AAC & Grant-of-Rights

[Hoophound]

Yeah this is false.

No, it isn’t. A few UCF or USF football games are not worth what the UConn basketball programs bring to a network. If you think conferences will value UCF more in expansion for their football, fine. The broadcast rights are not worth more. The B12 may want to get a foot down in Florida, so they might go for a Florida directional, but that isn’t the same as having broadcast value. UConn winning football games would make this all a no brainer in our favor.

 

[TRest]

The only thing keeping UConn out of the Big East is the need for a football home. We would be there tomorrow if someone like the MAC offered a spot.

New Big East basketball and Maction football? I hope you are kidding. (Actually, as a lifeline to keep hope alive for the P5, maybe it makes a lick of sense).

 

[EROCK CONN]

good for them.

 

[FartMan69]

Artists rendition of the future of UConn basketball

 

[UC313]

So, its all supposed to blow up in 2025/2026 with the othe gor’s expiring right? I dont see why signing into a short term gor, say until 2025, and securing a hypothetical raise, is a bad idea currently. Weve got some shoring up to do, thats for sure.

 

[Yardigan]

New Big East basketball and Maction football? I hope you are kidding. (Actually, as a lifeline to keep hope alive for the P5, maybe it makes a lick of sense).

Maction! Tuesday Night football! WooHoo!

 

[zls44]

No, it isn’t. A few UCF or USF football games are not worth what the UConn basketball programs bring to a network.

Do you know how much bigger CFB ratings are than CBB ratings?

 

[Fishy]

So, its all supposed to blow up in 2025/2026 with the othe gor’s expiring right? I dont see why signing into a short term gor, say until 2025, and securing a hypothetical raise, is a bad idea currently. Weve got some shoring up to do, thats for sure.

There’s no to trade a raise for a GOR.

No network is offering an investment in the American to deserve a GOR. There’s nothing that needs to be protected - this isn’t the ACC where ESPN has pledged to spend millions building out a new television network.

There is no justification for anyone in this conference to pledge their rights to it.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Unless we got a scheduling agreement with a conference or two and got a deal with fox for going to the big east. That's a pipe dream though.

Yeah, cause they all want to give up a home game to a 1 and 10 team.

 

[zls44]

Yeah, cause they all want to give up a home game to a 1 and 10 team.

Excuse me, 1 and ELEVEN, thank you very much

 

[FartMan69]

Patience guys. 2026 is only 8 short years away. Our perennial .500 football team couldn't land us a P5 the first 3 times but no worries in 8 years they will be BEGGING, I mean BEGGING for our 1 win football squads. Couple that with our 128 ranked recruiting classes a fertile recruiting ground and a sold out stadium? Boy those P5 folks would be plum fools not to make a run at us this time!

 

[Walker11]

Maction! Tuesday Night football! WooHoo!

Not sure the MAC would want to dilute their conference. /s, mostly. Sagarin has us as ranked behind every team from their conference.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Artists rendition of the future of UConn basketball

Good lawd. Who drew that up?

The future still has students buried behind the basket and empty seats behind the UConn bench.

Looks more like a retro photo than a hopeful glimpse towards the future.

 

[polycom]

No, it isn’t. A few UCF or USF football games are not worth what the UConn basketball programs bring to a network. If you think conferences will value UCF more in expansion for their football, fine. The broadcast rights are not worth more. The B12 may want to get a foot down in Florida, so they might go for a Florida directional, but that isn’t the same as having broadcast value. UConn winning football games would make this all a no brainer in our favor.

Football is the only thing that matters for conference realignment that or a massive actively alumni network we have neither currently.

 

[yukonfan4]

these are facts:

1. the biggest aac programs are not signing a GOR

2. as a result, the aac will sign a new deal worth at least 2x more than the current deal, but not 3-4x more

3. from the article that started all this- "[along with UCF], Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and South Florida are the other candidates most likely to be targeted by the power five, according to several well-placed sources."

4. thus the argument is not big east versus current AAC. it's big east versus future AAC, which looks GRIM with only tulane, tulsa, wichita, ecsu, temple, smu and navy. that is a conference of misfit teams.

so who would rather be in the future aac (with football) instead of the new big east (without football)?

 

[polycom]

these are facts:

1. the biggest aac programs are not signing a GOR

2. as a result, the aac will sign a new deal worth at least 2x more than the current deal, but not 3-4x more

3. from the article that started all this- "[along with UCF], Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston and South Florida are the other candidates most likely to be targeted by the power five, according to several well-placed sources."

4. thus the argument is not big east versus current AAC. it's big east versus future AAC, which looks GRIM with only tulane, toledo, wichita, ecsu, temple and smu. that is a conference of misfit teams.

so who would rather be in the future aac (with football) instead of the new big east (without football)?

The people who donate tons of money to school on behalf of football..

 

[BY06518]

hat the PAC-12 gets per school. Otherwise no

It’s make too much sense for UConn and the big east. Football is never going to get us to a power conference

Our football program is the biggest joke ever. It's time to kill the program so we can get back to the Big East.

 

[Hoophound]

Why are people obsessing about one article? If the Big Ten expands with a G5, it’s us. If the ACC expands with a G5, it’s us or Cincy. If the B12 expands, it is probably with UCF/Cincy/Memphis/USF.

What has changed? The only thing seems to be that we aren’t even a B12 long shot. Not the end of the world. Frankly, I’m not sure why the Big 12 would even bother to expand at this point.

 

[BY06518]

Basketball will never get us to a power conference. That’s already been proven when the Big12 wanted nothing to do with us coming off a 4th national championship in 20 years. You better pray like hell football gets better, because that’s the only sport of relevance in CR.

Never will I pray for our joke of a football program to be good. The program is awful it's time for it to go the way of old yeller.

 

[superjohn]

If UConn wants to be a national flagship university on the same level as a Michigan, it needs football. If we want to be like Providence, Villanova or Seton Hall, then yes by all means. The state pisses away money like it’s going out of style, and $6 Million a year is couch change. I wouldn’t get too heady about Hurley’s success as a reason to trash the football program. I never understand the animosity some BB fans have against their own school when it comes football. It’s pretty ok to root and support both.

Trash the football program??? The football program trashes the football program. It's an absolute disgrace what they put on the field and try to pass off as football.

 

[BY06518]

The question for the future is: does UConn want to be associated with major state universities like it should be? Or do they want better basketball and associated with catholic schools with student population rarely exceeding 6,000?

Better basketball always better basketball.

 

[FartMan69]

Why are people obsessing about one article? If the Big Ten expands with a G5, it’s us. If the ACC expands with a G5, it’s us or Cincy. If the B12 expands, it is probably with UCF/Cincy/Memphis/USF.

What has changed? The only thing seems to be that we aren’t even a B12 long shot. Not the end of the world. Frankly, I’m not sure why the Big 12 would even bother to expand at this point.

UConn and Big 10 being used in the same sentence is hilarious, Butch.

 

[UC1995]

I read the entire article so let me clear up what was actually discussed and what one can conclude:

1) UConn is in a bad place in terms of conference realignment...for now (I know I'm stating the obvious but this is reiterated in the piece more by what wasn't said than what was said)

2) TV money is currently split evenly among AAC members. The article discussions the possibility of top tier AAC teams getting a disproportionate amount of money as part of the GOR to keep these teams happy and agree to this. It is not clear who would make the cut. The majority of conferences share revenue evenly.

3) The whole point of a GOR is that ESPN doesn't invest in the conference only then for its most valuable assets to leave.

4) GORs are NOT ironclad

5) current AAC deal is well below market

I agree on all parts. A deal that has some get more than others is a recipe for conference implosion sooner then later. If UConn doesn’t make the cut they are out!

 

[Dooley]

Absolutely. There however was one leak that’s sure to get under everyone’s skin: UConn would not be included in AAC group of schools receiving a larger proportion of media dollars due to our lack of current P5 appeal (those most likely to bolt prior to the GOR expiring). Those extra dollars would be tagged for Cincinnati, Memphis, UCF, Houston, and UCF. That’s a non-negotiable for UConn. That kind of slight is grounds for an exit.

I don't know if I believe that. I think "P5 appeal" depends on what P5 conference is expanding.The Big 12 would certainly look to those schools well before UConn. If the Big 12 expanded, it would be for football and football only. All of the other "stuff" UConn excels at - markets, fanbase, academics, hoops, etc - is of no interest to the Big 12. They would only be expanding to solidify OU or Texas' path to the Football Playoff. Now if the ACC expanded, it would likely consider much different criteria, especially since their last "football" addition has been nothing short of a disaster. I also can't see FSU and Miami being overly welcoming to UCF/USF. The Big 10 would be hunting for AAU-member whales and would laugh UC, Memphis, UCF, USF and Houston out of the room before they even entered the room. So "P5 appeal" would only be in the eye of the beholder and would be VERY easy for UConn to dispute and state their case.

Not too long ago, ESPN slapped us with a Tier A in the old Big East split. The Big 10 considers us "P5 opponent" for whatever reason. No question our football program has been nothing short of a dumpster fire in the last 5+ years. But UConn is still a school with a large fanbase in the center of the densest population pocket in the country. All UConn football has to do is get to a crappy bowl game and it will pull a 2.5 type rating like it did in our crappy St Pete Bowl game against Marshall...the morning after Christmas. That's a very solid number considering the game kicked off at 11am.

But to your point, yeah, if this AAC GOR pays any school more than UConn, that would be relationship severing for sure. A media deal is exactly where we provide the biggest value because our fanbase/alumni is located, for the most part, in the media heavens.

 

[polycom]

I don't know if I believe that. I think "P5 appeal" depends on what P5 conference is expanding.The Big 12 would certainly look to those schools well before UConn. If the Big 12 expanded, it would be for football and football only. All of the other "stuff" UConn excels at - markets, fanbase, academics, hoops, etc - is of no interest to the Big 12. They would only be expanding to solidify OU or Texas' path to the Football Playoff. Now if the ACC expanded, it would likely consider much different criteria, especially since their last "football" addition has been nothing short of a disaster. I also can't see FSU and Miami being overly welcoming to UCF/USF. The Big 10 would be hunting for AAU-member whales and would laugh UC, Memphis, UCF, USF and Houston out of the room before they even entered the room. So "P5 appeal" would only be in the eye of the beholder and would be VERY easy for UConn to dispute and state their case.

Not too long ago, ESPN slapped us with a Tier A in the old Big East split. The Big 10 considers us "P5 opponent" for whatever reason. No question our football program has been nothing short of a dumpster fire in the last 5+ years. But UConn is still a school with a large fanbase in the center of the densest population pocket in the country. All UConn football has to do is get to a crappy bowl game and it will pull a 2.5 type rating like it did in our crappy St Pete Bowl game against Marshall...the morning after Christmas. That's a very solid number considering the game kicked off at 11am.

But to your point, yeah, if this AAC GOR pays any school more than UConn, that would be relationship severing for sure. A media deal is exactly where we provide the biggest value because our fanbase/alumni is located, for the most part, in the media heavens.

Having a large fan base that doesn't spend money isn't very impactful...