What is the final take on Year 1 of NorCal Baseball Playoffs?

[Streak One]

- Great success. Hope they expand it

- Success. Nice end of year tournament that is good as is.

- Not great. Needs to big tweaks if it is going to have staying power.

obviously can have more answers than these, but curiuos of the boards general feeling

 

[bella123]

-Obviously a big improvement over what was there before (nothing). Like anything else will need some tweaks.

-Keep the divisions to the number where they are now. Don’t ruin it like the SBG’s now with 15 watered down divisions.

-I don’t like final games being held at a participants home field. Personally I’d rather see a host venue or 2 and hold all final. It can be over 2 days. I can remember watching Jimmy Rollins and Encinal play same day as DLS and Antioch and Casa and Mckinleylville square off at the Coliseum for the price of one ticket (same for football). There used to be playoff doubleheaders at and Alberts Field all the time. Need to sell it as an event. Recently went to the Nogales/Verrado and Chandler/Hamilton AIA final games at Diablo stadium as part of a double header, great time being able to see 2 final games in one afternoon/evening, probably 7-8k there.

Unify it for a state title with SoCal. Should be the next progression.

 

[FBAddict]

It was really nice to have regionals in Baseball. Although i am not big Baseball / Softball fan, I usually will have more interest during the sectional playoffs - and for me that meant only CCS sectional playoffs. But with this year's regionals, I was energized by the season end intersectional playoffs.

For the first year, I thought the CIF had a pretty good layout. I do think the final games should be in a neutral location as bella suggested.

I, for one, will be a much more interested party in Baseball as regionals and eventually CIF state games continue to develop.

 

[FBAddict]

-Keep the divisions to the number where they are now. Don’t ruin it like the SBG’s now with 15 watered down divisions.

I agree regarding the number of baseball games and divisions. 5 divisions for 40 teams (or 80 teams counting SoCal) is a nice fit.

However, I take exception to bella's comment regarding the amount of football divisions. With football we had 14 games for regionals. But in baseball, we had 35 regional games. I would feel differently if there was a true 4 or 5 round state playoff system for Football. Then a 5 division, or maybe 6 divisions with 8-man playoffs included, would make sense.

 

[bella123]

I agree regarding the number of baseball games and divisions. 5 divisions for 40 teams (or 80 teams counting SoCal) is a nice fit.

However, I take exception to bella's comment regarding the amount of football divisions. With football we had 14 games for regionals. But in baseball, we had 35 regional games. I would feel differently if there was a true 4 or 5 round state playoff system for Football. Then a 5 division, or maybe 6 divisions with 8-man playoffs included, would make sense.

Gotta disagree. I think the best years of the SBG were probably the first 5 or so. 2 games on Friday and 3 on Saturday. Kept people interested.

Now to me it’s just overkill. I know people will watch the Open then it’s really hit or miss if they watch much of the other games or really care. 13-14 “State champs” to me is just way to many, even in a state the size of California. 5-6 divisions is perfect IMO. More is not necessarily better. I think you keep interest with a smaller number of games. Just feels over saturated now.

 

[mrbig864]

I say “Meh” to a neutral site. Imagine a neutral site being set at say, Sac State, and the final ends up being DLS v Mitty. the only people in the stands would be parents and maybe a few Intrigued fans.

If you ask me, a big game needs to be played in front of a big, excited crowd - and where better to find that than a home field!?

 

[MC415]

but if the home field is too small to host a large and excited crowd then meh…….my friends still talk about our boy smashing a home run in the Coliseum to win NCS back in 96 that was a great experience for everyone , a game at Albany High meh not that cool tbh

 

[ayalar09]

Even though we’d probably get killed. I would like to see the D1 North Winner vs the D1 South Winner and so on. I’d do a 3 game series somewhere neutral like Fresno or Bakersfield. Kinda make it like our college World Series.

 

[mrbig864]

but if the home field is too small to host a large and excited crowd then meh…….my friends still talk about our boy smashing a home run in the Coliseum to win NCS back in 96 that was a great experience for everyone , a game at Albany High meh not that cool tbh

i guess we can agree to disagree. BTW, who is covering the overhead costs for the Oakland Coliseum? The sections? The ticket sales aren’t gonna even come close to paying for the cost of stadium usage.

Question what was the biggest crowd for any of those NorCal title games? I mean, was lack of seating capacity really an issue? To your point about the home site being “too small to host”, Id be Ok with their being a “minimum seating capacity“. I just don’t see the fan interest to make financial sense to spend money on a large neutral site (which may not even be near where the schools playing, bringing even fewer fans)

 

[MC415]

i guess we can agree to disagree. BTW, who is covering the overhead costs for the Oakland Coliseum? The sections? The ticket sales aren’t gonna even come close to paying for the cost of stadium usage.

Question what was the biggest crowd for any of those NorCal title games? I mean, was lack of seating capacity really an issue? To your point about the home site being “too small to host”, Id be Ok with their being a “minimum seating capacity“. I just don’t see the fan interest to make financial sense to spend money on a large neutral site (which may not even be near where the schools playing, bringing even fewer fans)

Im not an accountant so i can’t answer those questions or the attendance for every game in 1996 ? My only point was that it was extremely unique and cool experience that everyone who attended will always remember and much more memorable then another high school stadium which these guys have played 60-75 times already …………………like I said 25 years later at the BBQ with the homies its a lot cooler story to talk about the 425 foot shot you put over the wall at MLB stadium then the one u put over Washington High School………..when it comes to finances and stuff im not in the know to see how all that works, but I think @bella123 listed some other alternatives which are probably doable and more unique/cooler then the average Joe Blow anywhere USA high school baseball stadium

 

[mrbig864]

Im not an accountant so i can’t answer those questions or the attendance for every game in 1996 ? My only point was that it was extremely unique and cool experience that everyone who attended will always remember and much more memorable then another high school stadium which these guys have played 60-75 times already …………………like I said 25 years later at the BBQ with the homies its a lot cooler story to talk about the 425 foot shot you put over the wall at MLB stadium then the one u put over Washington High School………..when it comes to finances and stuff im not in the know to see how all that works, but I think @bella123 listed some other alternatives which are probably doable and more unique/cooler then the average Joe Blow anywhere USA high school baseball stadium

@MC415 I was asking how big the attendances were for this years NorCal games and if there were any issues with capacities being reached. I do see @bella123 ’s and your point about making it special by holding the games at a single site. In a perfect world a few thousand show up to watch, but I don’t think that’s a realistic ask. Outside of family and each schools students/community, I don’t see a lot of outside intrigue by local fans (some, but not a lot). Then you.run into possible travel issues which could cause a reverse affect on Attendance. Let’s say DLS vs St Francis was held at Sac City College (a 2 hour drive for both participants), would the attendance be bigger or smaller than having DLS host? I don’t know the answer, but I know my high school daughter and her friends would go to see her schools “big game” if it were close by, but she wouldn’t drive 2 hours to see it.

And money does play a factor. I do imagine at some point they could/should identify a possible long standing host site (ie.. Golden1 Center for basketball), but I’m just not convinced baseball has the necessary draw at this point to justify it (plus many other events/ graduations happen on same weekend as NorCal Finals).

 

[1315]

3x at the Coliseum (FB/BSB) and each time it felt empty, even for FB with multi division matchups same day. Mt. Davis ruined that..... Cool for the kids I suppose.

Some HS fields are in such poor shape it is disingenuous CIF should allow a NorCal final at one. Plenty of options with excellent playing surfaces- Evans/Sunken/USF/SMC(temp bleachers still there after 5 years?!) and even some of the Jucos. NCS did same day multi-divisions a few years back at DVC. A solid crowd, albeit not quite a WCC/Pac12 surface/venue.

 

[bella123]

@MC415 I was asking how big the attendances were for this years NorCal games and if there were any issues with capacities being reached. I do see @bella123 ’s and your point about making it special by holding the games at a single site. In a perfect world a few thousand show up to watch, but I don’t think that’s a realistic ask. Outside of family and each schools students/community, I don’t see a lot of outside intrigue by local fans (some, but not a lot). Then you.run into possible travel issues which could cause a reverse affect on Attendance. Let’s say DLS vs St Francis was held at Sac City College (a 2 hour drive for both participants), would the attendance be bigger or smaller than having DLS host? I don’t know the answer, but I know my high school daughter and her friends would go to see her schools “big game” if it were close by, but she wouldn’t drive 2 hours to see it.

And money does play a factor. I do imagine at some point they could/should identify a possible long standing host site (ie.. Golden1 Center for basketball), but I’m just not convinced baseball has the necessary draw at this point to justify it (plus many other events/ graduations happen on same weekend as NorCal Finals).

Legit points especially for the travel and attendance by casual fans. People in Texas will caravan 10 hours to go to a high school football game. I’d venture most in Norcal wouldn’t go more than a hour. I used to go to a lot more HS games. But they we’re usually within a few hours radius drive, unless I was in the area for some other reason and wanted to catch a game

I think a lot of that comes down to is the game/experience for the players or the fans? Like @MC415 pointed out, I know a couple people who have played games at pro venues (Coliseum, Dodger stadium, the Big A) and said they played on a high school field their entire career, but only once did they get to play in a pro venue and they remember that experience the most.

Pretty sure the Dodgers charge the CIF for labor (parking, concessions) but give free rental for the baseball championships. As @1315 pointed out, I’ve been to huge venues that feel pretty empty, but also have been to HS sites that have had no business hosting a “championships” game let alone a midget wrestling tournament. Definitely no simple answer.

 

[Cranky29er]

Jucos field are a great option assuming they can free up a few days. College of Marin and Skyline above Pacifica are great pretty new fields.