- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,210,061
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
OMAHA, NEBRASKA - MAY 20: Road to Omaha statue at Charles Schwab Field on May 20, 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The college baseball postseason begins today with the 64 teams competing in 16 regional rounds. College baseball has, unfortunately, lagged behind college football and basketball in popularity and exposure, largely because many top talents start their professional careers directly out of high school rather than having to spend time in college.
It should come as no surprise that they are behind the two main sports in financial value as well. College football gets massive payouts for media deals, the CFP, and bowl games. College Basketball has value during the season and goes to another level entirely for March Madness. Both allow conferences or teams to get significant paydays for their postseason appearances.
But with the Road to Omaha starting, does college baseball also see a jump in financial payouts or incentives? Unfortunately, it looks like the answer is no.
According to some 2014 message boards on Collegiate Sports Nation, there are no payouts for the teams that make the initial Field of 64. While the info may be outdated over a decade later, there aren’t any more recent articles so things shouldn’t be too different. The NCAA covers travel costs for teams to go to their regionals, so they break even, but they aren’t making money from their appearance. For the eight teams that make the College World Series, there is a significant stipend somewhere around six figures. Travel costs are again taken out of that, so it should be assumed any profits are minimal at best.
Marca says that while the tournament itself makes a narrow profit (about $500,000 in 2023), those profits don’t carry over to players or teams outside of exposure.
It’s unfortunate there isn’t some kind of monetary distribution for the 64 teams, but if there is no money coming in, then it’s hard to have money coming out. This illustrates how large the gap truly is between college basketball and college baseball.
Continue reading...
