I have been a sports writer for about three years now, and I have never seen anything like the lack of interest in spring sports. It seems like every baseball or softball game I go to, it would be amazing if there were more than 30 people in attendance. But, why? Baseball is America’s Pasttime. Why do people not care?
Free games
Baseball, softball, and track are all considered revenue free sports. Which means the schools or the state athletic associations do not make a single cent off of ticket sales for regular season events. Fans will pay six dollars to watch football, basketball and volleyball and they show up by the hundreds and sometimes thousands. But a free baseball game is not something fans are interested in? If anything, it would be the perfect sporting event to go to and take families along.
One reason why people may be hesitant to make the trip to a baseball or softball game is the unpredictable spring weather. Who can blame someone for not wanting to sit in freezing weather to watch a game? Yet, whole towns throughout the Midwest show up to a high school football game in late fall when the possibility of snow flurries are present.
Interest in the sport
Baseball is a slow moving sport and could take upwards of two to three hours to finish a complete game. Of the two hours, there may be 20 minutes of total action. Baseball has even become so slow that Major League Baseball had to impose rule changes to speed up the game. Some would say that takes the beauty out of the sport. The interesting thing in baseball is not nonstop action and fast pace contact. It is the strategy behind every single move. Every pitch, every movement, every second of every game is calculated and has a reason for it happening. It is 60 percent mental and 40 percent physical.
Track is another story. Baseball, at least, gets national attention and in the MLB, television air time. Track gets zip. Maybe once every four years in the summer Olympics, the time when the least amount of people sit and watch television. Popular culture has done no favors with track and it does not seem like it ever will. Quick, jot down 10 Major League Baseball players and 10 Olympic sprinters. How quickly did you finish the baseball players, and how many of you had to grab your iPhone to search for sprinters? Part of the blame has to be placed on the media. We do not do a good enough job creating interest in track, but if we write a track story and no one reads it, there is a problem there.
Too many games/meets
There are times where high schools could play five to seven games a week depending on a Saturday double header. It could be a full time job to be a high school baseball fan. It is for me. But, that is the great part of baseball. It is a sport that can be played every day and players would not get tired because of the minimal physical effort exerted throughout a game. In basketball, players are going 100 percent for 32 minutes. Football, even more because they are getting beat up physically and mentally. But, baseball players give it 100 percent for seconds at a time. But, for fans, it would take a dedicated individual to show up the every game. What if those fans could show up to half of those games? That would generate a bigger interest than today. Some schools have upwards of three track meets a week. And most of the time, the only fans that show up to watch are the parents.
Early starting time
High school baseball and softball has a first pitch time of 5 p.m. on weekdays. Track could be even earlier. Most people are not even off work by that time. If they are, they still have to get kids fed and work done around the house. I have yet to see a high school field equipped with lights. Night games could solve everything. There was nothing better than a night game in little league or travel ball. If high schools could get lights on their fields, that could generate interest from not only fans but players as well. Fans would show up because it would be something to do after dinner other than sitting around and watching television. Players would love it because it would give the game a “big league” feeling to it. The extra costs for the high schools most likely would never allow that to happen.
The AAU dilemma
A major factor that could be hurting spring sports is athletes specializing in sports. You do not see very many three-sport athletes anymore. However, you do see a lot of kids playing just one sport all year long thanks to AAU programs. John Supon, the Bucyrus High School tennis coach and a 39 year basketball official, thinks the reason participation numbers are down in spring is partially because of AAU.
“After talking to numerous spring sport coaches, AAU basketball and volleyball are killing spring sports and participation. Not just Tennis. But it seems baseball and track are other sports being affected. Girls softball seems to be the one sport that is thriving numbers wise,” Supon said.
With the opportunity to play one sport year round, of course you will see numbers diminish in other sports. Most effected are the sports that the weather would not allow to be played 12 months. Baseball and track are the major sports effected although, indoor track is becoming increasingly popular.
The demand of the athlete
Today’s high school athlete is spread so thin they would be lucky to have one entire week off during the summer. By the time spring rolls around, these athletes could be so burned out they just want to take the entire spring off. The demand of summer basketball and football is enough to make an athlete want to enjoy some time off and spring seems to be their only chance. Supon also recognizes that as a problem.
“AAU is not the sole issue, you can add recovering from football and basketball season and the commitment the coaches want from players as soon as school is out June 1. Summer time, June basketball shoot-outs lead into July football 7-on-7’s now. No wonder by spring season they are burned out. They get a one week dead period in the summer over the July 4 holiday and that is it. Most of my players also work jobs so they can have the life style that they think they need,” Supon added.
Solutions
There are plenty of ways to fix spring sports. If money were not an option, although it most certainly is, schools could add lights to their baseball and softball complexes to be able to start games later and give people a chance to make it to games.
We could stop demanding so much from the athletes. We have to remember that these are just kids who want to enjoy their teenage years for as long as they possibly can. Give the kids time off to enjoy summer and do things they want to do. Maybe by the time spring rolls around, they would not mind playing a sport.
One thing that could help is a change in the way schools play their nonleague baseball and softball schedules. A lot of times teams play Saturday doubleheaders and baseball teams do not want to use up their strong pitching unless it is for a conference game. These doubleheaders can drag on. Something that has been becoming increasingly popular is weekend tournaments. Colonel Crawford softball competes in the Champions Challenge in Loudenville. Hillsdale hosts a wooden bat tournament every year. These kinds of events could gain huge interests from teams and make the nonleague schedule a bit more interesting and fun.
No one can control the weather. But, a possibility could be to change when spring sports are played. Could they be played in the fall or even the summer? Some adjustments would have to be made but it could always be an option. Anything to help the sports should be explored.
Spring sports need help. The interest level is just not there and there really is no good reason why it is not. These sports are just as important as football, basketball, and volleyball. So, what is wrong with spring sports?