AUBURN, Ala. — The geographic problems facing Northern college baseball teams have Ohio State coach Bob Todd calling for change.
The Buckeyes, who opened the Auburn Regional Friday against Clemson, can't draw large crowds early in the season because of cold and snowy weather in Ohio. Todd is an outspoken proponent to start every school's season on April 1 and push the College World Series back to early July.
The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee is considering studying the issue, perhaps as early as this summer, and pass along its findings to a panel of presidents, chancellors and athletics directors.
"Really, NCAA baseball is controlled by 20 percent of the country," said Todd, who is a member of the baseball committee. "When you look at 80 percent of other parts of the United States, you've got an awful lot of major universities that would like to build stadiums and facilities and a fan base like Auburn has. They're not given that opportunity when they have to play at home in March and early April."
Todd's point is supported with this year's NCAA field. Minnesota and Nebraska are the only Northern teams who are a regional No. 1 or 2 seed. No Northern team is a regional host.
Clemson coach Jack Leggett, who used to coach at Vermont, is against pushing back the season unless the sport is rewarded with a lucrative financial package, which he doubts will happen. Next season's NCAA Tournament has already been pushed back a week to accommodate television.
Leggett argues that the season is long enough now, and that a later date would hurt summer leagues and be detrimental to some schools that won't fund the sport into the summer.
"I think you're just going to have some inherent problems in every sport just because of where everybody is located," Leggett said. "I don't think you can penalize the schools in the good weather. Unfortunately, it's not all even."
The argument is not divided solely by geography. Auburn coach Steve Renfroe said he would be in favor of the later date to create more national rivalries. He has decided to return a series at Ohio State in 2006, which shocked Todd.
"Think if you have 4,000 or 5,000 people at Ohio State, Michigan, or Notre Dame," Renfroe said. "It would be a tremendous asset for college baseball."
But Princeton coach Scott Bradley is strongly against starting the season later because of the Ivy League's strong emphasis on education. Already, Princeton's regular season ends three weeks before the postseason.
"It would really scare me that the presidents wouldn't even allow us to participate in the NCAA Tournament knowing we would have to wait around four or five weeks when school is not even in session," Bradley said.
Todd said that schools could afford to pay 11.7 scholarships - the NCAA maximum allowed in baseball - to help the sport grow. He doesn't think college baseball should worry about the health of summer leagues.
"When these players all go out and play summer time, these leagues are making money off our players," Todd said. "Why can't they stay in Auburn, Alabama, or Columbus, Ohio and let the schools make the money off them? Because that will happen. Let's face the facts: the summer leagues were developed because the NCAA didn't do its job. We didn't play baseball in the summer time when we're supposed to."