FfldCntyFan
Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
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First time on a device with an actual keyboard since Monday and there are a few things I wanted to comment on but thought better of using a tablet or cell phone.
I don't know a whole lot of details about what the school's leadership is doing but from the little I do know we should all be pleased with the effort and should be both surprised and happy with some of the people outside of the school itself who have been pitching UConn to B-12 leadership.
Everything below is speculation on my part and in no particular order:
It was posted a few times a couple days back the ESPN can void and renegotiate the AAC TV contract with the loss of (the right) two schools. We need to keep in mind that ESPN has this right, they aren't required to exercise it. If they believe it is better for them to continue the current contract (than let the AAC open negotiations with potentially other suitors if an agreement with ESPN isn't reached) they won't do anything.
The B-12 realizes that this (the tv contracts with Fox & ESPN) is a business partnership and will attempt to keep their partners reasonably happy with the outcome of expansion, primarily due to the fact that in business eight years isn't a lot of time and the above represents half (actually far more than half) of the potential suitors for TV deals when this contract ends.
With that, the addition of Houston, while it would technically allow for another revenue share to the conference and would likely solve political problems for UT, would be zero return to Fox and ESPN. I don't see Houston getting added unless fourteen is the final number.
Within how Fox & ESPN will impact this, Fox desperately wants more eastern content. ESPN however would likely prefer nearly anything to the idea of underwriting (taking half the cost) of an endeavor that will aid a competitor (Fox getting more eastern content). This should lead to some very intriguing discussions but in the end, I believe it will help us as ESPN will need to either acquiesce or somehow take us off the table (They won't be able to force the B-12 to overlook us. The only option would be engineer a move for us to a home we would prefer over he B-12).
After just getting back from nearly a week in Tampa, I am more convinced than ever that the two directional Florida schools provide little value individually and would require at least a generation of consistent success before they could make a dent in the local fan bases (UF vs FSU is pervasive throughout most of the state with a decent amount of Miami once you get to the southernmost third of Florida). As a package deal they could provide some real value, if they could find a way to both be good in football at the same time, but I don't see this happening as (even if the AAC is the only conference the B-12 takes schools from) as both UConn and Cincinnati are too far ahead of them and if fourteen is the number, Houston would also gain a foothold.
BYU has quite a bit of damage control to ahead of them. One thing of it is, they don't appear to be the right people to execute quality damage control. They'll likely end up shooting themselves in the foot while attempting to sound magnanimous and politically correct. That said, I still see the possibility, especially if fourteen ends us being the number, of those involved claiming the (bs) public statement BYU issued was sufficient to resolve any concerns. I also see BYU as a bone to ESPN & Fox to offset Houston and a compromise to ESPN to limit Fox's eastern movement.
My guess (only a guess) is the final verdict, which will very likely be discussed seriously beginning sometime this upcoming week and finalized within a week of discussions starting will be UConn, Cincinnati, BYU & Houston.
I don't know a whole lot of details about what the school's leadership is doing but from the little I do know we should all be pleased with the effort and should be both surprised and happy with some of the people outside of the school itself who have been pitching UConn to B-12 leadership.
Everything below is speculation on my part and in no particular order:
It was posted a few times a couple days back the ESPN can void and renegotiate the AAC TV contract with the loss of (the right) two schools. We need to keep in mind that ESPN has this right, they aren't required to exercise it. If they believe it is better for them to continue the current contract (than let the AAC open negotiations with potentially other suitors if an agreement with ESPN isn't reached) they won't do anything.
The B-12 realizes that this (the tv contracts with Fox & ESPN) is a business partnership and will attempt to keep their partners reasonably happy with the outcome of expansion, primarily due to the fact that in business eight years isn't a lot of time and the above represents half (actually far more than half) of the potential suitors for TV deals when this contract ends.
With that, the addition of Houston, while it would technically allow for another revenue share to the conference and would likely solve political problems for UT, would be zero return to Fox and ESPN. I don't see Houston getting added unless fourteen is the final number.
Within how Fox & ESPN will impact this, Fox desperately wants more eastern content. ESPN however would likely prefer nearly anything to the idea of underwriting (taking half the cost) of an endeavor that will aid a competitor (Fox getting more eastern content). This should lead to some very intriguing discussions but in the end, I believe it will help us as ESPN will need to either acquiesce or somehow take us off the table (They won't be able to force the B-12 to overlook us. The only option would be engineer a move for us to a home we would prefer over he B-12).
After just getting back from nearly a week in Tampa, I am more convinced than ever that the two directional Florida schools provide little value individually and would require at least a generation of consistent success before they could make a dent in the local fan bases (UF vs FSU is pervasive throughout most of the state with a decent amount of Miami once you get to the southernmost third of Florida). As a package deal they could provide some real value, if they could find a way to both be good in football at the same time, but I don't see this happening as (even if the AAC is the only conference the B-12 takes schools from) as both UConn and Cincinnati are too far ahead of them and if fourteen is the number, Houston would also gain a foothold.
BYU has quite a bit of damage control to ahead of them. One thing of it is, they don't appear to be the right people to execute quality damage control. They'll likely end up shooting themselves in the foot while attempting to sound magnanimous and politically correct. That said, I still see the possibility, especially if fourteen ends us being the number, of those involved claiming the (bs) public statement BYU issued was sufficient to resolve any concerns. I also see BYU as a bone to ESPN & Fox to offset Houston and a compromise to ESPN to limit Fox's eastern movement.
My guess (only a guess) is the final verdict, which will very likely be discussed seriously beginning sometime this upcoming week and finalized within a week of discussions starting will be UConn, Cincinnati, BYU & Houston.
