | theadvocate.com

He gets it.

It’s a double-edged sword. It’s an awesome thing to have overflow crowds and so many passionate people. The flip side is, you’ve got to win. I love that feeling that it matters so much.” -- LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri

 

[vol66]

How many times have we heard something like...

"A healthy football program fixes...Fix football and everything else...."

We should do that...Fix football, I mean...but that's it?

The football team went 0-8 in SEC play for the first time in school history...

And we made more money than we ever have. EVER.

To the tune of well over 100 Million dollars, and all of the athletic scholarships equate to 10% of the athletic department budget.

Meanwhile...the University pays out millions to adults who woefully underperform...

All i'm saying is give it to the kids, the kids we pay to go see.



EDIT: fixins...heh...this won't be popular. :birgits_giggle:

...and while I'm at it, I'll amend post #27 by saying we had almost 3000 people for the Saturday TAMU game.

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