Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[yuckformak]

You realize the Big XII is in, checks notes, Arizona correct?

Arizona is closer than CA. Also on mountain time not pacific time. It is much better conference than the ACC.

 

[JeepCSC]

No daylight savings time in Arizona, so it’s the same time right now in Phoenix as it is in LA.

 

[businesslawyer]

I was just having this conversation with two friends of mine who are big UConn fans. One thinks we should stay in the Big East and the Big 12 snub was for the best. My other friend thinks the Big 12 was the right move and works higher up in ESPN legal. Not sure how high but I had to laugh really loud when I said that her company, along with Fox, are playing large roles in shaping these conferences,and her response that she absolutely disagrees. She said that she has seen nothing that supported that. I wanted to nicely say that I have a feeling that info was above her pay grade, but I let the conversation go.

The networks totally control what happens and ESPN has been blackballing UConn from the ACC since the beginning and is letting SMU in instead. Unreal.

1. You have lawyers for friends? You need better friends.

2. So you get information from a friend in a position to know something, and blithely dismiss it to believe in conspiracies you read about on the internet? Just wow. 2023 in a nutshell.

 

[buddy]

Maybe our next governor and senators should have ties to the mafia. That might make a deal with ESPN more likely.
Our current collection couldn’t be further from mobster types.

I agree. The governor and legislators talk a big game, but have done absolutely nothing to help out here. ESPN is not a friend to UConn or Connecticut for that matter. It also doesn't help that US Senator from CT spoke out against UConn to the Big 12.

 

[pj]

Arizona is closer than CA. Also on mountain time not pacific time. It is much better conference than the ACC.

No one eight years ago would have thought the B12, as currently composed, was as attractive a conference as the ACC, as currently composed. FSU, Clemson, UNC, Notre Dame, Duke are all elite athletics schools, and many other programs have good athletic histories; it leads or is competitive in major markets. Meanwhile, the B12 has second-tier programs in its many states (its Texas schools are behind Texas and Texas A&M; Oklahoma State is behind Oklahoma; Iowa State is behind Iowa; Kansas, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah are the only states where it is the leader; it has many low-value programs diluting its value.

The only reason people think the B12 is stronger than the ACC is recency bias -- the B12 has been improving its position while the ACC has been bickering and incapable of acting. But there's no reason to assume you can extrapolate recent trends indefinitely into the future.

The B12 has stabilized its position with the Arizona/Colorado/Utah adds, but it has also limited its upside. It is now a large plains-mountain conference that can't easily grow further. If the ACC implodes the B12 is well positioned to become a "best of the rest" third national conference in a P3, but if the ACC holds together it will surpass the B12 in future contracts and be third in a P4.

 

[mike012]

The Big12 advantage over the Acc is no team in the Big12 is going anywhere else. They don’t have any other options. While multiple Acc schools may have better options.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I agree. The governor and legislators talk a big game, but have done absolutely nothing to help out here. ESPN is not a friend to UConn or Connecticut for that matter. It also doesn't help that US Senator from CT spoke out against UConn to the Big 12.

ESPN is a business that has its headquarters in Connecticut. That's all it is. Why should they help local schools? Why is no one lobbying NBC who also has its sports headquarters in Connecticut to help get UConn into the B1G or to schedule a game with ND?

 

[CL82]

ESPN is a business that has its headquarters in Connecticut. That's all it is. Why should they help local schools?

Definitely, if that "local" school is the state university and they are going to ask the state for a handout later on.

Why is no one lobbying NBC who also has its sports headquarters in Connecticut to help get UConn into the B1G or to schedule a game with ND?

They should. The problem is of course that they don't occupy the same niche as ESPN does in terms of broadcasting the vast majority of college games, and, perhaps more relevantly, single-handedly reshaping the college conference landscape to their liking, including eviscerating the Big East, which was the University of Connecticut home.

 

[Forte]

ESPN is a business that has its headquarters in Connecticut. That's all it is. Why should they help local schools? Why is no one lobbying NBC who also has its sports headquarters in Connecticut to help get UConn into the B1G or to schedule a game with ND?

Because this is the BY. From what I heard, ESPN was good with $$ for UConn to BIG12 but Fox was the hold-up (this is post post-last ditch effort once BIG12 go their "dream teams") not willing to dish it, and why would they since they have UConn's most valuable assets for a bargain?

 

[businesslawyer]

Its about getting your foot in the door. People can talk about the ACC getting picked apart in 11-12 years (or I guess sooner if a school comes up with hundreds of millions of dollars I suppose). But in the end our best hope from a football standpoint is the ACC anyway and the whole waiting until the ACC GOR is over isn't a great idea because we may not even survive independence for another 11-12 years.

Lets say we get 10 mil. What is that, an extra $5 mil per year? So lets say we throw that toward essentially paying off the exit fee over a 6 year period. Perhaps if Mora is in a real football league we are competing for some of that bowl incentive money to also help offset the exit fee. In the ACC our attendance goes up for football, more ticket revenue. And on and on.

I don't love the idea of begging but we are in a tough spot. Of course if one doesn't give a damn about the football program, it's definitely not worth it I suppose.

I’d point out that we had our foot in the door. And the door was just shut on it anyway.

 

[buddy]

ESPN is a business that has its headquarters in Connecticut. That's all it is. Why should they help local schools? Why is no one lobbying NBC who also has its sports headquarters in Connecticut to help get UConn into the B1G or to schedule a game with ND?

Ct taxpayers are financing the ACC via ESPN tax breaks.

 

[NowInStorrs]

Because this is the BY. From what I heard, ESPN was good with $$ for UConn to BIG12 but Fox was the hold-up (this is post post-last ditch effort once BIG12 go their "dream teams") not willing to dish it, and why would they since they have UConn's most valuable assets for a bargain?

If that was truly the case, why not offer to pay the difference from our payout to cover the Fox portion? Surely that would've been preferable to our current position and gotten us into that coveted power conference spot.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The realistic best path for UConn to a reasonable conference situation for football is for all college football to split off from the NCAA. Anything else is at least a decade away.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

If SMU is added by the ACC as is reported, it is essentially an admission by the ACC that they are going to cease to exist in 10 years.

SMU is a negative value driver on a per-team payout in any future media contract. They are only accretive now because they are not taking any money for 7 years. But once they are granted equal payout in 7 years as reported, they actually drive down the revenue for ACC member schools. So if this is deal is accepted, it is essentially an admission that more than half of the ACC is committed to be in a different conference by the next media deal and have no interest in trying to salvage the ACC. We knew 100% that FSU and Clemson felt this way, but if this vote goes through, it means that the remaining top ACC schools (Virginia, UNC, NC State, VT, etc) are all pot-committed to blowing up the ACC.

 

[Rufus]

If SMU is added by the ACC as is reported, it is essentially an admission by the ACC that they are going to cease to exist in 10 years.

SMU is a negative value driver on a per-team payout in any future media contract. They are only accretive now because they are not taking any money for 7 years. But once they are granted equal payout in 7 years as reported, they actually drive down the revenue for ACC member schools. So if this is deal is accepted, it is essentially an admission that more than half of the ACC is committed to be in a different conference by the next media deal and have no interest in trying to salvage the ACC. We knew 100% that FSU and Clemson felt this way, but if this vote goes through, it means that the remaining top ACC schools (Virginia, UNC, NC State, VT, etc) are all pot-committed to blowing up the ACC.

Exactly. It remains to be seen if Stanford and Cal are net negatives for the ACC. Apparently, they are net negatives for the B1G or they would have received invites too. Those two schools are perfect for the B1G in every way except media value.

 

[CL82]

If SMU is added by the ACC as is reported, it is essentially an admission by the ACC that they are going to cease to exist in 10 years.

SMU is a negative value driver on a per-team payout in any future media contract. They are only accretive now because they are not taking any money for 7 years. But once they are granted equal payout in 7 years as reported, they actually drive down the revenue for ACC member schools. So if this is deal is accepted, it is essentially an admission that more than half of the ACC is committed to be in a different conference by the next media deal and have no interest in trying to salvage the ACC. We knew 100% that FSU and Clemson felt this way, but if this vote goes through, it means that the remaining top ACC schools (Virginia, UNC, NC State, VT, etc) are all pot-committed to blowing up the ACC.

The really interesting issue is that if four objectors are basically holding out until all or the vast majority of this money accrues to them, does another school change it to vote to no? I mean no amount of money the ACC allocates to FSU is ever going to placate them. Why bother trying?

 

[upstater]

Not joining the ACC is a blessing in disguise. It's not but when the the top schools leave do you really want to be in a conference that has teams in CA. SMU really? The Big 12 is a much better conference and maybe uconn knows they are next in line when/if they move east. Maybe UConn has no interest in the ACC and giving them back all this money and by the time they get profitable the conference is going to be gutted.

??? The B12 has 2 teams in Utah, 2 in Arizona. ACC has a lot of teams in our geographic footprint. I mean, there's no doubt geography favors the ACC even with Calford.

 

[JeepCSC]

If SMU is added by the ACC as is reported, it is essentially an admission by the ACC that they are going to cease to exist in 10 years.

SMU is a negative value driver on a per-team payout in any future media contract. They are only accretive now because they are not taking any money for 7 years. But once they are granted equal payout in 7 years as reported, they actually drive down the revenue for ACC member schools. So if this is deal is accepted, it is essentially an admission that more than half of the ACC is committed to be in a different conference by the next media deal and have no interest in trying to salvage the ACC. We knew 100% that FSU and Clemson felt this way, but if this vote goes through, it means that the remaining top ACC schools (Virginia, UNC, NC State, VT, etc) are all pot-committed to blowing up the ACC.

Maybe. But it’s unlikely Colorado, Houston, Central Florida or anyone else playing in half-empty stadiums was value accretive for the Big XII in the last couple years. They hit several breaks (most importantly taking PAC money the PAC turned down). The media contract winter is coming, and doubling up on Utah will be judged accordingly.

Really the long and short of it is that life is not easy for anyone outside the Power 2. And if that Nebraska AD is to believed, life might not be getting any better for some schools inside the P2.

 

[superjohn]

Really the long and short of it is that life is not easy for anyone outside the Power 2. And if that Nebraska AD is to believed, life might not be getting any better for some schools inside the P2.

This is the reality. Football will split off and the SEC and Big 10 will control all of it with a handful of teams from both conferences controlling things and the SEC will continue to win all the national championships.

 

[bendm]

ND could threaten to start a new conference with Stanford and California. That would get the ACC motivated.

motivated to do what? Why would ND sacrifice the sweet deal they have going with NBC?

NBC is not going to pay pro rata for Calford and the 5 other schools that would have to join up to form some high major ivy league (Tulane, Rice...? NW isnt leaving the BIG and Duke isnt leaving the ACC).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

motivated to do what? Why would ND sacrifice the sweet deal they have going with NBC?

NBC is not going to pay pro rata for Calford and the 5 other schools that would have to join up to form some high major ivy league (Tulane, Rice...? NW isnt leaving the BIG and Duke isnt leaving the ACC).

There is this thing called negotiating. When you have all the leverage on the counter-party, you can say a lot of things in a negotiation and get the response you want.

 

[JeepCSC]

How is Notre Dame threatening to start a conference they would never join an opening for negotiation?

 

[bendm]

There is this thing called negotiating. When you have all the leverage on the counter-party, you can say a lot of things in a negotiation and get the response you want.

but who has the leverage in this scenario? ND over the ACC? ND over NBC? what exactly is ND threatening either with?

this crack pipe ivy league 2.0 isnt realistc at all. besides tulane and rice who would join? acc schools are stuck in the GOR. NW and Vandy sure as heck arent giving up 60 million to do so

 

[nelsonmuntz]

and who has the leverage in this scenario? ND over the ACC? ND over NBC? what exactly is ND threatening either with? i just laid out while some crack pipe ivy league 2.0 isnt realistc at all

ND over the ACC.

It looks like Stanford and Cal are getting in, so Notre Dame got its way. Like I said, it helps to have all the leverage in a negotiation.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

How is Notre Dame threatening to start a conference they would never join an opening for negotiation?

Notre Dame could wipe its butt on the UNC President's face and it would help their negotiation with the ACC. Notre Dame has been doing it since they joined the ACC.