That TV rating was all about UConn. The AAC and ESPN lucked out with the UConn victory over Tulsa. They got the AAC POY vs Preseason POY. They got a full house at the XL and a story line of whether UConn could win therir way into the tournament. Had Tulsa won there would have been crickets in the arena watching a game between Who Dat and Who Cares. The ability of UConn to move the needle for both its Men's and Women's BB programs does not go unoticed in a certain Midwestern conference office.
Absolutely. ALL about UCONN. My guess, is that had Tulsa and SMU been playing, the TV draw would still have been better comparably to others, simply because of the time slot, national exposure on ESPN with selection committee coming up. Would have been interesting to see what it would have done in Hartford/New Haven too, simply by UCONN fans that had time to watch, and like a bad car wreck, simply wouldn't be able to look away because we are driving the same road as those teams for now.
I wonder if you know your last statement to be fact, or is it just opinion? I would hope that our university leadership has a certain commissioner and league offices on speed dial with pertinent information regularly.
Why? It's just blindingly obvious that if the Big 10 network would like significant market share in the Northeast corridor, in the NYC demographic for anything beyond a few Saturdays every fall, the UCONN men's and women's basketball programs will make their network relevant for many, many nights and weekends through the winter and into the spring. I don't like the 6:00 and 9:30 time slots on ESPN. Playing 7:30 games on the Big 10 network regularly?
It's just mind numbing, that it hasn't happened. The university, as both an academic and athletic institution is a fit for the Big10. Football is the primary financial driving force in intercollegiate athletics, and we've shown that we can sell tickets, and we are more than willing to expand the football stadium to accommodate quality Big10 opponents. Our stadium would not be the smallest in that league. We have an up and coming hockey program, that plays in a historically hockey town.
Oh well. Out of my control. Just hope the people that can control such things, are engaged and working toward it.