AAC contract...

[uconnyankee]

The only level where I can accept this making sense is the contract.
It wasn't in Uconns best interest and hurt the fans.

That's it.

On every other level it's a huge step backwards. It's less money, less competitive, and all around less marketable.

Sure, Villanova and Georgetown on the schedule is nice. But they were already on the schedule. So now Creighton, Butler, and DePaul are better than Memphis, Houston, and Cincy?

Fans weren't coming because UConn Basketball sucked the past 3 seasons. If the women aren't winning NC's interest in them droos too. Welcome to CT
You want fans who root for losers for 80-90 years move to CT or Boston.
In CT, if youre not winning, your not talked about.

Not happy with this move. Long-term we'll see what shakes out but it cements UConn as mid major.

If there isn't immediate success in new league, fans still won't come.

 

[WrenchFan69]

The money will be a wash if not more profitable for us. $7m for AAC with no SNY. Big East is $4m (probably will rise) + SNY money at $2m or greater + whatever we can get for football. If we can't find $1m for football rights why the are we playing anyway?

Fox puts so much more effort into covering the Big East than any of the dregs we see with the AAC.

Not counting Nova or Georgetown as a big deal is crazy, but even accepting that, the Big East is much deeper. Memphis will probably get recruits while Penny is there, Houston could put together some good teams, and I consider Cincy a real rivalry now and they will be dearly missed imo. I'll even give you Wichita for as long as Marshall is there. But PC, Xavier, Seton Hall, St. John's, Butler, Marquette all on average are going to be better than whatever's left and have higher ceilings. It'll help with recruiting and fan engagement. It helps with OOC scheduling. And it allows us to dictate for ourselves for the first time in years.

I don't think it's a death sentence for football either. We don't know what's going to happen yet, but our on field product can't get worse. The brand still holds some value, and I think after the AAC whiffs on Army and BYU, they may be resigned to that fact. If we have to go independent or to the MAC, maybe we start winning again and some fans come back. 98% chance we weren't getting a P5 invite anyhow, but any chance we had wasn't nearly as linked to football as people think. Get football as close to respectable/profitable as possible for 2025 and see what happens.

 

[methodology]

The NBE media deal had a clause that increased the value if an 11th team was added. Let's wait to see what the new deal looks like after everything is finalized.

As said above the money is basically a wash as is while saving probably close to $1 mil on travel expenses

 

[Brochacho]

Football drives the bus. Yet AAC doesn't want us as a football only. The MAC and C-USA aren't considering it. Yet we are supposed to remain as a geographical outlier in a conference with schools we will never be able to recruit with, so that our football team will become attractive to the... Big Ten and ACC? Yeah, right.

The AAC path was no longer sustainable for the university. UConn comes out on top financially with this move. Costs slashed. Fan interest up. AAC contract will be re-negotiated down, NBE contract will be re-negotiated up. T3 rights in the fold again, which back in the OBE days surpassed what the AAC would be paying us for the next decade.

UConn can now focus itself on what its brand truly is - a great public school with world-class athletics that also happens to play football. The past 7 years the university has taken a great hit to try and prop football up, but it didn't work. If P5 expansion ever occurs again this is UConn's best bet. Not UCF's, Houston's Cincy's, etc - they're in a different situation than us completely. This is what UConn had to do for UConn.

Oh, and we don't have to play in ECU on a Tuesday night at 9 pm in front of 37 people anymore.

 

[Waquoit]

Not last year but the year before I checked FS1's ratings weekly for Nov and Dec. The third highest rated Big East game (and there was a big gap between 3 and 4) was the DePaul women's team, when they played UConn. That's what the AAC wanted for free.

 

[tzznandrew]

So now Creighton, Butler, and DePaul are better than Memphis, Houston, and Cincy?

What? That's the top tier of the AAC vs. the mid to low tier of the BE.

It's Villanova, Xavier, Marquette vs. Cincy, Houston, and Memphis. In the last five years that hasn't been close.

The bottom is DePaul, PC, and Butler (last year) vs. ECU, Tulane, and SMU. How can we even pretend these are close?

 

[3rdbass]

Football drives the bus. Yet AAC doesn't want us as a football only. The MAC and C-USA aren't considering it. Yet we are supposed to remain as a geographical outlier in a conference with schools we will never be able to recruit with, so that our football team will become attractive to the... Big Ten and ACC? Yeah, right.

The AAC path was no longer sustainable for the university. UConn comes out on top financially with this move. Costs slashed. Fan interest up. AAC contract will be re-negotiated down, NBE contract will be re-negotiated up. T3 rights in the fold again, which back in the OBE days surpassed what the AAC would be paying us for the next decade.

UConn can now focus itself on what its brand truly is - a great public school with world-class athletics that also happens to play football. The past 7 years the university has taken a great hit to try and prop football up, but it didn't work. If P5 expansion ever occurs again this is UConn's best bet. Not UCF's, Houston's Cincy's, etc - they're in a different situation than us completely. This is what UConn had to do for UConn.

Oh, and we don't have to play in ECU on a Tuesday night at 9 pm in front of 37 people anymore.

Well I will miss that guaranteed win. LOL!

 

[c29328]

I am less concerned about the revenue model of the new conference and football deal than I am with the intangible feeling we no longer have real aspirations to be in the power conferences. That hope dies with this move and we all know how hope matters when you are in Shawshank.

I can't imagine anyone being 100% happy with this unless you have already given up on better things. Sadly, I told my Father over father's day weekend I thought we had missed the boat permanently and weren't in a position to win enough in time for the next shuffle. Apparently UConn's leadership felt the same way. And in that world this may be best fit.

For the record, I have been saying that in think there will be contraction, and not expansion, in big time sports. P5 will become P4 after B12 or PAC break up. The remainders another AAC level group. Then big revenue producers within the P4 will demand more from the conference pie (Alabama vs Vandy for example or Duke vs G tech) then some day a 32 team league or so of "NFL feeders" that will get NFL type dollars to run their own semi pro league of paid college athletes. CT will not be part of any of that ever. So I hold my nose and smile.

 

[Brochacho]

Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown, Xavier, PC, Butler, DePaul, Creighton, Seton Hall and St. John's. That's before a couple of buy games and without big-time OOC opponents. Sign me the hell up for that home slate.

 

[tzznandrew]

This was the University telling the AAC and ESPN to go screw after they essentially dicked us over multiple times. The ESPN+ and SNY thing was the last straw. This helps us, ultimately, because it shows everyone that the school--which had multiple times sacrificed for the greater good of the conference--won't be pushed around.

As long as Sampson and Marshall are there, the AAC will have decent basketball. Cincy will always be good, and Memphis and Temple should be too. That's not a bad lineup, but not one we give a crap about (Cincy somewhat excluded). ECU and Tulane are always going to be bad. SMU is back to being trash, and there's just no way any of those teams generate interest nationally.

We're better off somewhere else if that original place is going to continue using us to generate revenue while giving us little in return.

 

[uconnyankee]

The money will be a wash if not more profitable for us. $7m for AAC with no SNY. Big East is $4m (probably will rise) + SNY money at $2m or greater + whatever we can get for football. If we can't find $1m for football rights why the are we playing anyway?

Fox puts so much more effort into covering the Big East than any of the dregs we see with the AAC.

Not counting Nova or Georgetown as a big deal is crazy, but even accepting that, the Big East is much deeper. Memphis will probably get recruits while Penny is there, Houston could put together some good teams, and I consider Cincy a real rivalry now and they will be dearly missed imo. I'll even give you Wichita for as long as Marshall is there. But PC, Xavier, Seton Hall, St. John's, Butler, Marquette all on average are going to be better than whatever's left and have higher ceilings. It'll help with recruiting and fan engagement. It helps with OOC scheduling. And it allows us to dictate for ourselves for the first time in years.

I don't think it's a death sentence for football either. We don't know what's going to happen yet, but our on field product can't get worse. The brand still holds some value, and I think after the AAC whiffs on Army and BYU, they may be resigned to that fact. If we have to go independent or to the MAC, maybe we start winning again and some fans come back. 98% chance we weren't getting a P5 invite anyhow, but any chance we had wasn't nearly as linked to football as people think. Get football as close to respectable/profitable as possible for 2025 and see what happens.

Let's be honest. If uconn could compete in the AAC this wouldn't be happening. If your view is that the Big East is a better league, this isn't going to go over well. Truth is, it's a step back. Back in time, back in competition, and back in money.

The AAC has better coaches, more money, and better schools. St John's, the darling of the old big east could barely hire a name head coach. Memphis just had one of, if not the best recruiting class. Uconn I think was in the top 20. Hardly a barometer of a dead BB league.

The school has to sell the Big East memories. The school and those involved for the past 10 years or so have failed miserably. Failed to understand college sports, failed to navigate and keep up with the changing challenges, and failed to invest or compete in the sport that mostly mattered regarding the future of Uconn athletics. they've sold us the fans on some plan that wasn't really a plan. It was a 'we'll see' mentality.

 

[tzznandrew]

St John's, the darling of the old big east

When was St. John's the darling of the OBE? The conference had 4 teams make title appearances in the 1980s and 2 win. St. John's was never one.

The entire time in the conference, St. John's went to as many Final Fours as West Virginia.

St. John's hasn't really been relevant since the Satan days. They're the dregs of this new conference. But they play Duke every year. Tell me when ECU is doing that.

For basketball, this is an upgrade.

 

[uconnyankee]

What? That's the top tier of the AAC vs. the mid to low tier of the BE.

It's Villanova, Xavier, Marquette vs. Cincy, Houston, and Memphis. In the last five years that hasn't been close.

The bottom is DePaul, PC, and Butler (last year) vs. ECU, Tulane, and SMU. How can we even pretend these are close?

no... I was clear to mention that Nova and G'Town are nice regular additions. but we've been playing relatively regularly so I think those are already in the baseline. They all suck. In the near future, AAC with Uconn is a 4-5 bid league. Not sure with Uconn the BE is the same. Maybe a 2-3 or 3-4 bid league.

 

[uconnyankee]

When was St. John's the darling of the OBE? The conference had 4 teams make title appearances in the 1980s and 2 win. St. John's was never one.

The entire time in the conference, St. John's went to as many Final Fours as West Virginia.

St. John's hasn't really been relevant since the Satan days. They're the dregs of this new conference. But they play Duke every year. Tell me when ECU is doing that.

For basketball, this is an upgrade.

Google Lou Carnesecca.

 

[tzznandrew]

no... I was clear to mention that Nova and G'Town are nice regular additions. but we've been playing relatively regularly so I think those are already in the baseline. They all suck. In the near future, AAC with Uconn is a 4-5 bid league. Not sure with Uconn the BE is the same. Maybe a 2-3 or 3-4 bid league.

The AAC is a decent basketball conference at the top. It is not even close at the bottom. The AAC with UConn would probably settle into a 3-5 bid league with most of those bids being mid-tier, minimizing deep tournament runs. They got a 3 seed once (EDIT: and a 2-seed one other time)--and that's with a damn good Houston team. That's because the bottom of the conference kills it.

The Big East had two 1 seeds in the same year.

This year, worst in BE since the split, they had 4 teams in. The AAC, best depth and best teams since the split, had 4.

2018: 6 to 3
2017: 7 to 2
2016: 5 to 4
2015: 6 to 2
2014: 4 to 4

In the time the conferences existed, the BE got 32 bids and the AAC got 19. The A10 has about the same amount as the AAC (now, that's for a variety of reasons and one huge year for them, but still).

The BE will be a 4-6 bid league every year with us in it. It's floor is about the AAC's ceiling without us.

 

[tzznandrew]

Google Lou Carnesecca.

I know who he is. It doesn't change the fact that pretty much nobody has ever cared about St. John's. The Big East was UConn-Syracuse-Georgetown-Villanova with scatterings of Pitt and Louisville.

 

[ToolzieFan]

no... I was clear to mention that Nova and G'Town are nice regular additions. but we've been playing relatively regularly so I think those are already in the baseline. They all suck. In the near future, AAC with Uconn is a 4-5 bid league. Not sure with Uconn the BE is the same. Maybe a 2-3 or 3-4 bid league.

Nova and Georgetown were two of our biggest non-conference draws the last few years. Now we get to play them twice every year, plus possibly again in the conference tournament. You can think this isn't a good move, but you can't just discount the importance of playing conference games against teams people care about.

 

[tzznandrew]

Nova and Georgetown were two of our biggest non-conference draws the last few years. Now we get to play them twice every year, plus possibly again in the conference tournament. You can think this isn't a good move, but you can't just discount the importance of playing conference games against teams people care about.

Right. Not just the quality of the opponent in terms of the NET, but also in terms of the fan experience. People don't care about seeing most teams in the AAC. Cincy-Houston-Memphis and when SMU was good. That's about it. And it is cyclical because they were good. When Houston sucked, nobody came. People will come to see Villanova, say, even when Villanova has a down year. Same with Providence.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Let's be honest. If uconn could compete in the AAC this wouldn't be happening. If your view is that the Big East is a better league, this isn't going to go over well. Truth is, it's a step back. Back in time, back in competition, and back in money.

The AAC has better coaches, more money, and better schools. St John's, the darling of the old big east could barely hire a name head coach. Memphis just had one of, if not the best recruiting class. Uconn I think was in the top 20. Hardly a barometer of a dead BB league.

The school has to sell the Big East memories. The school and those involved for the past 10 years or so have failed miserably. Failed to understand college sports, failed to navigate and keep up with the changing challenges, and failed to invest or compete in the sport that mostly mattered regarding the future of Uconn athletics. they've sold us the fans on some plan that wasn't really a plan. It was a 'we'll see' mentality.

As we've seen from some exceptionally simple math, it's not a step back in money. The Big East is far and away the better basketball league. St. John's can be the worst team in the Big East for the next 10 years and the Big East will still be significantly better. As such, it's also not a step back in competition. Memphis will have some nice classes so long as Penny is there. The AAC has made some nice coaching hires overall, sure. Tulane is a really good academic school. None of this changes the fact we made the best choice for the very unique position we are in. Just accept it and appreciate it.

 

[methodology]

no... I was clear to mention that Nova and G'Town are nice regular additions. but we've been playing relatively regularly so I think those are already in the baseline. They all suck. In the near future, AAC with Uconn is a 4-5 bid league. Not sure with Uconn the BE is the same. Maybe a 2-3 or 3-4 bid league.

Nova, Marquette, Seton hall and UConn are 4 bids.

Gtown is looking like it's on the upswing with Ewing. Providence, butler and creighton are also capable of challenging for invites depending on the year

I would guess it's a 4-6 bid league year in/ year out

 

[tzznandrew]

Nova, Marquette, Seton hall and UConn are 4 bids.

Grown is looking like it's on the upswing with Ewing. Providence, butler and creighton are also capable of challenging for invites depending on the year

I would guess it's a 4-6 bid league year in/ year out

The NBE has never gotten fewer than 4 bids, even in its bad years. It's gotten up to 7/10 of it's teams in in others.

The AAC has never gotten more than 4 bids, and has gotten as low as 2/11.

The NBE (without UConn) averages 5.3 bids per year.
The AAC (with UConn) averages 3.1 bids per year.

 

[John]

When was St. John's the darling of the OBE? The conference had 4 teams make title appearances in the 1980s and 2 win. St. John's was never one.

The entire time in the conference, St. John's went to as many Final Fours as West Virginia.

St. John's hasn't really been relevant since the Satan days. They're the dregs of this new conference. But they play Duke every year. Tell me when ECU is doing that.

For basketball, this is an upgrade.

For basketball, upgrade
For the athletic department, downgrade

 

[tzznandrew]

For basketball, upgrade
For the athletic department, downgrade

I mean, maybe. Football wasn't drawing regardless, so maybe if we move somewhere else and start winning that can change. We about as low as you can go in football, so nowhere to go but up or away, I guess.

Baseball is a clear step down.

Other than that...I mean, whatever.

 

[Fishy]

As we've seen from some exceptionally simple math, it's not a step back in money. The Big East is far and away the better basketball league. St. John's can be the worst team in the Big East for the next 10 years and the Big East will still be significantly better. As such, it's also not a step back in competition. Memphis will have some nice classes so long as Penny is there. The AAC has made some nice coaching hires overall, sure. Tulane is a really good academic school. None of this changes the fact we made the best choice for the very unique position we are in. Just accept it and appreciate it.

It's less money. Your math is too simple.

First off, it's $10,000,000 out the door.

The school is operating under the delusion that donors will make up the revenue shortfall.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Sure, Villanova and Georgetown on the schedule is nice. But they were already on the schedule. So now Creighton, Butler, and DePaul are better than Memphis, Houston, and Cincy?

Did you really just pick the 3 best AAC teams and 3 worst Big East teams and try to argue that people think the AAC ones are better than the Big East ones?
Stop.