Crushing the "Spring Squeeze": Why Diamond Sports are the Next ROI Frontier for Colleges
Feb 10, 2026
3 min Read
Put your diamond sports on the map without the extra manual labor.
For college athletic directors, the "Spring Squeeze" is an annual hurdle. Between managing overlapping schedules and the constant struggle to find reliable staff to film outdoor games in unpredictable weather, baseball and softball often become logistical headaches.
But while football and basketball often get the glory (and the tech budget), a shift is happening. College programs are realizing that the highest untapped ROI is on the diamond.
Implementing Hudl Focus Point camera solutions for baseball and softball programs has moved from a luxury to a budget-justifying necessity that gives your program pro-level polish while saving your coaches valuable hours. Find the full breakdown in our recent webinar with the NJCAA below.
Solving the Staffing and Budget Headaches
The biggest barrier to professionalizing spring sports often boils down to two things: manpower and budget. Who is going to stand on a lift or a press box for a four-hour doubleheader in March?
With Hudl Focus Point, that question disappears.
Automated Capture: Focus Point cameras mount behind home plate and use Power over Ethernet (PoE). Once scheduled, they start and record automatically. No camera operator required.
“You can really put them anywhere. We've got a number of teams and facilities who've done a multi-angle approach where you put a camera above each dugout, maybe one in the outfield pointing in, one behind home plate,” said Hudl Rep Pat Hagenbucher. “The home plate angle is easily the best and probably the easiest starting point just because it provides that wide-angle view, which is really good for streaming.”
Multi-Sport Value: If you are on an athletic department package, you likely already have the software seats. Adding the camera is simply the final step to unlocking that value.
Enhanced Visibility: These sports cameras don’t just record; they stream. Whether you’re using a software like Production Truck or a hands-free automated feed, you’re instantly professionalizing your broadcast, which is a massive win for alumni engagement and sponsorship value.
Baseball and softball coaches are often overlooked in college athletics. They are expected to compete for titles or move players to four-year institutions, yet they rarely have the same video-analysis resources as the team across the hall.
The manual labor of clipping every at-bat and charting every pitch is a drain on coaching productivity. The Focus Point sports camera, paired with the game breakdown software of Hudl Assist, helps tell the full story by pairing data with video.
Deep-Dive Breakdowns: Send your game film to Hudl Assist, and professional analysts return it fully tagged. We’re talking every at-bat, hit location, and situational outcome (outs, count, runners on) ready for review.
“We're tagging situational stuff, like what's the count and then outcomes. What was the swing type, what was the result of the at-bat, was there any base running action involved in the play? Hit location certainly for spray charts. And then who was involved, right? So you know, the batter and the pitcher, just to make it really easy to find that information,” said Hagenbucher.
Objective Development: Gut feelings can only take you so far. Film and data from a game breakdown software provides more objectivity in the day-to-day workflows between coaches and athletes, allowing for precise corrections in the batter's box or on the mound.
Recruiting Firepower: For NJCAA programs, player transition is the ultimate metric. “All this film and data in the Hudl ecosystem helps increase player exposure,” said Hagenbucher. “That's through athlete highlights where they can create their reels and highlights to send out to coaches that they might want to go play for at a four-year institution. And then ultimately we're working towards creating a more comprehensive database where four-year coaches can access the film as well.”
Don’t scramble when opening day hits. Log into Hudl now to schedule your spring games and put your capture on autopilot.
