2025 Baseball Schedule

Dang it... that's like the football schedule of baseball. These SEC schedule making clowns suck!

 

No Georgia baseball game next weekend?

 

There's a game at the Jax ballpark next friday against JU, rather than dawgs. The crowd will be football fans sharing love with bsb guys.

 

I just got the list of season tix that are available if I want to exchange my current tix or just buy more. Nearly all are seats that weren't renewed by the deadline. I'm happy with my spot, but it's interesting to see how many became available after the odd 2024 season. There are about 112 available level one tix and about 20 in the rich folks balcony. That's many more than last year, which was about 25 total, but still not much room for new season tix buyers. Sitting on the grass isn't especially desirable for anyone over a certain age who likely are the most anxious market for new season tix, but my guess is UAA wants another year or so before adding seats. It would be quick and easy enough to replace one of the adirondac chair areas with bleachers, but my guess is all or part of the left field berm will be replaced with chairbacks first, maybe berms on both sides.

 

I wish there were some defined half-inning point in the game (mid-4 to mid-6) when unused tickets would be forfeit and the folks on the berms can "level up". I'm ridiculously fat and have 2 seats because of that (I occasionally share the other with a friend or colleague who knows what they're getting into), but if some individual on the berm is willing to endure the cramped seating and root for the Gators -- or even for another non-LSU public and be respectful about it -- come on in.

My 2nd least favorite thing about Condron is that if I get up to pee, I may have to chase away "seat piranhas" when I come back to my (really good) seats... regardless of when in the game that is.

 

I agree with your point, which I understand to be that the current infrastructure generally meets current needs, but there are other points to be made. UAA, like any business, MUST be attracting future customers and some of those are unlikely to have much interest in sitting on a berm. This is the first period- certainly since WW II- in which there are ZERO bleachers at the baseball park. It wasn't an error in the construction of the place, many more seats are in the future of the ballpark. UAA certainly has triggers for conditions that will generate changes, but I can only guess what they are.

The UAA commitment to maximizing revenue is no secret. That's not a complaint, other places are worse. It's hard to make myself say it, but I want UAA to have ever increasing revenue to cover the ever increasing costs of the ultra-successful UF athletic programs. UAA gets paid for purchased seats, whether the seats are occupied or not. To increase ticket revenue, they have to sell more tix, but their current inventory is very limited. Parking is an issue related to the number of seats.

Several other SEC programs have larger capacity and use it becuse of the local sports culture. Gator football draws much larger crowds than places like MSU, Miss, SC and Ark, but they fill somewhat larger baseball parks. It's not a simple matter of popularity of baseball. Gainesville, by itself, can generate another 3000-5000 more attendees, with more from the surrounding area, plus more students. Since the Mac opened in "88, attendance has steadily grown from under 800/game to over 6000, with top games pushing 9000. UAA is routinely marketing FB and hoops tix, plus a recent push for gymnastics, but not much marketing for anything else. There's not much incentive for marketing baseball when the only option they can offer is sitting on the ground.

I believe getting families into general admission seats is a critical factor in getting some of those families. Most kids love the berms and many young parents are fine with sitting on damp grass, but I believe they are more likely to attend regularly if mom and grandma get a dry bench to sit on. I first bought season tix in the second season baseball charged admission- early '80s. The BEST seats were old wooden bleachers, but they were sturdy and dry. Sometimes I watched from the LF fence, but even that was better than sitting on the ground.

The point that is most important to me is bigger crowds are more fun. Bigger crowds require more actual seats.

 

And make no mistake @The Boss—

Larger crowds are crazy fun for the players to play in front of-
especially a knowledgeable and vocal crowd. A great fan base can keep our players dialed up and dialed in.

 

You've hit on my two infrastructure issues, parking and bleachers. I've brought these up before to mixed ideas but I agree with more people comes greater need for more parking.

While I admit, the chairback seats at the Condron are much more comfortable than I ever expected, I still would also enjoy some bleachers built into concrete steps like we had at the Mac in the higher areas down the lines. I think it's the right next step going forward. Maybe a section or two down each line of bleachers and they will still have more than half the berms they have now. Bleachers would seat more than 4 or 5 times the people in the same space than that part of the berm as is.

As for parking, I've suggested several areas just south of the stadium. First is the small area between Steinmetz, the soccer fields, and the Environmental Stress Lab buildings. Yes it has some old fruit trees but its only 10 rows wide and half the trees have withered away. Plus they could tie it into the main baseball lot and the current Steinmetz parking and allow more exit opportunity. Second is the larger area south of the turf practice field that connects the corner of Ballpark Way. This extra parking would be the best option for traffic to exit on Ballpark Way with ease. I get this area has the most trees and more difficult for some to agree with but wasn't the baseball and soccer/lacrosse fields built on the same research fields. The third area is just east of Ballpark Way and into the IFSA Research Drive. This mostly grassy area was an area many people used to park in but they now post no parking signs on a regular basis. It also has a small area for plant research but seems like an easy option and slightly further from the ballpark. I get that most people live in Gainesville and want to exit to the north, west and/or east. Very few go south but Ballpark Way is an easy way out for many like myself so why not make better use of it.

Lastly, I believe the biggest issue that compounds our parking problems is the overlapping scheduling with softball. I feel if the UAA is going to allow this to continue for TV or other reasons, they should be ready to improve the parking available around the ballpark, and not rely on golf carts and tractor pulls. I for one always try my best to be there at least one hour before game time to park close enough but that not always possible when coming from out of town. I also have to factor in the other events schedules as well. That said, there are some games I choose not to attend because of the parking issues near the park.

 

So true! But I don't insist they be knowledgeable when they arrive. There are many codgers ready to explain the game. Speaking as such a codger, I can give a wicked fans' version of the intracacies of the infieid-fly rule. My wife thanked me every time I told her.