Can anyone confirm this?

[Tarantula'sDad]

I am told that Sean Casey has offered to donate lights to Pitt Field. When he went to the Athletic Dept. to give the donation, I heard he was told that his options were: A) If you donate $250K for baseball lights, you have to give another $250K to another sport, probably one of the women's sports; or B) Donate the $250K and we, the UofR, determine where the money goes.

Casey, like any rational person, said no and did not donate the money. Any truth to this?

 

[Spiders05]

Heard this a long while ago.

 

[WebSpinner]

Dad, cannot confirm it but heard that he did want to do this but title IX did exactly what you indicated. think this was when Sean was still an active player so several years ago. don't blame Sean, don't blame the school.......

 

[61 Spider]

The school did accept a sizeble donation for a new scoreboard a couple years ago. Don'gt think the donar had to give a like amount to women's sports or with strings attached. Don't see much difference in giving for a new scoreboard and lights as far as improvements are concerned.

 

[WebSpinner]

maybe at the time of the scoreboard, others monies were given to something else that offset that and Sean's money did not have the same available at that time, just thinking, guessing.

 

[Tarantula'sDad]

Baseball is one sport that UR can consistently compete in, yet no way does it get its fair share of funding from the Athletic Dept. Even when a prominent alum wants to DONATE to the program, UR finds a way to screw that up. Not having lights leaves such a tremendous amount of money on the table for this program its sickening. Football, basketball, women's basketball, then everything else. It's a real shame.

Maybe a bunch of us ought to put some money together and buyout all of the other men's sports, like lacrosse did.

Sorry, I just don't get it. It isn't like the University doesn't have an endowment, my word.
This post was edited on 4/10 9:30 AM by Tarantula'sDad

 

[Spiders05]

Originally posted by Tarantula'sDad:
Baseball is one sport that UR can consistently compete in, yet no way does it get its fair share of funding from the Athletic Dept. Even when a prominent alum wants to DONATE to the program, UR finds a way to screw that up. Not having lights leaves such a tremendous amount of money on the table for this program its sickening. Football, basketball, women's basketball, then everything else. It's a real shame.

Maybe a bunch of us ought to put some money together and buyout all of the other men's sports, like lacrosse did.

Sorry, I just don't get it. It isn't like the University doesn't have an endowment, my word.
This post was edited on 4/10 9:30 AM by Tarantula'sDad

Generally speaking, you don't touch endowments. Big no-no.

 

[WebSpinner]

Dad, first let me say, do not want lights for baseball but am the only one on here who feels that way. just curious, how is money left on the table by not having lights? if you think that fans are going to pay, not so sure about that. my opposition is because, many days standing in the parking lot watching a game, am freezing my butt off on winter and spring afternoons and just would not come over at night in 30 degree weather to watch a game. realize that a lot of people who work might come out to a night game but not in the winter and on many spring nights either.

 

[Tarantula'sDad]

Conference tournament, a regional, resulting concessions. Need to consider a modest admission cost, everyone else charges $5. Free with Student ID. Sizable donors, free. We ought to be playing further south in March anyway. I suspect that is a budgeting thing also. As for lights, let me guess, you live in the neighborhood.

As for the Endowment, I know you cannot touch it; but a large endowment means you make much of your budgets on the ROI. A larger endowment should men a larger $$ return, which should equal a larger budget. Just wait until June and see the popularity of the CWS. There is money to be made.
This post was edited on 4/10 9:02 PM by Tarantula'sDad

 

[urfan1]

Dad, I think many fans would like to see the addition of lights. Has anyone made any inquiries as to what it might take to put lights on the horizon?

 

[WebSpinner]

actually about 2300 miles now but when in richmond, close but not close enough to see any lights. strictly the weather factor, don't like watching baseball on a cold night. like i said, am the only one. not a cubs fan but hated the day when MLB forced them to install lights, love day baseball, hate the money factor.

This post was edited on 4/10 9:22 PM by WebSpinner

 

[Tarantula'sDad]

I've heard $250K, which sounds about right. But UR turned them down when they were free and the renewal plans for Pitt Field have been on Miller's (now Gill's) desk for 5 years. Do you think Gill is going to use hard-earned $$ for baseball? Look at his bio; I think not.

 

[WebSpinner]

what does the success of the college baseball world series in omaha have to do with UR making any money trying to get even a sniff at a regional game(s). do not think our stadium fits what they are looking for in selections sites. follow the darn money, what it is all about to some, me, just love going to campus and watching the SPIDS play in a cool setting.

 

[Tarantula'sDad]

You come 2300 miles to watch UR baseball? Great, we need more fans like you.

Without getting too snarky with my response, let me put things this way. I totally agree that it is too cold to play at night, in Richmond, VA, in February and March. That is why I say that the team should travel South in those months to play, LIKE EVERY OTHER NORTHERN TEAM, but I suspect the school does not want to budget for that. Now, when you come 2300 miles to watch UR baseball, you would like to see them WIN, right? Not too many come to watch UR lose. Well, to WIN, you need good players. To get good players, you need to invest in the program, LIKE MANY SCHOOLS DO, into things that make good players want to come to UR. Things like scholarships to the maximum 11.7, which UR does NOT do. And facilities. By facilities I mean an indoor practice hitting cage and pitching area; a good field to play on; and yes, a nice stadium. UR has one of the three. A nice stadium would include indoor plumbing, a good concession stand, a nice seating area with chair backs and yes, LIGHTS. Lights help practice times, rain-outs, and the possibility of hosting the conference tournament. If we win the conference tournament, we can then BID for a Regional, which goes to the HIGHEST BIDDER. Today, we cannot bid because we do not have the lights to run enough games in the time allotted. It certainly would have been nice in 2002, for example, to have hosted a regional. Maybe even a Super Regional. But we couldn't do it because of the facility.

To me, playing at home is a tremendous advantage in sports. I want to see UR baseball have the same success as basketball, more success than football. Both of those programs gave a tremendous boon to UR's reputation, like it or not, through great PR (basketball was overshadowed by VCU somewhat, but certainly put UR on the map). A perennial winner. A great reflection on the school is a successful athletic program that is a great advertisement for the University. My gosh, we had a prominent alum want to GIVE us lights and UR found a way not to take his donation. We could spend $20K building a sun deck in right field that would be a great addition; we could spend $20K to plant trees in CF that would cozy up the place; and if you go to just about every decent program in the country, you will find a baseball facility with decent stands, indoor plumbing, decent concessions and LIGHTS (Jacksonville, High Point, Winthrop, Charlotte, GW, Georgia State, Gardner-Webb, Tulane, Mercer, Furman, I could go on and on).

College baseball is a sport where, given its rising popularity, small investments can make large dividends. I wish the powers at the school would understand that.

This post was edited on 4/11 1:37 PM by Tarantula'sDad

 

[WebSpinner]

Dad, see where you are coming from and agree with your thoughts and ideas, as i said, the weather was my concern. the problem we have is, if you left it up to most athletic directors, non-bcs ones, they would deep six every "olympic"sport that costs him money (scholarships, coaches, travel, recruiting) in a hearbeat and that includes baseball along with soccer, track, lax, swimming, volleyball, softball, the entire spectrum. since they cannot and will not do that then they have to spend their dollars accordingly. even if we allotted for the full number of scholies for baseball, we would still be hurting since the rest of the squad (12 scholies; need 30 players or something like that) is made up of either partial or non-athletic scholarship guys and at our cost, most guys are going to a state school not UR, just too expensive. was watching a UR vs vmi game a couple of years ago and just perusing the rosters, we had like 27 players, vmi had like 40 and most were from VA and a ton of those were from the richmond area, they could afford to go there but not to UR, think those kids would have rather gone to UR over vmi, you betcha. without knowing the facts, sitting down with an athletic administrator and looking over budgets and title IX requirements, impossible to know how much flexibility there is to spend any monies, even donated monies, on a men's sport right now. not taking up for them, just know it is not black and white, someone wants to give baseball $1million, you spend it, does not work that way, too bad, but it just does not. some of us just want to enjoy the game, enjoy the environment and not try and manage something most of us have no idea about how it works and why. nice to question, to challenge but the answers are just not as easy as one would like them to be.

 

[GKiller]

i've heard the rumor too likely from these boards many years ago. enough have heard it very good chance true. but sometimes rumors grow a life of their own. I know Case a bit if I have chance to ask him I will.

 

[BeavCowboy]

It's a lot colder in Oregon than in Virginia in February and March and Oregon State and Oregon always play the Friday night series opener at night (5:35 at OSU, 6 or 7 at Oregon), Helps with attendance. The lights also give you leeway on rainouts, practice time, possibly hosting a regional or super (can't at UR now, far too small and no lights) and it also allows for a lot more use by other teams in the summer.

The summer wood-bat team I work for plays at OSU's stadium and the short-season minor league team plays at Oregon's stadium.

 

[WebSpinner]

funny Beav, will and have sat through snow, rain, sleet to watch football but just hate the cool, cold wind while attempting to watch baseball. guess that spring mindset hits and spoils you and you just want that cold stuff gone. you are right, even with lights, probably too small to host any playoff baseball but that is OK with me, love our park, it is very attractive and love to watch a game there, when it is warm, of course.

 

[SpiderTrap]

I don't normally write on this board, but here we go.

I have heard this rumor many times before. Can't confirm if its true or not, but the real issue here has already been pointed out. There is very little support given to baseball - which very easily could be a signature program for UR. It was not too long ago we were one game away from college world series. And we produced or have produced some very good major league players.

Remember when there were plans to renovate and update the baseball field? Like someone mentioned, those have been sitting on someone's desk and collecting dust. The A10 is a horrible baseball league - simply because it is a northern school league. So a lot of early season away games might be in cold weather. BUT - we enjoy the luxury of being a somewhat southern location team, and in most seasons - our baseball season doesn't endure drastically cold weather. When we played in the CAA - which was a top 5 baseball conference at the time, we got good players because we played in a good league that played in southern locations. Now - we play in a bad league with a lot of northern locations, but I think with a little bit of investment - we should be able to become a team that is at the top of the A10 year in and year out.

I think lights would be a great addition - some night games might bring out more fans. The patio in the outfield would also be a welcomed addition - might entice some people to cook out or some students to party during a game.

I have always wondered why we can't seem to compete well in the A10 in baseball, when we were able to compete pretty well in the CAA - is it just facilities and our league - or other factors at play?