Discouraging, But you Never Can Tell...

[Colt house75]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10452933/college-football-realignment-era-ended

In other words, the tectonic plates that produced one earthquake after another over the past 16 years are done shifting for a while. And peace and quiet settled over the land.
"I believe that it's true and I hope that it's true," Swofford said, "because I think the collegiate landscape athletically needs that for a period of time. It will be healthy for major college athletics."
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10449917/american-athletic-conference-focusing-future

Swofford and ESPN Can't control DELANEY and SLIVE. That's what this is all about...market share and control of TV sets. Delaney does what Delaney damn feels like...and the best they can hope for is keeping the CR war quiet.... this is huge money and don't kid yourselves!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[billybud]

Swofford actually got into Delany's head. Swiped off Notre Dame and had Delany knee jerking to protect Penn State.

I think that the GOR conferences, excepting the Big 12, are now set for a while.

The Big 12 could move to 12 or more if they found teams that made sense to them in terms of media revenue enhancement.

 

[Dooley]

I think the B1G will expand again in 1-2 years when they renegotiate their TV contact and, I hope, UCONN is closer to AAU and has gotten back to being competitive again in football to justify an invite. The B1G is a perfect fit for UCONN and its culture and I think UCONN would add value to the conference across the board.

 

[billybud]

Who would come in with UConn that isn't currently bound by a GOR?

Missouri?

 

[buddy]

ESPN is now referring to itself as a tectonic plate? The hypocracy about an article from Swofford and ESPN calling for an end to realignment in the interest of college sports makes me want to pick up a pitchfork and drive on down to Bristol.

Contact members of the state government who support ESPN with tax breaks and tell them to stop this or they will be voted out. Tax ESPN like anyone else. They have plenty of money.

 

[HawkHusky]

Who would come in with UConn that isn't currently bound by a GOR?

Missouri?

If a conference commissioner ever goes ahead and puts forth a challenge to an existing GOR, my money's on Delany. Like an earlier poster said, ESPN and Swofford want there to be peace in CR because they know Delany and Slive aren't afraid to go after what they want.

Add that to the fact that it looks like the P5 are going to gain the autonomy to decide how conference divisions/championship games are played out. Who says the B1G will need to grab a #16 right away? They could do 3 pods of 5 or no divisions at all (just like what the ACC wants)....

 

[SAMCRO]

ESPN on a roll today cementing the narrative: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10449917/american-athletic-conference-focusing-future

Has Aresco ever referenced UConn in any article re: the AAC? I'm not complaining mind you, I thinks it's a good thing (and choose to believe b/c he knows something is happening down the line that not many others know...). Conspiracy Kitty, would you care to weigh in?

 

[Dooley]

Who would come in with UConn that isn't currently bound by a GOR?

Missouri?

Sure. Why not? How about Kentucky? Massive basketball play to stand toe-to-toe with the ACC basketball schedule. Now that would be something!

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Sure. Why not? How about Kentucky? Massive basketball play to stand toe-to-toe with the ACC basketball schedule. Now that would be something!

That would result in the speedy assassination of their President and AD.

 

[Sea Goat]

quote="WestHartHusk, post: 849349, member: 381"]ESPN is now referring to itself as a tectonic plate? The hypocracy about an article from Swofford and ESPN calling for an end to realignment in the interest of college sports makes me want to pick up a pitchfork and drive on down to Bristol.[/quote]

I still want info on ESPN's role in all of this. It is very convenient for those Syra.... centric as to declare an end to CR era. Let's find find out what they knew and when they knew it.

 

[Colt house75]

CR is not done by a long shot. Here are the reasons IMHO:
(Everyone here needs to open up your eyes to the not so obvious - no need for a UCONN business degree to see the following

1) The NYC college marketplace is still for the taking...hence Susan and Ward's push for greater exposure in Fairfield County and NYC (SNY-home of the Huskies).
2) B1G opening an office in NYC looking for market share and attempted expansion of the Big Ten Network.
3) SEC TV Network. Period
4) ACC inability to lock down NYC and metro area...thus opening up approximately 40,000,000 TV sets and viewers to other conferences.
5) Big 12 (Longhorn Network) lack of market penetration in areas east of the Mississippi and losing Missouri to the SEC and Nebraska to the B1G, Colorado to PAC 12.
6) Need for ESPN to have "all quiet" in CR-media rights contract to the NCAA football playoffs will make all contracts pale in comparison.
7)Comcast Time Warner Mega Deal merger announced on Thursday for $45Billion. See #6. (OPEN YOUR EYES MY FELLOW BY'ers.....this is all about $$$ and ESPN control)
8) The college presidents have not woken up to the facts surrounding the amount of monies they are leaving on the table by not having a bona fide playoff system. The 4 team playoff leaves billions on the table...or should I say-"ESPN pockets".
9) The tectonic shift occurred on Thursday's pending merger of #7. TV Content is huge. College football is a $450 Billion industry.
10) Watch Delaney and Slive's moves, pre #7 and post #7, the alliances announced and the destined control of major markets and the teams within those major markets.
11) UCONN's present moves to solidify itself as a major market player: Tri-state/Fairfield County/Hartford/New Haven.
12) The 4 team CFB playoff, due to the above, will expand to 8 teams- it is only a matter of time. The players to be decided - hence - another reason for all quiet. #6,7,8 & 9.
13) Big Ten network has a soft underbelly right now....gender equality (Go Geno) in content as a prime time filler....in the biggest media market in the world. See #1 & 2.
Granted-Football is the steak and lobster but Gender equality is a stabilizer and UCONN is the biggest player-unquestionably.
14) B1G has a history of acquisition of turf by expansion - they have very little championship history, comparatively with UCONN in #13.
15) B1G and ACC are squaring off on the NYC marketplace as we speak...see #1 to #13.
16) Rutgers will not deliver the NY marketplace as hoped- period. NY and the metro area loves a winner.
17) B1G needs UCONN to combine with Rutgers to obtain the NYC market because Rutgers can't do it alone---

Marketing and sales puts the meat on the table. Content delivers the "fixins". Diaco/Ollie/Geno will deliver the dessert.
Time for everybody to wake up to the obvious....it's all business.....and Susan (& Warde), IMO have been getting us ready for the dinner table in tremendous fashion.

 

[huskyniner]

ESPN is now referring to itself as a tectonic plate? The hypocracy about an article from Swofford and ESPN calling for an end to realignment in the interest of college sports makes me want to pick up a pitchfork and drive on down to Bristol.

Let me know when you guys are on your way with pitchforks. I'll be sure to take a vacation day.

 

[billybud]

Let me know when you guys are on your way with pitchforks. I'll be sure to take a vacation day.

And why not? It'd be almost a history repeat.

Thirty years before the more famous Salem trials, the first North American witch hysteria was in Connecticut.

Misfortunes that fell were blamed on a witch doing the devil's work.

In times of fear and uncertainty, anxieties would coalesce around an individual...and it was off to the dunking pond or press.

Swofford, if it was 350 years ago, would surely have been tied hand and foot and thrown into the pond. If he floated, he was a witch and would be hanged. If he drowned, well he was innocent and in the hands of the Lord.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Swofford, if it was 350 years ago, would surely have been tied hand and foot and thrown into the pond. If he floated, he was a witch and would be hanged. If he drowned, well he was innocent and in the hands of the Lord.

Sounds like a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Modified slightly for Swofford and not the woman they were holding in the movie.

VILLAGER #1: If... he.. weighs the same as a duck, he's made of wood.
BEDEMIR: And therefore--?
VILLAGER #1: A witch!
CROWD: A witch!

 

[B1GEast]

Who would come in with UConn that isn't currently bound by a GOR?

Missouri?

The Big 10 was unbalanced at 11 for a while, it would not surprise me if they went with Uconn alone at 15 for a while. IMO, they would only do this as a pre-emptive strike to stop the acc from taking the only remaining viable school left to take, the one that delivers most of new england and parts of NYC.

The 10 can sit and wait unbalanced for as long as they like. How many years were they at 11 after they added penn st?

I really believe that we will get an invite from both conferences. If this happens, Uconn will have to make the right choice.

 

[billybud]

The B1G just might be the one to go to an unbalanced set, as you mentioned. But they didn't have a CCG back when an odd number conference. The CCG, in the current NCAA rules, requires a balanced set of divisions.

The ACC, with their petitioning the ACC to decide their own process for determining a conference champ, could easily break open that dam to allow a CCG in an odd member conference. If it is approved.

 

[CL82]

View attachment 5030

Okay the new dog has officially won me over.

 

[tduconn]

I hope everyone is correct relative to UConn delivering the NY market......but I'm wondering aloud, is there an unintentional contradiction to concepts offered on this board as to why some college sports do not capture major markets......e.g. they are in pro sports environments.

It has often been suggested that BC does not deliver Boston as the ACC hoped.......forget on court/field performance for a second.

In as much as Franklin and the basketball coaches have elevated their performance and perception in the SEC, attendance is poor.....especially in BB. Vanderbilt administration is scratching their heads as women's BB teams play competitively with big names in SEC, had last years #6 ranked recruiting class, and yet is lucky to get 1000 at home games. Men's BB draw not much better. (Brother has season tickets to BB and FB).

Even though Franklin left as FB coach, they got an excellent replacement from Stanford. But the question remains, will they ever fill the stadium to capacity.

Forgetting the records of "local" or close by regional FB, and BB teams, neither Setan Hall, St. John's, Rutgers, Syracuse, Penn State are highly watched college sports programs in NYC. If they can't capture the NYC market and imagination, how does UConn, which is a short 2 hour commute away, stand a chance?

And as someone posted in a recent thread, Georgetown and Villanova attendance is off 20%, and Georgtown's attendance has been dropping the last five years. Both are in "pro towns".

Like I suggested, I hope UConn can be the exception. But looking at history across the US, there are not too many "pro" sport environments that exercise equivalent enthusiasm for college athletics. Heck, there has been some commentary that UConn doesn't even wet the appetite of many in Fairfield County........a lot of whom devote their attention to NYC pro teams.

 

[CL82]

It depends on what you mean by delivering. Often the more important metric is the number of households in a footprint rather that viewers in the footprint. By the former metric RU "delivers" a few million households in North Jersey regardless of whether anyone in Manhattan watches a game. Likewise UConn "delivers" about 1.5M households in Fairfield county which is in the NYC DMA. In addition it also delivers the New Haven/Hartford DMA which is something like the 18th largest. That's the relevant analysis and Connecticut is the best prize on the board. (Feel free to correct me on the numbers if you have them handy but I think that's close.)

Now if you are talking about actual viewers or pay subscribers Connecticut is even more favorable due to intensity of fan support. That's a plus but less relevant than #households.

Finally Connecticut brings content with strong programs in a number of sports, and as pointed out in this thread, strong female sports content. Not a huge driver but a plus on already attractive product.

 

[upstater]

It really is more than odd that the American people never mention the one school with a budget 2x as big as any other school's. It's like they're afraid of pimping UConn. Bizarre.

 

[upstater]

For those of you who poo-poo women's college basketball on here, despite the fact that they get very high ratings in Conn. and NY, realize that nationally, 500k+ viewers have been watching their games, which is more than 5x as many viewers as watch the top BE men's game on Fox. Heck, the UConn men's team only got 950k viewers on ESPN last week, and that was one of the most watched events.

Before knocking the women, realize they not only draw a lot of fans to UConn games instate, but people watch them nationally. And they do a lot better than most men's bball programs as well. If bball is truly 15-20% of the money pie, UConn has a trump card there.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Let me know when you guys are on your way with pitchforks. I'll be sure to take a vacation day.

Pitchforks
Do you think it's the Middle Ages?
We have Drones now.
Using our existing x-box we can attack from our living rooms or basements.
I can lead the attack from AZ while sitting in my SPA. It's in the 80's today.
Pitchforks really

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Swofford actually got into Delany's head. Swiped off Notre Dame and had Delany knee jerking to protect Penn State.

I think that the GOR conferences, excepting the Big 12, are now set for a while.

The Big 12 could move to 12 or more if they found teams that made sense to them in terms of media revenue enhancement.

You make a lot of sense, billy, except when you don't. Swiped Notre Dame? John doesn't have ND anymore than the Big East did. He's made the same devilish deal that Tranghese did. Don't waste the capital you build when being reasonable on preposterousness.

 

[BC1978]

It depends on what you mean by delivering. Often the more important metric is the number of households in a footprint rather that viewers in the footprint. By the former metric RU "delivers" a few million households in North Jersey regardless of whether anyone in Manhattan watches a game. Likewise UConn "delivers" about 1.5M households in Fairfield county which is in the NYC DMA. In addition it also delivers the New Haven/Hartford DMA which is something like the 18th largest. That's the relevant analysis and Connecticut is the best prize on the board. (Feel free to correct me on the numbers if you have them handy but I think that's close.)

Now if you are talking about actual viewers or pay subscribers Connecticut is even more favorable due to intensity of fan support. That's a plus but less relevant than #households.

Finally Connecticut brings content with strong programs in a number of sports, and as pointed out in this thread, strong female sports content. Not a huge driver but a plus on already attractive product.

Well said. IMO, one of the most confusing and ill-used terms thrown around on these boards is "delivering" a market. What one earth does that mean?

In terms of BC, those who bash BC like to set up this false standard that unless BC has market presence in Boston comparable to the Red Sox and Pats, they don't "deliver" Boston. This false comparison is absurd as BC/the ACC never expects BC to meet this kind of standard. What is required is that they maintain a solid presence in the #7 TV market in the US. Based on the data I posted on here recently, they have indeed accomplished this.

IMO, the same standard would be true for Uconn in NYC. Nobody should expect them to compare to the Yankees, Giants, Mets, Jets. What should be expected is that they have a presence in NYC that, along with Rutgers, will make them attractive to a conference from an advertising $$ standpoint.

When you look at it this way, this becomes doable.

That's it!! That's all it is! Peel away all the animosity for team A or team B, this becomes a rather simple exercise, IMO.

 

[BC1978]

You make a lot of sense, billy, except when you don't. Swiped Notre Dame? John doesn't have ND anymore than the Big East did. He's made the same devilish deal that Tranghese did. Don't waste the capital you build when being reasonable on preposterousness.

Well, except for the fact that he got ND to agree to play 5 ACC FB games a year. Not a trivial consideration, IMO. Was the BE ever able to get that done with ND?