Look at the numbers sometime, they are easy to google. To put it kindly, it's a fantasy to believe anyone could add incremental advertising dollars to facilitate an invite to the Big 10.
You either bring enough cable boxes or grow the tier 1 deal. There isn't any other way to generate the incremental revenue to gain an invite.
It's pretty much Texas, North Carolina and maybe Georgia Tech who check enough boxes for an invite from the universe of realistic candidates who might end up available.
Ha ha, that may be easy for you to Google, I have no idea what to search for that. I guess you'd have to look at the ratings for UConn games and then figure out what the incremental increase would be playing against B1G teams and then look at advertising rates for sports and maybe adjust for Connecticut demographics which are desirable given the relative affluence of the state population.... kind of seems complex to me. If you know of a site that would have all that information already put together, post a link when you get a chance and tag me.
With a population of @3 million, about a million of which are located in the coveted NYC DMA, UConn is the most attractive piece left on the board for a conference with it's own network. Having homes pay a premium for the network brings revenue that is otherwise untapped. UConn also brings ratings, especially in the Connecticut, NYC, New England, but also nationwide as it is a nationally recognized brand. Again if you are trying draw ratings and thus advertising dollars, that's important. UConn brings content, across a broad range of sports and thus across a broad range of seasons. That's attractive if you are trying maximize your return on your very expensive sports programs.
In the roll out of any product or service you pick the low hanging fruit first. For college athletics that was broadcast rights. Connecticut is attractive under that metric, not the most attractive, perhaps, but attractive. As a product or service matures you then have be a little creative to squeeze out the remaining available cash. For athletics, the next step was conference networks and subscriber fees. UConn is attractive there as well. The next iteration to monetize college is going to advertising and, once again UConn is well positioned. That is true whether the broadcast rights pie is growing or whether it is shrinking.
While advertising as a stand alone may not have enough value to make UConn an attractive conference addition, all of what UConn brings to the table should be to conference with it's own network. For us, given our location, that means that the B1G is likely considering us. Without other competitors it has the luxury of being able to take it's time, vet us thoroughly, and give us a checklist of what would make us more attractive. It's very possible that is happening. Alternatively, it is possible that Suzie is doing what she can to position us. If so she's doing it very intelligently. Regardless, the notion that we bring nothing to the table is flawed, in my belief.
