perspective for sure. They take an inordinate amount of work, and yield relatively lower returns. They are designed to be fundraisers for the program, but fail to offer as much financial support as many may realize (after logistics, food, facility/equipment cost, reasonable ticket price, interest in attending). Also coinciding with the calendar can be a challenge as well. There are surprisingly few spaces to have these events on campus anymore (that don't cost anything for the facility itself). Now that the President's suite is used/controlled by the University Club (Club Corp), there just aren't many spots left that won't charge a lot. Baseball did have theirs in the SAPC last night (which helped bigtime with cost), so that may be an option if they opt for this event again in the future. The Inn at VT is very expensive. I won't get into how much Baseball makes from these events, but this year will be the first in a long time they will make a fair amount off of the event. Baseball also brings in a big name draw that helps them, and they sometimes get "non VT" people that attend because of the featured speaker. They also bring back their pros and sell tables for large amounts of money to sit with them. It is just a little different animal. So, in the end, to prepare an event to generate a "net gain" of a few thousand dollars becomes debatable, at least from the staff's point of view. And can they get that same revenue from doing something else? Just some perspective to consider from a program standpoint. But softball would be fun again, and would enjoy seeing the potential support.