$17m early buyout agreement per Blaud

[upstater]

Being reported that Aresco was seeking $30 million. We wanted to keep it under $15 million. 17 is closer to 15 than it is to 30.

Cincinnati.com mad. They think Aresco caved. Page: Why did the American Athletic Conference cave to UConn in exit fee negotiations?

Compare it to Louisville's exit. AP Source: Louisville to pay $11mil AAC exit fee

Louisville paid $11 million.

It really doesn't matter what Aresco was seeking. $30m is just 3x the $10m fee because UConn had to give 3 years notice.

 

[huskymedic]

Being reported that Aresco was seeking $30 million. We wanted to keep it under $15 million. 17 is closer to 15 than it is to 30.

Cincinnati.com mad. They think Aresco caved. Page: Why did the American Athletic Conference cave to UConn in exit fee negotiations?

>>Previously, Rutgers paid $11.5 million in exit fees and Louisville paid $11 million when they left the American well before the expected 27-month waiting period. But that was seven years ago, in a different time and place for both those schools and the conference.<<

It really doesn't matter what Aresco was seeking. $30m is just 3x the $10m fee because UConn had to give 3 years notice.

27 months is not 36 months

 

[TRest]

Agree. The best thing to do is compare it to the only other team that ever left the AAC and they got off easy.
Louisville.

I imagine that this happened because of two things:

1. Louisville left for the P5 and so Aresco didn't want to anger a P5 team. He has disregard for UConn because we're not P5. Interesting.

2. UConn must have blasted him for pawning off our T3 rights so the rest of the conference could profit.

Didn't Louisville leave under a different set of terms and conditions? The college sports landscape had changed and the conference became increasing determined to punish members seeking to leave?

 

[upstater]

>>Previously, Rutgers paid $11.5 million in exit fees and Louisville paid $11 million when they left the American well before the expected 27-month waiting period. But that was seven years ago, in a different time and place for both those schools and the conference.<<

2014 wasn't 7 years ago.

Louisville also signed on with the new BE/AAC contract. Louisville received its invitation after the BE had reconstituted. In other words, after Rutgers had gotten its invitation. For some time, Louisville was stuck just like UConn, and it was on board as an AAC member.

 

[upstater]

Didn't Louisville leave under a different set of terms and conditions? The college sports landscape had changed and the conference became increasing determined to punish members seeking to leave?

Same set of conditions. The contract UConn just broke was formulated in 2012-2013. Louisville left for the 2014-2015 season. Louisville had not received an invitation to the ACC when the new deal was made. It was a full fledged member.

 

[huskymedic]

2014 wasn't 7 years ago.

Louisville also signed on with the new BE/AAC contract. Louisville received its invitation after the BE had reconstituted. In other words, after Rutgers had gotten its invitation. For some time, Louisville was stuck just like UConn, and it was on board as an AAC member.

They accepted the ACC invite in 2012.

 

[upstater]

They accepted the ACC invite in 2012.

Yes, after Thanksgiving. But effectively, they played one more full season. The AAC had already reformed with a new contract prior to them getting an invite.

The league reformed in 2012. The Catholics spent that last year with the AAC members, and then in 2013, they were gone. So it had reformed prior to the Louisville invite (which occurred during the 2012-2013 year).

Do you remember all the upset we had that Aresco went along with the departing conference members who wanted UConn banned from the BET, even though the rule hadn't been held against prior NCAA banned teams in past years?

So this all happened prior to November 28, 2012, the date of Lousiville's invite.

 

[navery12]

My point was people acted like we completely fooled him and used the term fleeced. Would you consider that an accurate depiction of the negotiation?

Yes we fleeced Aresco and the AAC

 

[huskymedic]

Yes, after Thanksgiving. But effectively, they played one more full season. The AAC had already reformed with a new contract prior to them getting an invite.

The league reformed in 2012. The Catholics spent that last year with the AAC members, and then in 2013, they were gone. So it had reformed prior to the Louisville invite (which occurred during the 2012-2013 year).

Do you remember all the upset we had that Aresco went along with the departing conference members who wanted UConn banned from the BET, even though the rule hadn't been held against prior NCAA banned teams in past years?

So this all happened prior to November 28, 2012, the date of Lousiville's invite.

Geez... all I was pointing out was that 2012 (acceptance) to 2019 was 7 years (+/- a few months) as the article said.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Yes we fleeced Aresco and the AAC

I just don’t see how that term is at all applicable. I think we did what we had to do but certainly paid a hefty cost to do so

 

[Waquoit]

We won, we're free from a crap conference that never gave UConn the respect they were due. Until we left.

 

[UConnNick]

Football, with bad accounting and all, runs a $8.5 million annual deficit. The dirty secret though is the $22 million deficit minor sports run is significantly rooted in football due to Title IX. If you eliminate football - you could cut these other women sports and save lots of money.
I hope this never happens, since I love football, but it would be the quickest way to close this deficit.
Please understand I don’t advocate this approach or say it will happen but it would be a quick fix. Again, I don’t believe a good fix long term.

Wow, I can hear the women's advocates all over CT screaming from their rooftops if they cut an equivalent number of women's scholarship sports equal to the number of football scholarships lost when they kill the program. I'm convinced this is the dirty little secret that UConn doesn't want to tell anybody just yet. I'd be surprised if Benedict will hang around long enough to see it. If you were looking for a job as an athletic director, you wouldn't want to list "killed UConn football program" as your primary achievement.

 

[Guapo]

Wow, I can hear the women's advocates all over CT screaming from their rooftops if they cut an equivalent number of women's scholarship sports equal to the number of football scholarships lost when they kill the program. I'm convinced this is the dirty little secret that UConn doesn't want to tell anybody just yet. I'd be surprised if Benedict will hang around long enough to see it. If you were looking for a job as an athletic director, you wouldn't want to list "killed UConn football program" as your primary achievement.

Your comments in this thread have been complete and utter gibberish.

You’re trying to be provocative, but you’re just coming across as dumb.

 

[Robertelamin]

Who cares if we fleeced them or they fleeced us? We have a plan and we’re out. It’s over, move on.

 

[navery12]

I just don’t see how that term is at all applicable. I think we did what we had to do but certainly paid a hefty cost to do so

We got out 24 months early by paying $1M per year over 6 years, which will be more than made up for with the increases in revenue from being in the Big East

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Just going to needle you a bit: Nebraska is pretty far, there's also a Wisconsin team, and Temple is closer to UConn than Villanova is.

And Illinois. What a dumb post by me LOL

 

[Jbirdp5]

We got out 24 months early by paying $1M per year over 6 years, which will be more than made up for with the increases in revenue from being in the Big East

I agree with what they did, just don’t think we pulled a fast one on the league. The agreement was reasonable for both sides. The people acting like the checks the league held back don’t count are the ones being unreasonable

 

[UConnNick]

Football for the vast majority of schools is just a loss leader.

That's true if you're looking at FBS and FCS combined, but if you look at FBS only, not so much. That's why there's still great interest in upgrading, and the seemingly endless proliferation of bowl games.

Several years ago, I did a study on what revenues and profits are made by all 120 (at the time) FBS programs. Keep in mind that the numbers this anaylisis was based on were six years old at the time, so by now these are 12-13 year old numbers. They broke down like this:

The top 20 teams made huge profits from football, anywhere from several million up to 50+ million for the year.

From 20-50 or so, teams all made profits, but anywhere from slightly to considerably less than 1-20.

From 50-80, they either made a tiny profit, 1 million or less, or they about broke even, but none lost money. As an example, a bad FBS program like Vanderbilt was at 51 or 52, but still made a profit of a little over 1 million that year.

From 80-120 were the money losers, some very modest in the $100-$300k range, some into the small millions and a few several million or more.

Those numbers have likely skyrocketed at some of the top 20 behemoths since then. Several years ago Texas reported an 83 million profit from athletics, and likely 90 percent or more of that was from football. That's close to 75 million, likely about 50 percent more than 6-7 years prior at 50 million.

This is why the most successful FCS programs are generally interested in jumping to the FBS level.

It's true that the bottom 40 teams of FBS and the FCS schools have to view football as a loss leader, but making it to the FBS top 50 is the goal. They make money, and about the top 25 make tons of it.

 

[huskymedic]

2018 College Football's Most Valuable Teams: Texas A&M Jumps To No. 1:

 

[upstater]

Geez... all I was pointing out was that 2012 (acceptance) to 2019 was 7 years (+/- a few months) as the article said.

Well, if we're talking about the exit fee deal, that happened in late 2013 (Louisville to pay $11 million for early exit from AAC to join ACC), so it's 5 1/2 years.

 

[HuskyHawk]

???

I can't understand this argument at all.

Every school does it this way. In fact, there's a big controversy in North Carolina right now because UNC is trying to change it. The problem is that those are real costs, and if the AD isn't picking it up, the academic departments are picking up the cost.

Not sure what you mean by "no one pays that."

Come on. The real cost of athletic scholarships is zero. UConn isn’t hiring any faculty as a result of those kids. It’s just bumping class sizes. Now the room and board is a real cost. As for nobody pays that, I’m seriously doubt that the group of recruited athletes, if admitted to UConn on a normal basis, would be charged full freight. Some might, many would qualify for need based assistance. Others are in state kids.

The whole $40m deficit is a fiction. Not saying the AD makes money, of course not, but it’s not as far in the hole as is reported. Good luck to the state keeping XL open without UConn basketball and hockey, and yet we pay them and they keep the concessions and parking I believe. That’s revenue generated by UConn athletics that is being redirected.

Edit: curious about these “costs”. I am fairly sure a random 20 year old living off campus could audit a whole semester at UConn and (a) nobody would notice and (b) it wouldn’t raise UConn’s costs by more than the cost of materials in any lab type class. I understand that the schools spread their budget across total students to come up with cost per each. Same as k-12. But vast amounts of that budget aren’t being used to educate these kids, in both cases.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My view of the Athletic Department is that it’s essentially marketing. Why do we have such nice on campus dorms? To attract students. Why do we have Jorgenson? To attract students. Why a student union? To attract students? Why on campus fitness center? To attract students. Why sports teams? To attract students. The infirmary, the buses, it goes on and on. None of that is necessary to the education of students. It’s there to make their experience pleasant.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Yes, we'd just owe them that much less money to make up the difference.

UConn to the FF this coming season! Maybe we'll win the NC and wipe out most of the rest of our AAC debt. We could be the second coming of Louisville, when they essentially got paid nothing for the 2013 vacated win.

Interesting question. When Louisville's 2013 title was vacated by the NCAA, they also vacate their entire NCAA earnings. Did the other Big East schools have to pay back any money they received from the Louisville distribution?

It was the AAC who got the money and if there was a payback I suppose
It would have been a Big Boneyard deal.
The AAC got all the money in return for the name and the MSG tourney

 

[upstater]

Come on. The real cost of athletic scholarships is zero. UConn isn’t hiring any faculty as a result of those kids. It’s just bumping class sizes. Now the room and board is a real cost. As for nobody pays that, I’m seriously doubt that the group of recruited athletes, if admitted to UConn on a normal basis, would be charged full freight. Some might, many would qualify for need based assistance. Others are in state kids.

The whole $40m deficit is a fiction. Not saying the AD makes money, of course not, but it’s not as far in the hole as is reported. Good luck to the state keeping XL open without UConn basketball and hockey, and yet we pay them and they keep the concessions and parking I believe. That’s revenue generated by UConn athletics that is being redirected.

Edit: curious about these “costs”. I am fairly sure a random 20 year old living off campus could audit a whole semester at UConn and (a) nobody would notice and (b) it wouldn’t raise UConn’s costs by more than the cost of materials in any lab type class. I understand that the schools spread their budget across total students to come up with cost per each. Same as k-12. But vast amounts of that budget aren’t being used to educate these kids, in both cases.

Totally and absolutely wrong.

Departments are paid by butts in seats.

There are class caps, faculty to student ratios.

This is how people are paid.

They literally count every single student in a class, every single major, and they fund departments accordingly.

I mean, how much more evidence do you need? The article I linked to is explicit that such a change would blow a $17m hole in the UNC budget.

 

[CL82]

By the way, here's what is going on down in North Carolina: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article232791677.html

You can plainly see that the accounting move simply moves the costs from athletics to academics. Even the boosters, ahem, legislators, realize that.

Let me see if I can explain this to you in a way that resonate with you. You have a college. It has building that it need to maintain. It has faculty that needs to be paid for. It has non-faculty employees it needs to pay for. It has utlities expenses, etc. Now lets say that your cost for all of that, for purposes of this example is $100. Let's say you have to spread the cost over a single class of 10 people who are in a classroom that seats twenty. You want to breakeven, so you charge each student $10. $10 x 10 = $100. You are at breakeven. Another student decides to join the university. He pays for his own books and materials. The prof is already paid, as are the room and electricity and support staff etc. What is the marginal cost to the university of having this student sit in the room? Well in my example it is $0.

I fully understand that if you divide your total costs by your total students you will get a per student number. That's not your marginal cost to add the student.

Make sense?