There isn't one for college basketball or football. There is a fanatic State following for UConn football and basketball, and a surprising national following as well in basketball. National recruiting proves that. BC at best has a few alumni fans.
This not about the New England Market.
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you're right, it's not about NE - it's all about ND:
http://the-boneyard.com/threads/this-is-all-about-notre-dame.2603/#post-29315
http://the-boneyard.com/threads/this-is-all-about-notre-dame.2603/#post-29315
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Well, there may be a reason for there haven't been many great teams in the NE area. NYC doesn't have one, and the last thing you'd do as a NYer would be to root for a Boston team.
Similarly, CT residents who are Mets/Yankees fan aren't going to start pulling for BC. I think, in both the state of CT and in NE as a whole, there is more of a market-share to be grabbed since there just aren't enough teams for the population.
I'm a fair-weather football fan. I watched the clinching game last year and the OU game. I very rarely watch. I'd watch a UConn-BC, UConn-FSU, UConn-VT, UConn-Miami, UConn-Maryland game. All of them hold intrinsic interest to me as an only casual fan. That would likely make me care more about UConn-Syracuse/UConn-Rutgers.
I can't be alone in that.
Similarly, CT residents who are Mets/Yankees fan aren't going to start pulling for BC. I think, in both the state of CT and in NE as a whole, there is more of a market-share to be grabbed since there just aren't enough teams for the population.
I'm a fair-weather football fan. I watched the clinching game last year and the OU game. I very rarely watch. I'd watch a UConn-BC, UConn-FSU, UConn-VT, UConn-Miami, UConn-Maryland game. All of them hold intrinsic interest to me as an only casual fan. That would likely make me care more about UConn-Syracuse/UConn-Rutgers.
I can't be alone in that.
HuskyHawk
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You're not. For all the talk about BC's "irrelevance" in the Boston market, the football team has a full two pages in the Globe and Herald every weekend. Plus a weekly TV show. Basketball? Only when they're winning. Hockey does get some press, with several Mass schools being good. It's not a college sports town or region. Too many professional options.
Here's why I think BC would probably be in favor of adding UConn. The Boston media tries to play up the ACC, and Boston fans feel completely disconnected from it. Nobody gives a crap about G-Tech playing NC State. But put UConn, Syracuse and Pitt in the mix and that would probably change. Interest in the ACC as a whole would go up, as New England would be more completely connected to it.
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After the switch to the ACC, I thought there would be less interest in BC each year due to it being the only team up north and somewhat isolated. I thought it would affect their recruiting as well, as there would be no natural rivalries for recruits to get excited about.
So this move by the ACC would seem to be just the lifeline BC needs to generate renewed interest in the program. It appears, however, that BC is thinking it can generate that new interest with just Syracuse and Pitt. I'm sure this was one reason BC decided to agree to the recent multi-year series with Syracuse. It seems that they don't feel they need UConn to help resurrect their program. I wonder if they view UConn as too much of an equal in football now and don't want to share NE with them. As of this year, it appears that each school's football program is recruiting fairly evenly, especially in NE. I'm guessing that BC would like NE all for itself in a post BE world! If they were bigger thinkers though, they might realize how it could feed on itself and allow each school to benefit greatly from such a natural NE rivalry!
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