Wow. In the past month or so, there have been rumblings about the Ducks looking into bringing back baseball to Oregon. However, in my opinion, all the musings appeared to indicate that we were still very early in the process.
But, in yesterday's Register-Guard, it was reported that the University might make an announcement before the end of the month that baseball will again be a varsity sport. With games beginning as early as 2009. Unbelievable. While it is completely unrealistic to think of Oregon being anything but a Pac-10 doormat for many seasons, the idea of them playing again in the near future has me pretty excited.
The article proposes that women's crew will be added and that men's wrestling will most likely be dropped as a varsity sport. It's unfortunate that a sport must be dropped to make room for baseball, but it is also pretty clear that all sports are not equal, from both a popularity and economic perspective. It is projected that baseball would have an annual budget of around $1 million, while wrestling's budget last year was $629,000. With the way that Oregon fans support football and men's basketball, it seems reasonable to me that a baseball program at the U of O could at least make up that difference through ticket sales, merchandise, and advertising.
Go Ducks!