NYT: Those Who Stayed With UConn Helped Save It

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Bump You might have more time to read it today.

 

[junglehusky]

No, numnuts, what is idiotic is setting forth between (i) owning NYC, and (ii) popularity in NYC not mattering. We won't ever "own" the New York market. But the New York market is huge enough that mattering in it -- being a factor in it --is important.

Plus, UConn having NYC kids on its roster (along with other colleges) certainly doesn't hurt.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

No, numnuts, what is idiotic is setting forth a false dichotomy between (i) owning NYC, and (ii) popularity in NYC not mattering. We won't ever "own" the New York market. But the New York market is huge enough that mattering in it -- being a factor in it --is important.

I don't doubt it matters, I agree. But I honestly think people give it far more importance than what they should. If Connecticut dominates the Connecticut market and packs its facilities day in day out, and continues to win, New York recruits will continue to come to UConn and some New Yorkers will watch. There are school programs across the country that are in better conferences than Connecticut who don't have any nearby metro area like NYC, but are in a better conference position than Connecticut and are reaping the benefits.

to summarize my pov: Connecticut's real success (in TV revenue, in attendance, and in fan support) really lies within Connecticut. There is enough market there to make Connecticut a Big Ten team or an ACC team. NYC should just be an extra, a +, not a focus city. I think that's were the the success of the UCONN program really lies. the University has to tap 100% the state of Connecticut market. Build even a stronger identity within the State of Connecticut, make Connecticut Huskies the team that everyone roots for. I think that identity has weakened not strengthened in the past decade or so. I still think that Connecticut has enough residents to pack a Rent with 70K+ capacity, too boost TV revenue, those folks needs to be targeted and converted to new Huskies

 

[CL82]

People focus so much on New York. New York will never be owned by anyone one. This is a city of eight million with no attachment to any team. They'll pick you up and drop you on the same day just like they do on Wall St. ... No loyalty in NYC guys. I live here and I know it. I said this before. This city is a melting pot, and everyone has a different team to root on.

Stick to Connecticut, keep marketing the team to the Connecticut fan base. Make sure every living creature that lives in Connecticut bleeds Connecticut blue. That's were your loyal fan base is, and there is definitely room for improvement. You got 3.5 million people in a tiny dense state. Enough to pack a 70k Rent every Saturday. Owning New York is an illusion

Owning NYC is an illusion, but UConn's extraordinary support in the NYC metro area is a fact. It will get national recognition next weekend at MSG.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

No, numnuts, what is idiotic is setting forth a false dichotomy between (i) owning NYC, and (ii) popularity in NYC not mattering. We won't ever "own" the New York market. But the New York market is huge enough that mattering in it -- being a factor in it --is important.

Perfectly written, B.L.!

By the way, the Daily News included this in the game story.

"But the Huskies earned their way back to Broadway Saturday night, defeating the newly reconfigured Big East regular-season champion and second seeded Villanova, 77-65, to advance to the East Region Sweet 16 on Friday at the Garden. Tickets to that event just became a little harder to get, given the love rabid UConn fans have for their team and their annual pilgrimage to Manhattan"

 

[John]

So when's the scandal story breaking? I know yahoo is holding something back. Maybe they'll wait till the sweet 16 to run the "giffey is a racist story".

Giffey and Tolksdorf guarding the perimeter

 

[Bryan Lord]

Tolksdorf was in the SS.

I'm expecting at least a story about lack of institutional control under the old regime. They'll call it a new era for uconn basketball but really they just want to dirty us up a bit more.

 

[joober jones]

Olander was responsible for New Coke

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Olander was responsible for New Coke

I heard he was hiding in the Grassy Knoll.

 

[Sportsman5]

I don't doubt it matters, I agree. But I honestly think people give it far more importance than what they should. If Connecticut dominates the Connecticut market and packs its facilities day in day out, and continues to win, New York recruits will continue to come to UConn and some New Yorkers will watch. There are school programs across the country that are in better conferences than Connecticut who don't have any nearby metro area like NYC, but are in a better conference position than Connecticut and are reaping the benefits.

to summarize my pov: Connecticut's real success (in TV revenue, in attendance, and in fan support) really lies within Connecticut. There is enough market there to make Connecticut a Big Ten team or an ACC team. NYC should just be an extra, a +, not a focus city. I think that's were the the success of the UCONN program really lies. the University has to tap 100% the state of Connecticut market. Build even a stronger identity within the State of Connecticut, make Connecticut Huskies the team that everyone roots for. I think that identity has weakened not strengthened in the past decade or so. I still think that Connecticut has enough residents to pack a Rent with 70K+ capacity, too boost TV revenue, those folks needs to be targeted and converted to new Huskies

It's not about rationally analyzing it. NCAA sports are a business. Business moves are not made rationally. They are made based on perception, personal relationships, timing (we got ducked on this one) etc. There's also an assumption that the people making the decisions are smart, have all the necessary information, and have an incentive to make the absolute best decision. Unfortunately there are many irrational, ill informed, and lazy people running things.

a small part of the New York market is given more weight than the entire state of connecticut. I'm not saying that I agree with this, but apparently that is how the conferences view it.

IMPORTANT: Cable TV will drastically change over the next 10 years. The amount of households forced to pay for a conference network they don't want will plummet and the true value of teams will become more apparent. Netflix, amazon prime, some form of apple TV, some form of google chromecast, and other things that don't even exist now will completely disrupt the cable TV model over the next decade. 10+ years from now, owning not only all of connecticut, but also a good portion of NYC will be extremely important to the value of UConn's sports programs.

More people around the country would pay $50 per year to watch the UConn womens basketball team play on TV, than to watch Rutgers football. This fact will mean a lot in the not so distant future and some of these conferences will look back on this phase of realignment and see how stupid they were to base realignment decisions on the assumption that cable would continue to have a virtual monopoly on TV content and that households will continue to pay $100-200+ per month for mostly channels that they do not watch. If trends continue, let alone hit some sort of tipping point/ acceleration, than this model will completely change a lot sooner than most people think. Of course most conference commissioners will be retired by the time this happens so they don't really care, but it is not far away.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

It's not about rationally analyzing it. NCAA sports are a business. Business moves are not made rationally. They are made based on perception, personal relationships, timing (we got ed on this one) etc. There's also an assumption that the people making the decisions are smart, have all the necessary information, and have an incentive to make the absolute best decision. Unfortunately there are many irrational, ill informed, and lazy people running things.

a small part of the New York market is given more weight than the entire state of connecticut. I'm not saying that I agree with this, but apparently that is how the conferences view it.

IMPORTANT: Cable TV will drastically change over the next 10 years. The amount of households forced to pay for a conference network they don't want will plummet and the true value of teams will become more apparent. Netflix, amazon prime, some form of apple TV, some form of google chromecast, and other things that don't even exist now will completely disrupt the cable TV model over the next decade. 10+ years from now, owning not only all of connecticut, but also a good portion of NYC will be extremely important to the value of UConn's sports programs.

More people around the country would pay $50 per year to watch the UConn womens basketball team play on TV, than to watch Rutgers football. This fact will mean a lot in the not so distant future and some of these conferences will look back on this phase of realignment and see how stupid they were to base realignment decisions on the assumption that cable would continue to have a virtual monopoly on TV content and that households will continue to pay $100-200+ per month for mostly channels that they do not watch. If trends continue, let alone hit some sort of tipping point/ acceleration, than this model will completely change a lot sooner than most people think. Of course most conference commissioners will be retired by the time this happens so they don't really care, but it is not far away.

Great points and I couldn't agree more with them. The rise of these new technological trends will definitely put a test at how the business is conducted and its going to be interesting where Connecticut ends up when conferences realize that Connecticut is much more deserving of being in a top conference than a school like Rutgers, or even a Boston College. The potential un-bundling of cable TV packages can also be an immediate kill to the current model that emphasizes "network availability over actual viewership" because they get paid on the amount of homes that have the channel instead on how many people actual watch the programming

I definitely understand also that the having some hold of the NYC market is important for any school (and Connecticut will always have a presence in NYC due to the strong alumni community and fans that live nearby) I just wish that the fans here also understand that a lot more can be done to improve UConn standing by simply improving its relevance in its home state. Everyone gets so caught up over having that presence in NYC, yet they rarely realize (probably do but dont bother to post) that 3.5 million live within a 1-1.5 hr drive of the Rent and the XL Center which if targeted appropriately (and UConn has the success in the field and the money to do so) can result in immediate sellouts for pretty much every single game. Yes the current TV revenue model forces school to extend their reach as much as they can, but don't lose the ground already earned in the process...

 

[Sportsman5]

Great points and I couldn't agree more with them. The rise of these new technological trends will definitely put a test at how the business is conducted and its going to be interesting where Connecticut ends up when conferences realize that Connecticut is much more deserving of being in a top conference than a school like Rutgers, or even a Boston College. The potential un-bundling of cable TV packages can also be an immediate kill to the current model that emphasizes "network availability over actual viewership" because they get paid on the amount of homes that have the channel instead on how many people actual watch the programming

I definitely understand also that the having some hold of the NYC market is important for any school (and Connecticut will always have a presence in NYC due to the strong alumni community and fans that live nearby) I just wish that the fans here also understand that a lot more can be done to improve UConn standing by simply improving its relevance in its home state. Everyone gets so caught up over having that presence in NYC, yet they rarely realize (probably do but dont bother to post) that 3.5 million live within a 1-1.5 hr drive of the Rent and the XL Center which if targeted appropriately (and UConn has the success in the field and the money to do so) can result in immediate sellouts for pretty much every single game. Yes the current TV revenue model forces school to extend their reach as much as they can, but don't lose the ground already earned in the process...

agree. But simply winning will bring in fans from Connecticut, while winning AND advertising is needed to gain a bigger share of the NY market because it's not as obvious to root for a winning UConn team if you're from NY vs from Connecticut.

Again, a rational person could say "what will advertising in NY really do"? and yes, if everyone was rational, than simply calling yourself "new yorks team" and putting up some banners would do nothing. But people are extremely irrational, so things like that actually make a difference when they shouldn't. The main point being that putting advertising money and making up statements like "new yorks team" or having a "new york city fan appreciation day" at the XL center once per year will actually have an effect. It doesn't matter whether you are a redsox fan or not. What the redsox have done with "redsox nation" and having a game each year dedicated to each of the new england states is absolutely GENIUS. Like it's the best marketing idea any sports team has ever had...and probably by far. I have relatives from Virginia that tell me they are apart of redsox nation. A new york city fan appreciation day at XL would seem very gimmicky and stupid, but it would work UNBELIEVABLY well.