$17m early buyout agreement per Blaud

[McLovin]

Any rumors of big money donations to cover some of these exit fees?

Let me grab my check book.

 

[NJHoops]

While it was generally assumed they’d be in the Big East for 20-21, it’s nice for recruiting to have that formalized.

 

[tcf15]

Any wagers on yet another CT state government forecast? Since football is probably a 90 member travel crew or more how do these small travel teams of 15-30 make much of a dent in the overall?
I also don’t think basketball changes much. Remember in both sports we played some western divisions teams only once a year.

With the Big East, you're only traveling a total of about 6,000 miles in 10 games. In the AAC, even though it's only a 9 game schedule, you're still traveling about 10,000 miles, and that's if you're just scheduling the closest teams. It's a huge change.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Chief...stay in your lane. You are lost with the cost savings from this as @tcf15 has showed!

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Any wagers on yet another CT state government forecast? Since football is probably a 90 member travel crew or more how do these small travel teams of 15-30 make much of a dent in the overall?
I also don’t think basketball changes much. Remember in both sports we played some western divisions teams only once a year.

Sure there’s games in Nebraska, Ohio, and Indiana but those are now the far games. In the AAC those would be the close games. Our closest school was Temple. There’s 4 Big East schools closer to us than Temple is (tossing Nova in there for arguments sake).

 

[storrsroars]

With the Big East, you're only traveling a total of about 6,000 miles in 10 games. In the AAC, even though it's only a 9 game schedule, you're still traveling about 10,000 miles, and that's if you're just scheduling the closest teams. It's a huge change.

I don't know if the hoops team flies to Philly, so Nova vs Temple is a wash. But at least three flights aren't needed as it's easy to bus to Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's

 

[huskymedic]

Any wagers on yet another CT state government forecast?

I’ll take a bumbling Athletic Department ROI forecast for travel savings over all sponsored sports teams than your statement that “the $2 million in travel costs savings isn’t real” and “assumes we will have ZERO travel costs going forward.”

 

[Chief00]

I’ll take a bumbling Athletic Department ROI forecast for travel savings over all sponsored sports teams than your statement that “the $2 million in travel costs savings isn’t real” and “assumes we will have ZERO travel costs going forward.”

I would love if someone could actually get a detail breakdown. Do you think they actually went out and got flight and hotel costs for Nebraska etc. as they should have for a competent analysis? I am skeptical regarding the level of competence you seem to have blind faith in.
After all, we are $40 million in the hole annually, so the forecast pencils have not proven to be historically very sharpe. The truth is in the results.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I don't know if the hoops team flies to Philly, so Nova vs Temple is a wash. But at least three flights aren't needed as it's easy to bus to Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's

I know they (hoops)typically fly to Philly. I remember a couple years back they bussed and it was big news.

 

[huskymedic]

I would love if someone could actually get a detail breakdown. Do you think they actually went out and got flight and hotel costs for Nebraska etc. as they should have for a competent analysis? I am skeptical regarding the level of competence you seem to have blind faith in.

Yes... they went to their travel company partner w/ projected schedules and had them provide the costs. Its not that hard since the travel company provides travel for a number of similarly situated geographic schools. Data is easy to come by for "close enough" projections.

 

[Chief00]

LOL - I do have a MBA with a Finance concentration, taken graduate level accounting courses and worked for two Fortune 200 companies and one of the largest banks in Europe .
As I posted, I think any financial analysis by CT government deserves pushback - their forecast results speak for themselves. The last Governor ran stating he would follow general accepted accounting standards and that never became a reality.

 

[Chief00]

Yes... they went to their travel company partner w/ projected schedules and had them provide the costs. Its not that hard since the travel company provides travel for a number of similarly situated geographic schools. Data is easy to come by for "close enough" projections.

Over half our football schedule is empty after next season, so how do you do fhat?

 

[CL82]

After all, we are $40 million in the hole annually,

Are we though? @$16.5M is due to accounting for scholarships at the full out of state rate. No one pays that. If you account it for it based on actually out of pocket cost, it is a fraction of that number. Rent for the XL and the Rent, is essentially an accounting fiction moving money from the UConn AD budget to the CRDA's budget making our numbers look worse than they are and their loss look less bad.

I'd like UConn to fix both of those so that, going forward in our NBE years, our budget numbers look better. That creates a narrative that makes UConn look like innovators rather than victims in this process.

 

[huskymedic]

Yes... they went to their travel company partner w/ projected schedules and had them provide the costs. Its not that hard since the travel company provides travel for a number of similarly situated geographic schools. Data is easy to come by for "close enough" projections.

Half our football schedule is empty after next season, so how do you do fhat.

I do have a MBA with a Finance concentration, taken graduate level accounting courses and worked for two Fortune 200 companies and one of the largest banks in Europe .

... and you can't figure out the answer to you're own question. Are you really going to be that obtuse here?

 

[Chief00]

... and you can't figure out the answer to you're own question. Are you really going to be that obtuse here?

You are right, I don’t know the answers to my own questions and actually neither do you. That’s my point . Thank you. Any financial analysis done with currently known facts would inherently be sloppy. When the football team travels there’s a huge footprint and we don’t know at least 60% of the schedule.
The reality is your stated travel savings makes up only 5% of the annual deficit but it’s another example of the same people crunching numbers who have a really bad track record. You seem to have blind faith in them, I am merely asking the same questions I would ask in business but in CT government - how dare someone.

 

[upstater]

Sure there’s games in Nebraska, Ohio, and Indiana but those are now the far games. In the AAC those would be the close games. Our closest school was Temple. There’s 4 Big East schools closer to us than Temple is (tossing Nova in there for arguments sake).

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.

 

[upstater]

Are we though? @$16.5M is due to accounting for scholarships at the full out of state rate. No one pays that. If you account it for it based on actually out of pocket cost, it is a fraction of that number.

???

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."

 

[upstater]

I know they (hoops)typically fly to Philly. I remember a couple years back they bussed and it was big news.

This is surprising to me. We get to Philly from New Haven in under 3 hours.

Flying saves you a little time maybe if you cut things short (1 hour before flight, 1 hour flight, 30 minutes to deplane and exit airport, 30 minutes to Villanova or downtown Philly). Same amount of time.

 

[huskymedic]

You are right, I don’t know the answers to my own questions and actually neither do you. That’s my point . Thank you. Any financial analysis done with currently known facts would inherently be sloppy. When the football team travels there’s a huge footprint and we do t know at least 60% of the schedule.

The reality is your stated travel savings makes up only 5% of the annual deficit but it’s another example of the same people crunching numbers who have a really bad track record. You seem to have blind faith in them, I am merely asking the same questions I would ask in business but it’s not

No blind faith, just some intel/knowledge on the travel expense discovery process (which is what this discussion started out as when you stated the travel savings weren't real).

You also continue to dismiss the impact of less/closer/cheaper travel by the other 17/18? teams besides MBB, WBB and Football that will play in the Big East Conference. UConn Athletics spent $7.3m on team travel in 2018. Football spent $1.2m of that number.

>>Still, any difference in travel expense for UConn figures to be relatively slight. In the 2018 fiscal year, UMass (playing a schedule similar to what the Huskies might build) spent $1,193,649 on football travel, according to the school’s NCAA financial statement, almost identical to the $1,151,379 that UConn spent as a member of the AAC. That comparison suggests travel expenses won’t rise much when the Huskies become independent and certainly shouldn’t offset the savings UConn expects from its other sports programs. <<

Are the projections likely to have some deviation as actual expenses come in... sure. Show me a multi-year analysis that doesnt have some assumptions built into it that may fluctuate. That's not "inherently sloppy" - that's life.

But what does a dumb old ambulance driver know...

 

[Jaker]

For 17million we should be out NOW!

 

[Chief00]

No blind faith, just some intel/knowledge on the travel expense discovery process (which is what this discussion started out as when you stated the travel savings weren't real).

You also continue to dismiss the impact of less/closer/cheaper travel by the other 17/18? teams besides MBB, WBB and Football that will play in the Big East Conference. UConn Athletics spent $7.3m on team travel in 2018. Football spent $1.2m of that number.

>>Still, any difference in travel expense for UConn figures to be relatively slight. In the 2018 fiscal year, UMass (playing a schedule similar to what the Huskies might build) spent $1,193,649 on football travel, according to the school’s NCAA financial statement, almost identical to the $1,151,379 that UConn spent as a member of the AAC. That comparison suggests travel expenses won’t rise much when the Huskies become independent and certainly shouldn’t offset the savings UConn expects from its other sports programs. <<

Are the projections likely to have some deviation as actual expenses come in... sure. Show me a multi-year analysis that doesnt have some assumptions built into it that may fluctuate. That's not "inherently sloppy" - that's life.

But what does a dumb old ambulance driver know...

Good post - thanks for your research - fair enough. The non Major sports lost $22 million of the $40 million, so there might be something there. Of course a significant portion of this is the Title IX required scholarship tail from football but travel and coaches salaries are factors on the margins. It’s unclear to me how the AD non coaching salaries/benefits get allocated?

 

[CL82]

???

I can't understand this argument at all.m

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."

It isn't a real cost in that that's not what the school pays to house feed and educate student athletes.

No one actually pays the full cost of out of state tuition. Inevitably it is discounted.

 

[EROCK CONN]

UConn has agreed to schedule four home-and-home basketball series with AAC teams, men’s or women’s.

UConn to pay $17 million in AAC exit fee, depart conference next year

UConn will pay the American Athletic Conference a $17 million exit fee in order to leave the conference next summer. The AAC on Friday announced that terms and fees associated with the university&#…

www.courant.com

Vomit !

 

[Robertelamin]

Vomit !

As long as it isn’t against the bottom feeders it’s fine.

 

[RoderickSpode]

Can’t wait for the 2021 Big East tournament. Should coincide with Hurley really getting the program humming again.