The countdown ticker is currently at 11 days until the first day of the PV College Challenge kicks of the 2017 season.
Highlighting this year’s first session is the rematch of the National Championship series between Auburn and Oklahoma. A matchup that was planned before the two schools met in Oklahoma City.
Fastpitch News caught up with David King, CEO of Triple Crown Sports just before he got on a plane bound for Mexico.
“I wish I could say I was brilliant in dividing this thing up but I just got lucky with the teams I got that said yes and the weeks they decided they wanted to come,” said King. “It was just luck that two of them finished as the National Champs and Runners-Up.”
February 9, 2017 will be a historic day for college softball. It will be the first time a regular season game is ever played in Mexico. The rematch will be a live broadcast on ESPNU at 2 p.m. EST while the other two games will air online via ESPN3 at 11 a.m. EST and 8 p.m. EST.
“It’s opening day of the season and it’s the first televised broadcast that we know of, of an NCAA Championship rematch outside of the United States,” said King. “Pretty neat stuff!”
Triple Crown Sports has partnered with the Sheraton across the street from the field for fans and teams to stay at. Everyone can enjoy the all-inclusive resort that sits on the ocean and walk across the street to watch softball at game time.
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- Photos courtesy of TSC
“You never have to get on public transportation once you get to the resort,” said King. “For the teams, that’s rare and for the fans it’s the same. It’s pretty unusual.”
The PV College Challenge is not a ticketed event this year. There will be enough seats for everyone with the help portable bleachers and additional build out of more bleachers.
“I would expect that the Auburn, Oklahoma game will have 5 to 600 with us and 5 to 600 locals,” said King. “We’ve got enough portable seating to add another 450 in the outfield to go with the 550 we’ve got around the stadium in it’s configuration. We can fit another 2 to 300 in standing room or lawn chairs.”
This is the second year that Triple Crown Sports has hosted the event after taking a year off.
“The trial year was 2015 when we tested the concept to see if the format would work,” said King. “We got four schools to go down and give me feedback on what the facility needed and those kinds of things. Then we took 2016 off and for 2017 we were able to convey those changes.”
According to King, there is no way that this event doesn’t grow. This year will feature a second session and the fields have been set, mostly, for the next two years.
Session 1 (Feb. 9-11)
Auburn
BYU
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Washington
Session 2 (Feb. 16-18)
Cal State Fullerton
Florida Gulf Coast
Fresno State
Mississippi State
Texas Tech
Tentative schedule for 2018 (Feb. 8-10)
Georgia
Tennessee
BYU
Oklahoma State
James Madison
Session 2 (Feb. 15-18)
Texas
Oregon
Nevada
Ole Miss
Weber State
Rutgers
Houston
Tentative schedule for 2019 (Feb. 7-9)
TBA
Session 2 (Feb. 14-17)
TBA
Schools interested: Florida, Utah, BYU, NC State, Southern Illinois, Louisiana Tech, Northern Colorado, Florida Atlantic, Baylor, Oklahoma, Sacramento State
