I don't personally follow baseball at all, so I am probably the wrong person to defend it, but I think it is crazy to even compare baseball to wrestling in terms of popularity or trajectory. Baseball is, and will remain, several tiers above wrestling in terms of popularity.LanderPoke wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:12 pmInteresting numbers indeed. I know that the # of kids participating grows every year for wrestling and I would think that it is going down for baseball. When i was a kid there were literally twice as many kids in Laramie youth baseball as there are today (same for football so maybe it's a Laramie thing - kids in Laramie are kitty for the most part btw).McPeachy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2017 10:37 amAre there currently 77 D1 wrestling programs still? Last time we discussed this, 2 years ago, that was the number. I couldn't find any data for 2017...but I remember there being 81 at one point in our discussions here.LanderPoke wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2017 9:46 amWell you haven't been paying attention, there has been a very recent trend of schools adding wrestling ( Fresno State, siu edwardsville + too many to mention at lower NCAA levels). Boise is doing the opposite of what it should be with wrestling.McPeachy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2017 8:59 amActually, the number of schools with wrestling has been decreasing, steadily, since - well - forever. Wrestling is a dying sport...and although maybe not in my lifetime, it will cease to exist competitively at the college level at some point in the future. The lower levels are already struggling (HS, JHS, AAU).LanderPoke wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2017 8:42 am The number of DI wrestling schools has actually been rising over the past decade. This is weird. No one cares about baseball anymore, whereas wrestling has a small but steady die hard following.
Not to argue baseball vs. wrestling anymore than we already have here on Wyonation the last 10 years, but I think Boise was super-smart in doing this to position themselves for an opportunity at the PAC or BIG or whatever you want to call it...in the event it ever comes along.
Frankly, and although this sucks ass to say it, Wyoming would be wise to dump wrestling and put in men's soccer (to meet the title IX requirements). And I hate everything soccer! But, no other sport out there could Wyoming get the bang-for-the-buck and be instantly competitive, than men's soccer. And in the cash-poor condition we are in right now, it just makes the most sense.
From a personal standpoint? I would prefer UW add D1 hockey, and add D1 baseball and women's softball, and lose wrestling - but that will never, ever, happen. Not only from a money standpoint, but from a poop trustee standpoint as well.
And Wrestling is not struggling at all at the lower levels. That is a comical statement. thanks for the laugh. Wrestling is expanding into areas of the country (Texas and the southeast) pretty rapidly where it wasn't popular before. If wrestling is struggling so bad why did ESPN double the amount of prime time coverage this year? And wrestling is one of only four or five sports to turn a profit on their championships events (sell out every session). We won't even touch on women's wrestling which is massively growing
Also. I don't think there's a lower cost per student athlete sport out there than wrestling
Interesting info:
In 2015 there were just over 10,000 college wrestlers total - all levels. That same year, it appears that there were close to 26,000 baseball players. A lot closer than I expected, honestly.
At the high school level, it is reported that more than 258,000 participated. While baseball was close to 500,000. Still a lot closer than I expected.
Wrestling is more popular than I thought - I was wrong. But it still can't touch the popularity of baseball - at the HS and College level.
Wrestling is actually insanely popular in the upper midwest and northeast and not so much everywhere else. I think that wrestling will see continued growth as it spreads into Texas and the southeast. I would bet $2 that we'll see more D-1 schools add wrestling in the near future. Especially in the south. It's already happening at the DII and DII levels.
If football declines because of the concussion issues then wrestling will benefit from that. Baseball is the sport that has real problems imo
Maybe Soccer would be considered a real threat to baseball (and football) for viewers and participants long term, but wrestling is decades away (if ever) from being anything more than a niche sport.
Having said that, for UW, Wrestling makes so much more sense than baseball. College baseball season starts on Feb. 16th. Feb. 16th! That's not a recipe for success in Laramie.
Boise is clearly trying to position their athletic department as more attractive to larger conferences who would care much more about a prospective program fits into their baseball schedule than a wrestling schedule which may only include half the teams in the conference as is. Good for them, I suppose, but I am very happy with UW's current sports lineup.