Desperate times call for desperate measures

[Rumrunner]

There is nothing writ in stone that a conference needs to share revenue equally, nor that it alone possesses the power to leverage a brand to garner revenue from cable and networks.

If UConn wbb gets $1.2 m a year, it doesn't take a green-visored, bony-fingered bean counter to realize that UConn's tv rights for mbb and fb are worth far in excess of $3m. There are more than 1,000,000 cable hh's in Connecticut. A UConn channel ala the longhorn network must be in UConn's future. But deeper, much deeper. With considerably less enrichment to the conference.

At this point, UConn needs to ask, what does the NBE do that UConn cannot do on its own? Scheduling? Yes. Tournament play? Yes. Pooling tv rights to collectively increase the per school tv payout? No. The first two should not be linked to the last. Not now. Things are different.

Insane? Unworkable? Unrealistic? Try desperate times call for desperate measures. The NBE won't allow it? Fine. Buy back UConn's Tier I and II rights from the conference. $2m a year. Turn around and get a production partner with channel capacity and production capacity. Hello, SNY. 50/50 revenue split. $2 a month cable sub. $1m a month to UConn, $1m a month to SNY.

UConn's athletic dep't revenue is over $65 million a year. No team in the NBE even comes close to this figure. In fact, the tv revenue of competing programs alone approximates the entire athletic budgets of some NBE teams. The center cannot hold and UConn is in need of bold leadership. Either UConn will need to readjust its commitment to major athletics, or it shifts the paradigm and survives.

 

[UC990411]

Does the $3 mil take into account what we'd get from SNY and non conference games televised by ESPN or CBS?

 

[RS9999X]

I agree UConn needs to think out of the box and fiat a UConn channel on viewers with a $1 a month surcharge. Go balls to the wall with media and sales interns and be the finast College network in the country. I heard CT Public TV is preparing an offer. They lost the girls but can buy the guys for the same price. That's progress you sexists!

 

[zls44]

The idea of buying back and selling their own Tier I stuff is actually a very interesting idea. Good thought.

 

[TexanMark]

Can UConn and Cincy work with the C7 to dissolve the BE? Then join C7 in hoops and other sports and play Indy in FB? Or at worst join the MAC as FB only?

 

[obliterata]

Can UConn and Cincy work with the C7 to dissolve the BE? Then join C7 in hoops and other sports and play Indy in FB? Or at worst join the MAC as FB only?

I don't believe that would be very smart on UConn's part, it'd hurt the football program at a time when they need all the help they can get.

 

[Dooley]

UConn, USF and Cincy have a boat load of cash coming from the Big East defector exit fees. Wasn't the figure set around $65M? Split 3 ways, that's $20+M per school (assuming that is how the split will occur). That's a good amount of cash to buy back T1 rights and then shop them around to the highest bidder. Maybe a combo of SNY and Fox Sports New England (to also reach northern New England). If we aren't allowed to dominate Cuse, BC, Pitt and RU on the field/court, we can dominate them on the TV airwaves...and share the proceeds with noone.

 

[CTMike]

I had mentioned this in another thread a while back, but- think outside the box with a "UConn Athletics" app, and make it available on all platforms. Or partner with a Netflix, which is available on almost any device. You could price it any number of ways- 99 cents a game, 29.99 for "All Access". You'd still need a production partner (there are options) but this is kind of a modern end-around the distribution problem. And I think a Netflix or an Apple or Google would be interested and want to help- it seems to align with the direction they see TV going in.

 

[metsfan2323]

Can UConn and Cincy work with the C7 to dissolve the BE? Then join C7 in hoops and other sports and play Indy in FB? Or at worst join the MAC as FB only?

Only a couple posters on this board want to elevate UMASS to the Big East, but many are proposing that we downgrade to their level. That makes no sense at all. The MAC would kill UCONN football permanately.

 

[upstater]

There is nothing writ in stone that a conference needs to share revenue equally, nor that it alone possesses the power to leverage a brand to garner revenue from cable and networks.

If UConn wbb gets $1.2 m a year, it doesn't take a green-visored, bony-fingered bean counter to realize that UConn's tv rights for mbb and fb are worth far in excess of $3m. There are more than 1,000,000 cable hh's in Connecticut. A UConn channel ala the longhorn network must be in UConn's future. But deeper, much deeper. With considerably less enrichment to the conference.

At this point, UConn needs to ask, what does the NBE do that UConn cannot do on its own? Scheduling? Yes. Tournament play? Yes. Pooling tv rights to collectively increase the per school tv payout? No. The first two should not be linked to the last. Not now. Things are different.

Insane? Unworkable? Unrealistic? Try desperate times call for desperate measures. The NBE won't allow it? Fine. Buy back UConn's Tier I and II rights from the conference. $2m a year. Turn around and get a production partner with channel capacity and production capacity. Hello, SNY. 50/50 revenue split. $2 a month cable sub. $1m a month to UConn, $1m a month to SNY.

UConn's athletic dep't revenue is over $65 million a year. No team in the NBE even comes close to this figure. In fact, the tv revenue of competing programs alone approximates the entire athletic budgets of some NBE teams. The center cannot hold and UConn is in need of bold leadership. Either UConn will need to readjust its commitment to major athletics, or it shifts the paradigm and survives.

There is over $130 million in exit fees and NCAA credits in the vaults of the BE.

 

[Vuce]

Only a couple posters on this board want to elevate UMASS to the Big East, but many are proposing that we downgrade to their level. That makes no sense at all. The MAC would kill UCONN football permanately.

I am not saying we should go to the MAC (no way) but if this TV deal is what is being reported then Uconn football is dead regardless.

 

[UCFBfan]

There is over $130 million in exit fees and NCAA credits in the vaults of the BE.

What if UConn and Cincy kept all sports minus football with the C7 and said that they can all save the lawyer fees and keep the Big East name. Then the two programs can keep their football with the NBE. If Navy can be fb only I don't see how UConn and Cincy can't force the same arrangement.

I was strongly against this idea but seeing the horrible TV money we're in store for I am all for it. If the NBE says no UConn and Cincy walk and find a new home. I'm sure someone would take us for FB. That's a risk the NBE can't afford to take.

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[upstater]

What if UConn and Cincy kept all sports minus football with the C7 and said that they can all save the lawyer fees and keep the Big East name. Then the two programs can keep their football with the NBE. If Navy can be fb only I don't see how UConn and Cincy can't force the same arrangement.

I was strongly against this idea but seeing the horrible TV money we're in store for I am all for it. If the NBE says no UConn and Cincy walk and find a new home. I'm sure someone would take us for FB. That's a risk the NBE can't afford to take.

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Why would the other schools want such a set up when they are in it to compete with UConn and Cincy in bball? The conference is dangerously close to dissolving as it is (they should be more worried about SMU and Houston leaving).

 

[Fishy]

There is no alternate solution out there.

There is no splitting ourselves three ways and sending this sport to that conference and football to this conference, etc. There's no app, there's no Netflix and no soft landing.

It is what it is - we really have no choice but to be all-in on this conference. They have no option but to approach this as the conference as a permanent home, even if they hope it isn't. We're all but certain to be in it for the next five years and the longer we're in it, the less of a chance that we'll ever get out of it.

 

[uconndogs]

"We're all but certain to be in it for the next five years"

I certainly hope you're wrong, because if we're in it that long we're likely there for next to forever.

Personally, I don't believe that the ACC and Big12 are stable over the next 5 years and therefore we see opportunities in the near term. I hope.........

 

[upstater]

"We're all but certain to be in it for the next five years"

I certainly hope you're wrong, because if we're in it that long we're likely there for next to forever.

Personally, I don't believe that the ACC and Big12 are stable over the next 5 years and therefore we see opportunities in the near term. I hope.........

I'm more worried about a long term future for football in this conference than I am basketball. The basketball team will be fine dominating this conference the same way Butler and Gonzaga and Memphis have managed to get ranked in the top 15. UConn has even more recognition than those 3 schools, and with Ollie, bball will be fine.

The football schools need to ramp up. The southern schools need to put the Sun Belt and CUSA totally out of business. This will be hard to do since the Sun Belt accepts anyone with one brain cell.

 

[metsfan2323]

I am not saying we should go to the MAC (no way) but if this TV deal is what is being reported then Uconn football is dead regardless.

UCONN football is not dead, we just had our best recruiting class to date. Our current conference is no worse than the conference Boise has been in and nobody thinks they are dead. I keep score by wins and losses and rankings, if others want to keep score via income statements that's their choice. We must have a ton of accountants on this board. Northen Illinois played in the Orange Bowl this year and BC sucked, but I guess BC was the big winner because they made more money.

 

[Waquoit]

I was a UConn fan before the Big East and D-1 football was even a rational dream. And that was fine. I wanted my team to win and maybe compete for a league title once in awhile. If we were UMass, this would be fine. We'd be moving up, things would incrementally more interesting. But we've been to the mountiantop. And this new league just sucks. You can't go back. It's not human nature. But if one's choice is to go back or check out, I just wonder how long I'll be able to hold out. Once it starts feeling like an obligation out of some sense of loyalty, I might just find myself looking for something else to do.

 

[Vuce]

UCONN football is not dead, we just had our best recruiting class to date. Our current conference is no worse than the conference Boise has been in and nobody thinks they are dead. I keep score by wins and losses and rankings, if others want to keep score via income statements that's their choice. We must have a ton of accountants on this board. Northen Illinois played in the Orange Bowl this year and BC sucked, but I guess BC was the big winner because they made more money.

Read Waq's post just below yours. That is pretty much it. He nails it. We have been to the top and now we are going way way way backwards.

 

[djct1999]

I was a UConn fan before the Big East and D-1 football was even a rational dream. And that was fine. I wanted my team to win and maybe compete for a league title once in awhile. If we were UMass, this would be fine. We'd be moving up, things would incrementally more interesting. But we've been to the mountiantop. And this new league just sucks. You can't go back. It's not human nature. But if one's choice is to go back or check out, I just wonder how long I'll be able to hold out. Once it starts feeling like an obligation out of some sense of loyalty, I might just find myself looking for something else to do.

agreed. its just not realistic to think that uconn, outside of perhaps womans hoops, will be as competetive going forward. competetive atheletics, primarily football and basketball, are great publicity that helps with out of state admissions. one must think that herbst gets that, right?

 

[Rumrunner]

This isn't about finding a conference home for fb, another for bb, and a third for olympic sports.

This is about a pure, raw money grab.

UConn stays in the NBE, but strikes its own media rights deal for all Tiers. The recompense to the NBE is UConn's share of the proposed distribution-$2 or $3 m annual payment.

This accomplishes two things- allows UConn's much larger AD to be at least within shouting distance of the ballpark that Rutgers, SU and BC are playing in.

Second, it reinforces that UCONN commands an important demographic.

For those who think that the 60 plus teams of the power conferences aren't going to rip the ncaa tourney away, and consolidate fully their oligagarchic grip on college media revenue and rule making, if anything of the past 18 months has taught is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

UConn will wield more influence in this system if it achieves separation. I keep thinking bavk to the naivete of some observers that preservation of the BE's AQ was the overarching goal of the BE's expansion plans, all the while long knives of its enemies were being sharpened, and its holders mocking and scheming to slaughter it. The fence around the haves is getting taller every day. In five years, there will be no access to the cartel, hx has told us this. UConn will only weaken, something it can ill afford to do.

 

[metsfan2323]

\We have been to the top and now we are going way way way backwards.

We have not been anywhere close to the top and we are not going backwards. Compare the recruiting classes of ECU, Tulane, Houston and SMU to BCU and Syracuse and tell me which schools are recruiting better. The quality of our opponents in conference will be the same as it has been. You are letting dollar signs cloud your opinion of our new conference mates. Houston and SMU are superior to BC and Cuse on the field. If money is the only thing that matters we should look to schedule Yale, with that 16 billion endowment they must be awesome at football.

 

[Vuce]

As we all know metsfan it is about perception. where do the top 3 or 4 classes in the NBE rank? Now compare the top 3 classes in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, etc. And you are only talking about football - I am talking about basketball as well. Like it or not, for better or for worse, Uconn is a big time basketball school looking to improve its football profile. Interest and our profile is going to wane in both sports if we are in this conference for the long haul. This is a big step backwards.

 

[Marty Jackson]

There is no alternate solution out there.

There is no splitting ourselves three ways and sending this sport to that conference and football to this conference, etc. There's no app, there's no Netflix and no soft landing.

It is what it is - we really have no choice but to be all-in on this conference. They have no option but to approach this as the conference as a permanent home, even if they hope it isn't. We're all but certain to be in it for the next five years and the longer we're in it, the less of a chance that we'll ever get out of it.

brilliant...
if uconn leadership allows this to happen, then uconn is already dead.
the math doesnt work. $2m for uconn? not baseball or soccer but mens and womens bb along with football.
there is no other option if you choose not to look.

 

[Fishy]

brilliant...
if uconn leadership allows this to happen, then uconn is already dead.
the math doesnt work. $2m for uconn? not baseball or soccer but mens and womens bb along with football.
there is no other option if you choose not to look.

Yeah, UConn should just make the math work out better. We should tell the networks what we want them to pay - that's how we think outside the box here.

Time for some kids to come under the reality tent because the fantasy s*** they've been feeding themselves to date has not worked out for 'em.