Florida Baseball: SEC Tournament to change formats in 2025 All 16 teams will play Single elimination Double bye for top four teams Single bye for teams 5-8 Continues to be meaningless, unless a bottom dweller wins the automatic bid Continues to make profits for B-ham businesses more important than the well being and success of the teams
So in effect the top 4 seeds can get thru it using only 3 starters, seeds 5-8 would need 4 starters, and 9-16 can kiss your chances goodbye. The day off probably helps some of the reliever arms, weather permitting, and keeps Thursday, Friday, Saturday to 2 games only. That is probably a good thing so we don't have games starting at 10 pm. Last year we were the Number 1 seed and lost to Vandy in the semifinals, playing our third game, after we had beaten them on Thursday. We beat them in the double elim round but then they beat us in the single. I like the single elimination so you don't face off a second time and it reduces the total games each team needs to play. I get no one wants to travel just for 1 game but it's better than making someone like 4 seed Vandy having to play 5 games in 5 days to win it like last year or the flip side for some going 0-2 BBQ. I have to believe for a top 4 seed only playing 3 games helps set their pitching up for the regionals, especially if they don't start play until Thursday and get a day off if advancing.
You do a great job explaining the theory- OK, you left out the new opportunity for a 16th seed to get hot for a week and win the automatic bid- but the practical reality is that it's likely 10 teams will end the regular season already assured of bids. Some of them may lose in the first round and get bumped for a Mountain West or Atlantic 10 team. At best they get bumped by a lower SEC team. The SEC is too top heavy for bottom dwellers to perform miracles. Teams seeded 6-10 may catch fire and win the tournament, and be rewarded with moving from a Regional 3 seed to a 2 seed in a tougher Regional. I watch SEC tournament games because I like bsb, but I see no real value from the event for the Gators or other SEC teams. I'm certain SEC staff watch out for their friends and neighbors in B-ham and I assume there is some amount of kick backs from the profits. Now fans from 16 programs wll be in town rather than just 12- nice news for hotels, restaurants and liquor stores. Normally, I'm not a cynic, but the SEC makes me into one. Roy Kramer is gone, but my confidence in the way the conference behaves is only at a medium level, definitely not high. BTW my bitchiness is directed at the SEC, not at M87, a smart and very well informed GC poster.
This new format doesn't even tempt me as a potential attendee. No matter how good the Gators are, they're only guaranteed one game? Hard pass. If my wishes were horses, here's how the SEC would ride: 1. Take advantage of the new MiLB schedule format (series usually Tues-Sun) and get the Birmingham Barons to ensure they are on the road that week. (Money will surely change hands here, but I think the SEC and the Birmingham metro area end up ahead).. which gives us.. 2. A two site tournament, 17 miles apart in the same metro area. 3. Keep the 9-16 play-ins on the first day (2 games per site), followed by a pair of 6-team "pre-supers regionals". From this, every 1-8 team, which are basically assured of an NCAA bid, get to play at least two games. a. Consider a "consolation game" at each site for the 9-16 losers. These are going to be bubble teams sometimes -- let them stay fresh and make their case to the committee. If it's a week of storms, this is the game that gets sacrificed to Thor's wrath. b. Consider dropping the rule that the loser's bracket winner has to beat the winner's bracket winner twice (i.e.; keep current tournament semifinals). It sucked losing to the Whistler Wankers last year, but the rule is probably good for the conference as whole. c. Maybe have "cross-overs" like the WCWS -- dunno. 4. Winners of the two 6-team-er's play on Sunday. Crank the "pomp and circumstance" to 11 and give out a really cool traveling trophy.
I agree with just about everything here. Inviting 16 teams instead of 12 teams might bring more fans but I think less people will come only having the possibility of 1 game. I've never been the to SECT so I'm probably stepping on some toes here but I've always wished they could move it every other year. Have it in B-Ham on the even years and then use other cities with minor league parks in the odd years like Pensacola/Mobile, Memphis, Chattanooga. I don't know the facilities in other towns but I'm sure there's some out there that make sense. If they do move it still needs to be centralized and not go to the borders of the SEC like Dallas, Orlando, or Louisville even though some cities might have more activities. I would be interesting to see the SEC, that is ESPN, that is ABC, that is Disney, bring the tourney to the Wide World of Sports stadium at Disney. Would SEC fans enjoy a 4 night stay at Disney and have the parks to go to if they lose? I don't know but the ESPN announcers would sure do there job talking up Disney over and over. Maybe B-Ham isn't so bad after all. Edit: I do like offering other venues so fans from other schools might come if the drive was shorter. Chattanooga might bring in more fans from Tennessee, Kentucky, SC and Memphis would help fans from Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Pensacola has the beach. LSU fans don't need any more reason.
I've spoken to Gator fans who go every year and LOVE the fan friendly environment. Apparently, there is a great RV area. Fan fun is a great thing, but still needs to be priority #2, behind a system that empowers the teams to advance to the CWS. CWS gets past some of the B-ham garbage by limiting the number of teams and stretching out the tourny over a longer perion. More days in B-ham is not something that makes life better for teams or fans.
We won't truly know anything until the first season with the new teams, it's making a 10 week grind even more difficult. Single elimination is fine for coaches who are more focused on the actual NCAA tourney but cheapens the fan experience as stated above who wants to make plans if they can evaporate in one day?
Having all 16 seems pointless, but not near as pointless as wasting arms a week before the 'meaningful' tourney
First 2 SECC football games were in B-ham. SECC baseball is in B-ham. SEC football media day is in Hoover, across from B-ham. The SEC ref's office is in B-ham. The SEC is a Birmingham, Alabama entity in heart, soul, mind, and corruption.
The addition of Texas might change that slightly going forward. Not that that’s necessarily “better”.
There was a time- '70s and '80s- when the top two SECE teams played a double elimination tournament against the top two SECW teams. The host site rotated between the east and west champs. In those days, that was the only sport that has E/W divisions. Bsb teams played annual home and home weekends against all of the teams in their divisions, which meant the tournaments were the only times any team from the east met any team from the west, which definitely was a negative. Because Gators and MSU were in the tourney nearly every year, cross division play was further limited. In spite of only including four teams, it was better than any format since.
