NCAA softball is toast!

[NEF]

I think we need to remember that this is just TEMPORARY! IT is not like scientists and doctors don't know what to do it will just take time as in 12 to 18 months MAX...once a vaccine is in place and hospitals have preparations in place and treatment options improve this will be just like the flu and if it does not mutate it won't even be a blip on the radar in a few years. The reason everything is crazy right now is because it is "novel" which means "new" we don't have a vaccine or know what proper treatment looks like.....BREATH, EXHALE....it will be OK.

They already are saying there are 2 different covid strains in the US. There will be vaccines, but I can see where like the Flu virus, The vaccines will not be effective on all the covid strains

 

[Johnreilly]

Top 10 Softball Programs by Revenue

View attachment 17217

Rankings | Highest grossing college sports programs - Most revenue college sports | Sports | Softball

Want to know the best colleges for 2024? Raptor? ranks colleges in over 20 different categories. Check out all our 2024 rankings here!

www.collegeraptor.com

Lol Revenue..... with expenses not factored in, means nothing in this context.
Mississippi State...

 

[JayW]

Lol Revenue..... with expenses not factored in, means nothing in this context.
Mississippi State...

Speaking of expenses, the Gators just spent $15m on a stadium renovation.

 

[Johnreilly]

Speaking of expenses, the Gators just spent $15m on a stadium renovation.

The Almighty Florida Gator program can do what it wants!!
Chomp chomp

Look, if a sport can't put asses in seats going forward, good chance they're getting cut. The trickle down will reduce or eliminate the other revenue Olympic sports (politically correct for non revenue sports like softball) depend on to exist. And speaking of Olympic athletes, the overwhelming number who are/were NCAA affiliated, is in peril as well.

Is what it is, change is here. But I really think softball (youth club level) can reset, and implement changes that benefit the girls, their high schools, and the expense involved to play - which, let's face it, has priced out a LOT of athletes. This is great news! Currently? The only families that can afford what it takes to PGF around, are the ones that don't need that 21% scholarship plus books.
I mean.... This might be the best thing to happen to Fastpitch. Change was needed. Now it's here by force.

Let's play ball!

 

[Ken Krause]

According to this article, there were 1,682 colleges offering varsity softball programs in the U.S. in 2018-2019. The NCAA reported revenue for women's softball in 2016-2017 at $450 million. I imagine it's gone up a bit since then. By my math, if you divided it evenly that would be $256,000 and change per school. (I doubt it's divided evenly but we need to start somewhere.) This, I believe, is without any money from football or basketball funneled in.

Given that, the NCAA has a 450 million reasons to be sure softball keeps going at the collegiate level. Seems like at this point it should be self-supporting at most schools, and there should be money or incentives available for the others. I doubt college softball is in much danger.

That said, I sure wouldn't mind seeing the sport made more accessible to more players. Or perhaps I should say give more players the opportunity to play high-level competition rather than pricing them out automatically. As long as you have a bat and ball you can play, but you need a little more if you're going to play the top teams.

 

[Lemond]

Arizona is somewhere in that T25 revenue list. They just spent a few million renovating an already very nice stadium. I GUARANTEE that they are not getting ANY money from a usually pretty atrocious football program.

One thing people are leaving out in many of these conversations, which is arguably the largest revenue stream of most universities, is private donations. Especially in these trying times when the large scale donors' favorite sports are even thought to be in jeopardy, there will be some very generous people stepping up to help out.

There will ultimately be changes (big and small) in everything we do from day to day, but most of those are yet to be defined.

So, speculate, plan, adapt, breathe, reassess, repeat... This will be the way we make it through sanely.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

Given that, the NCAA has a 450 million reasons to be sure softball keeps going at the collegiate level. Seems like at this point it should be

From that same article it estimates that only half of that goes to athletic scholarships for the players.

If the NCAA dies tomorrow I wouldn't shed one tear. The free market would sort that out. It will be OK....

 

[erniekru]

Everything is going to be different, but that new different will eventually be the norm. People looking for outs will find them with this shut down, people itching to get back to softball practices and games will get back to them.

Youth Sports Worry About Weathering Pandemic, and Future Play (Published 2020)

Will parents and children be eager to return to team sports once the threat of the coronavirus outbreak has passed?

www.nytimes.com

Colleges will do the same. There is HUGE popularity in NCAA softball, they won't just shut it down.

 

[Eric F]

On the bright side, HS softball will become relevant and more competitive again.

How so? How is any of this going to change the talent pool at a particular HS?

AND the cost for the parents of teenage softball players will immediately drop like it's hot.

I'm not following you on this one, either. TB isn't just about a path to college ball. It's also about playing with and against top-level competition. A whole lot of athletes thrive on that aspect alone.

 

[hipnix]

The virus didn't kill Title IX. If these schools want to keep their men's football, basketball and baseball programs, softball isn't going anywhere.