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Big XII Baseball Tournament Moving On....

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Big 12 to move baseball tournament to Texas Rangers' new Globe Life Field
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by JACOB UNRUH
Published: Mon, February 3, 2020 4:49 PM Updated: Mon, February 3, 2020 4:55 PM

The Big 12 baseball tournament is headed indoors.

The Big 12 is set to announce Wednesday a three-year agreement to play the annual tournament at the Texas Rangers’ new ballpark, Globe Life Field, beginning in 2022, a source close to the situation told The Oklahoman.

The Big 12 has a press conference scheduled Wednesday at the ballpark, which has a retractable roof and is set to open this season.

The Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau declined comment.

The tournament has been held in Oklahoma City for more than four decades, primarily at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark since it opened in 1998. It was played twice at the Rangers’ former ballpark — then known as the Ballpark in Arlington — but was deemed a disappointment and returned to OKC.

But now, the Rangers have a roof and climate control to go along with a shiny new facility.

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So the B12 is going to shell out even more money to play in the Rangers' new ball park to sparse crowds? Dumb idea. Maybe they'll attract a few more fans in the DFW area, but I doubt they'll attract that many more fans to offset the cost of paying to play in DFW vs. OKC. Seems like this is another move by the B12 to appease the horns administrators and fans. Bad move IHMO.
 
So the B12 is going to shell out even more money to play in the Rangers' new ball park to sparse crowds? Dumb idea. Maybe they'll attract a few more fans in the DFW area, but I doubt they'll attract that many more fans to offset the cost of paying to play in DFW vs. OKC. Seems like this is another move by the B12 to appease the horns administrators and fans. Bad move IHMO.
I immediately thought the same thing. What’s the advantage for the B12 except to make it better for the Texas schools?
 
The Texas softball and baseball teams, have been saying the same thing about us for a while.

I look at it like this. Four Texas Southwest Conference schools hooked up with all the Big 8 schools because the SW conference sucked. Eight Big 8. Four SW. Even the with changes there are still five Big 8 schools compared to only three SW conference schools AND the football CCG is already played in Dallas. So as far as I’m concerned Texas can kiss ass when it comes to the other sports’ championship locations. OU shouldn’t let any of those Texas schools pee on our rug.
 
All four XII schools from Texas were in the SWC as long as the five Big 8 schools were in the Big 8. Tech joined the SWC the same year that OSU joined the Big 8. Now, you're right. The BIg 8 was in much much better condition than the SWC. It was really the three state schools fleeing from four private schools plus UHouston, mostly because the privates, even in good years, couldn't half fill their stadiums except when they played Texas or sometimes A&M. Neither could UH, except in rare circumstances, even though they competed pretty well. The fourth school was supposed to be TCU originally. But two Baylor tied politicians intervened. Yes I know. TCU didn't make the switch immediately.

The Big 8 had at least one of Nebraska, Colorado and OU almost annually in contention for the NC. Maybe 1976 was the exception. That was seldom the case of the SWC.

The old ties really don't matter now. What's best for this conference is what matters. I think the CCT is better served in Oklahoma City than Arlington. But the basketball tourney is in Kansas City. Softball in KC. Wrestling is in Tulsa. The women's gymnastics moves around. This year it's in Morgantown.

Since four of the ten present schools are in Texas, I don't think any reasonable person should advocated that there shouldn't be any conference championship there. If they have four schools, having two isn't unreasonable. And the way I understand it, this isn't a permanent situation. For that matter, neither is Jerry World. But since I'm in Plano, even though I despise Jerry Jones, I don't mind an hour drive to watch us win there, than driving to Kansas City or elsewhere further away.
 
All four XII schools from Texas were in the SWC as long as the five Big 8 schools were in the Big 8. Tech joined the SWC the same year that OSU joined the Big 8. Now, you're right. The BIg 8 was in much much better condition than the SWC. It was really the three state schools fleeing from four private schools plus UHouston, mostly because the privates, even in good years, couldn't half fill their stadiums except when they played Texas or sometimes A&M. Neither could UH, except in rare circumstances, even though they competed pretty well. The fourth school was supposed to be TCU originally. But two Baylor tied politicians intervened. Yes I know. TCU didn't make the switch immediately.

The Big 8 had at least one of Nebraska, Colorado and OU almost annually in contention for the NC. Maybe 1976 was the exception. That was seldom the case of the SWC.

The old ties really don't matter now. What's best for this conference is what matters. I think the CCT is better served in Oklahoma City than Arlington. But the basketball tourney is in Kansas City. Softball in KC. Wrestling is in Tulsa. The women's gymnastics moves around. This year it's in Morgantown.

Since four of the ten present schools are in Texas, I don't think any reasonable person should advocated that there shouldn't be any conference championship there. If they have four schools, having two isn't unreasonable. And the way I understand it, this isn't a permanent situation. For that matter, neither is Jerry World. But since I'm in Plano, even though I despise Jerry Jones, I don't mind an hour drive to watch us win there, than driving to Kansas City or elsewhere further away.

Plaino, all I’m saying is that if the roles were reversed and four Big 8 schools had joined the Southwest Conference then all the sports championships for the conference would have been contested in Texas. The dominating conference of the two was the Big 8 and the entire conference stayed on while the Southwest only brought four. How long any of the schools had been a member of their respective conference has nothing to do anything, in my opinion. But I can certainly understand you liking the change so enjoy and root loudly when you attend the baseball tournament. Boomer!
 
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So the B12 is going to shell out even more money to play in the Rangers' new ball park to sparse crowds? Dumb idea. Maybe they'll attract a few more fans in the DFW area, but I doubt they'll attract that many more fans to offset the cost of paying to play in DFW vs. OKC. Seems like this is another move by the B12 to appease the horns administrators and fans. Bad move IHMO.

I've never seen it live, but I understand the minor league team in Frisco has a very nice stadium.
If the crowds are sparse, seems like it would make more sense (economically and otherwise) to look at using this stadium, if they are just looking to move to the Dallas area. While tradition was nice, there aren't many left in NCAA Sports. Why not move the game around to some of the nicer ball parks in the region?
 
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Plaino, all I’m saying is that if the roles were reversed and four Big 8 schools had joined the Southwest Conference then all the sports championships for the conference would have been contested in Texas. The dominating conference of the two was the Big 8 and the entire conference stayed on while the Southwest only brought four. How long any of the schools had been a member of their respective conference has nothing to do anything, in my opinion. But I can certainly understand you liking the change so enjoy and root loudly when you attend the baseball tournament. Boomer!
I think you make a great point.

But the two best baseball facilities in the Big XII states footprint are likely to be in Texas, moving forward. Arlington is fairer. Houston is technically outside the actual footprint. Same for Jerrah World, especially when you consider December weather.
 
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I've never seen it live, but I understand the minor league team in Frisco has a very nice stadium.
If the crowds are sparse, seems like it would make more sense (economically and otherwise) to look at using this stadium, if they are just looking to move to the Dallas area. While tradition was nice, there aren't many left in NCAA Sports. Why not move the game around to some of the nicer ball parks in the region?
The dome makes weather issues and postponements a non factor. You don't get that in Frisco. I suspect that having dome access was the primary reason for the switch. It will enhance the entire reputation for every conference school, which is already pretty good in baseball.

It will also reduce the stress on pitching staffs caused by weather delays, for all of the schools heading to the playoffs.
 
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