Tuesday, November 8, 2011

SEC Dixie-nary: A is for Atmosphere

A is for Atmosphere

The atmosphere at many SEC stadiums is unlike anything you've experienced at Taylor Stadium. Large crowds, including rowdy college students, consider SEC Baseball a participation sport. Mizzou fans have seen some of this kind of enthusiasm at some of the Big 12's Texas ballparks, but the SEC tops them all.  

Read, for example, Top 25 NCAA Division I Ultimate College Baseball Experiences and Take Me Out to the Ballpark.

In a CollegeBaseballInsider poll of 111 D-I coaches on the "best atmosphere in college baseball", 6 of the top 8 were SEC schools (LSU got 56% of the vote).  The other two of the top 8 were Texas and Texas A&M, one of which is soon going to be in the SEC.

Several of the SEC ballparks have special sections or areas for students and other rowdy fans.  These areas can foster a frenzied fan base (and can also foster some less desirable activities from over-lubricated fans - see Classic move by Van Horn at 5NewsOnline.com about Baum Stadium's Hog Pen.)

Part of the SEC atmosphere is SEC attendance. For the first time, the SEC drew over 2 million in total attendance in 2011. See the 2011 D-I Attendance details and rankings HERE

The best thing the MU Athletic Department could do is to offer some big promotions for the students to make some road trips to some early MU away games in the SEC. Get the student body excited about what a crazy college baseball atmosphere can be like.

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