(02-09-2018 07:22 PM)ColKurtz Wrote:  

(02-09-2018 06:10 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(02-09-2018 04:12 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(02-09-2018 03:17 PM)ColKurtz Wrote:  

(02-09-2018 10:16 AM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Men's soccer would be an interesting prospect. We've already got Women's soccer at every school, I believe, so the basic facilities already exist.

I had no idea the SEC did not have a men's soccer program. The ACC has one more men's sport than the SEC, more if you count sports that the majority of the league does not play (wrestling:6, lacrosse:5, fencing:4). This despite the SEC having much more massive athletic revenues vs. ACC top to bottom. More women's programs than the SEC, too, so it's not all title IX.

Any idea why the SEC doesn't field more programs like men's soccer or wrestling since it seems they could well afford to?

My opinion? It's more a matter of return on investment.

I know the other major conferences sponsor more sports than we do, but for the most part I'm not sure why some of these leagues really go all out to field large numbers of programs that can't generate revenue. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I'm just not what there is to gain.

Most SEC schools have pretty much the same sports profile with a just a few exceptions here and there. On this list you'll see what we sponsor as well as which sports the individual schools offer that the conference does not.

Breakdown of sports that the SEC sponsors

From what I've read, Roy Kramer(former SEC commish) basically sat everyone down in the old days and laid out a philosophy for how the SEC would go about deciding which sports to sponsor. He basically said that we should be able to compete for national championships in everything we dip our hand into. And thus if we feel that we wouldn't be competitive at the highest levels of a particular sport then we would put that on the back burner.

Of course, a lot has changed in the last 30 years and today the SEC could probably compete at a high level in several other sports that we don't sponsor, but the question then becomes return on investment. What do you gain by investing millions in a particular sport and does it help promote the school or the league?

These days, I think it's all about television. If you can turn something into a decent TV sport then you can promote the school or at least have content for a conference network. If not then perhaps any new sports would simply siphon off resources from things that could pay dividends. The equation is probably a little different for every school and so that's probably why you see some schools offer sports that the league does not sponsor.

The only thing the league has added in recent years is Equestrian which ironically enough is not something that a lot of schools compete in nationally. I don't think the NCAA even sponsors it actually.

An ACC fan groaning about the SEC not offering Men's Soccer, Fencing, or Lacrosse is a lot like the Polish claiming to have the best horse soldiers and biplanes in WWII. When you are up against what counts (mechanized armor and ME109's & YAKs what difference does it make? What counts in the SEC are Football, Basketball (men's), Baseball, and women's Softball. Those are the sports that pay the bills for Track & Field (indoor and outdoor), women's Basketball, Swimming and Diving (men's and women's), Tennis & Golf (mens and womens) and Equestrian, Crew, Bass Fishing, etc, depending upon the school.

BTW: Can you imagine how fast Lacrosse would come to a screeching halt if Alabama and Auburn encouraged their third string football players to pick up the game. Jim Brown for Syracuse was just as much a stud on the Lacrosse Field as he was on the Gridiron. The children of the wine & cheese crowds would run and hide if the SEC decided to crash the Lacrosse party for the upwardly mobile upper middle class.

Who was groaning? I was genuinely curious. Soccer is the 2nd most popular youth sport and the 5th most popular college sport. Twice as many soccer players in college vs cross country, 3x the players of golf and tennis. Surely there are a lot of youth soccer players who grow up wanting to go to an SEC school but go elsewhere because soccer isn't offered.

cant really compare a team sport like soccer to tennis golf and XC. Those sports don't need nearly the same amount of players as soccer does