AAC & Grant-of-Rights

[king conn]

Fox gives us a bowl tie-in option to one or more of the Bowls they own. Same thing ESPN does for BYU.

I could be wrong but I don't believe Fox owns any bowls. That's an ESPN thing.

 

[BlueDogs]

Chief would have done it this year. Unless something changes, we are losing a recruiting year anyways. The transition in a year will mean yet another loss year. You need to cut your losses quickly when you screw up.

Chief has good sense.

 

[Guapo]

I could be wrong but I don't believe Fox owns any bowls. That's an ESPN thing.

Fox broadcasts a few, there’s a business insider article from last year saying Fox wants more bowls, though.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This would be something Fox would have to do the heavy lifting for.

Maybe create a new bowl at Fenway?

I don't believe that UConn is seriously considering the Big East. I will repeat what I have said for over a year now. The Big East talk is a bluff. It forces ESPN to consider paying the American more, and alternatively, could force them to do what you're talking about with the Big East, in the ACC.

Fox doesn't have the properties to set UConn up for independence. ESPN does. They also have a league that is geographically contiguous, and which wants to play in NY more. That league has 14 football teams and 15 teams for Olympic sports. Adding UConn for Olympic sports would compliment basketball, especially improving womens, baseball and soccer. They could easily accommodate independent status across their other portfolio, and even ensure bowl access rights. They have a fledgling network that needs content.

ESPN has been getting UConn at 1/5 the price. They won't change that until they have to. Even as bad as we have been, we are on ESPN a lot. UConn basketball moves the needle for them. Hurley being Hurley makes us even better TV. While I think his emotions are genuine, I think he also knows that it helps make UConn BB a bigger TV draw.

 

[CallMeBruce]

If you are playing as an independent, what is the end goal for the team?

There has to be a bowl to play for, no matter how crappy, especially if you have no conference title to play for.

How would you even recruit for that situation? Yes, even if we go 11-1, we stay home while all the 6-6 teams go bowling.

What are you talking about? Independent teams can play in bowl games.

 

[Guapo]

We’ve already taken some major theoretical leaps in this thread.

Maybe the biggest is that UConn football will be bowl eligible anytime in the near to moderate future lol

 

[BlueDogs]

No denying most of the points in your post. One pushback, perhaps we give them the benefit of the doubt about other coaches “outworking” ours - maybe it’s more about having a good plan and being more effective.

@Chief- we already lost a year recruiting track and field type athletes as DBs to populate Crocker’s ridiculous 3-3-5 instead of position football players with football skills. Just a horrifically bad situation.

 

[superjohn]

I read the first three pages of this thread and won't go any further. The reality is that no one is dropping football or moving out of the best G5 conference.

On the other hand, does anyone have any proof the Big East even wants UConn? You all might believe that they are just begging to have us back, but from other articles and past actions, it seems to be the opposite. UConn isn't a peer institution in terms of it's a large State University and not a small Catholic School. The only similarity is geography and history. That's it.....

You all want to believe the Big East wants to welcome us with open arms. I'd say that there's no proof this is real and this argument is for naught.

I am totally against signing a GOR as will the FL schools and Cincy who look to beg the Big 12 to take them.

Football needs to turn around and that's the bottom line. Basketball needs to do the same seeing how we have yet to win this conference that many of you think we're better than.

The Big East absolutely wants UConn.

 

[Towney007]

That UMass rivalry could get turned up. They have a model indy program. Play lots of decent teams.

They are not a model program in anything.

I live right next to the University. Some of my closest friends are guys who work in that department. They hate every minute of their existence as an independent. All of it.

 

[superjohn]

The football program is an absolute disgrace, it it needs to be fixed and not thrown to the curb. Fixing starts with imposing some accountability and quickly dumping coaches that don’t perform (I.e., the Defesive Staff this year and Edsall next year if he doesn’t start producing).

Rest assured Edsall will scapegoat the players and coaches. If there is one thing he's good at it's holding others accountable and never holding himself accountable. Might as well scrap the program if you're going to leave this clown in charge.

 

[Guapo]

Since this is basically game theory at this point, what would happen if UConn convinced the NBE to go to 12 and take UC with them?

If both UConn and UC told the AAC they were leaving football in the AAC, would the AAC still tell them to screw off?

 

[billybud]

Florida AD Stricklin would welcome 2-for-1 series vs UCF

 

[Towney007]

If UConn heads to the Big East, there isn't a viable path forward for football, I don't think.

It's an all or nothing call, for the most part.

 

[Towney007]

Since this is basically game theory at this point, what would happen if UConn convinced the NBE to go to 12 and take UC with them?

If both UConn and UC told the AAC they were leaving football in the AAC, would the AAC still tell them to screw off?

The one possibility that makes everyone happy in an ideal world is this. And i've thought about it.

Honestly, how much leverage does the AAC really have? They've set a precedent that it's not necessary for members to offer both football and basketball in-conference. UCF is ostensibly gone as soon as realignment hits. Outside of Memphis, that's your three marquee brands.

 

[StunningSteve]

Fox gives us a bowl tie-in option to one or more of the Bowls they own. Same thing ESPN does for BYU.

BYU is playing in the Potato Bowl in Boise, and they were lucky to get it due to their name

 

[billybud]

Since this is basically game theory at this point, what would happen if UConn convinced the NBE to go to 12 and take UC with them?

If both UConn and UC told the AAC they were leaving football in the AAC, would the AAC still tell them to screw off?

Probably would....the old BE smorgasbord pick and choose sports was not a long term winner...I would think that the AAC is committed to being an all sports league as much as is possible...

And yeah, I know that ND is an outlier...but they are Notre DAme.

 

[superjohn]

The one possibility that makes everyone happy in an ideal world is this. And i've thought about it.

Honestly, how much leverage does the AAC really have? They've set a precedent that it's not necessary for members to offer both football and basketball in-conference. UCF is ostensibly gone as soon as realignment hits. Outside of Memphis, that's your three marquee brands.

That's the thing, at the first chance the couple of good football programs will get snatched up and UConn will find themselves in an even worse position. We have to be creative and figure something out.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

The Big East absolutely wants UConn.

yes, yes they do. however, UCONN does not want them. and given the superior visuality (hey, if dickie v. can come up with the "principal of verticality' shtick, then I can come up with 'superior visuality') of your avatar, I offer this as a statement of my enjoyment for it......and my last words on this whole thread.

 

[StunningSteve]

No, I don’t think DePaul is going to be good...because they’re DePaul

Getting back to this topic of DePaul.

Looking back, this Rothstein tweet has aged well (regarding NBE). They say if you aint cheatin, you aint tryin.

 

[huskymedic]

What are you talking about? Independent teams can play in bowl games.

Limited opportunities for the 6 Independents in CFB (absent an agreement they wait till all the conference affiliations are filled and then pray - no guarantees.

Independent Bowl Ties, Affiliations:

– Army, New Mexico State, and UMass don’t have direct bowl ties or affiliations.
– BYU was supposed to be tied into the Poinsettia Bowl this year, but that no longer exists. However, it has a deal with ESPN to be assured a bowl slot somewhere if eligible and not in the College Football Playoff.
– Liberty is a provisional team and isn’t eligible to go to a bowl game.
– Notre Dame can take one of the ACC’s bowl spots – if it’s not in the College Football Playoff – but it must be within one overall win over the available ACC team with the best overall record.

 

[Towney007]

That's the thing, at the first chance the couple of good football programs will get snatched up and UConn will find themselves in an even worse position. We have to be creative and figure something out.

Like I said, I'm kind of in the boat that it's not viable - especially considering that the program is losing money in this conference already.

But I mean UCF is basically gone - that's the way i'm acting right now. It's not 'if', it's 'when' and 'when' is super soon. The only real question is what conference they end up in. And that is a massive blow to the football brand.

And you can bet that with no UCF, Cincinnati and Memphis will be out of here like gun shots. Houston, too.

That's why I just can't buy into the future of the conference. Who's coaching who and who's making recruiting inroads and tbh - even the TV deal. It's all totally a moot point. This is a refugee camp. It's not a conference. That TV money won't mean much when we're having expansion talks about whether we should add Southern Miss or Rice in two years. I don't know how we build a brand or something interesting around a conference like that.

Even if we stay - I'm not sure it's going to happen.

So your choice is to either get super creative and try to use whatever leverage we have left and make a move to be out ahead of things for a change - or you accept the reality that spending the money the college has spent/spends on D1 football isn't worth it anymore. To me - both roads kinda lead to the Big East while this conference is falling apart regardless of what *we decide to do with our own programs*. This fan base has GOT to look outside itself for a change.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Like I said, I'm kind of in the boat that it's not viable - especially considering that the program is losing money in this conference already.

But I mean UCF is basically gone - that's the way i'm acting right now. It's not 'if', it's 'when' and 'when' is super soon. The only real question is what conference they end up in. And that is a massive blow to the football brand.

And you can bet that with no UCF, Cincinnati and Memphis will be out of here like gun shots. Houston, too.

That's why I just can't buy into the future of the conference. Who's coaching who and who's making recruiting inroads and tbh - even the TV deal. It's all totally a moot point. This is a refugee camp. It's not a conference. That TV money won't mean much when we're having expansion talks about whether we should add Southern Miss or Rice in two years. I don't know how we build a brand or something interesting around a conference like that.

Even if we stay - I'm not sure it's going to happen.

So your choice is to either get super creative and try to use whatever leverage we have left and make a move to be out ahead of things for a change - or you accept the reality that spending the money the college has spent/spends on D1 football isn't worth it anymore. To me - both roads kinda lead to the Big East while this conference is falling apart regardless of what *we decide to do with our own programs*. This fan base has GOT to look outside itself for a change.

UCF isn't going anywhere. Boise was good a lot longer than this and it didn't get them anywhere near a P5.

 

[huskymedic]

Screech....

>>The commissioner said that even with the report out there, the general particulars with a grant-of-rights agreement aren't what the report made it out to be. Aresco said it'd be a nice incentive for schools to stick with the league and a deterrent for other conferences to poach from the conference, but it doesn't lock schools in as much as the report suggested.

"This whole business of grant-of-rights is very poorly understood, generally," Aresco explained. "It doesn't mean schools can't move, it just means their TV rights go with them. What it means, Dave, is that if someone leaves, their TV rights remain with the conference where they once were. If your TV deal is with X network, it stays. Every game you play in that other conference that's a home game stays with the conference you left. Whatever TV deal that was. That's a strong incentive for schools not to leave. It doesn't mean you're bound, period. That's not the kind of situation that it would be."

While Aresco declined to discuss specifics of talks with the member schools, but unequivocally said there won't be an unequal revenue sharing for "bigger" schools within the conference.<<

Jeff Jacobs @jeffjacobs123 21 minutes ago
Just talked to AAC commissioner Mike Aresco: No plans for unequal distribution of media rights money.

IMO only - that SBJ story/leak/plant had UCF fingerprints all over it.

 

[superjohn]

Like I said, I'm kind of in the boat that it's not viable - especially considering that the program is losing money in this conference already.

But I mean UCF is basically gone - that's the way i'm acting right now. It's not 'if', it's 'when' and 'when' is super soon. The only real question is what conference they end up in. And that is a massive blow to the football brand.

And you can bet that with no UCF, Cincinnati and Memphis will be out of here like gun shots. Houston, too.

That's why I just can't buy into the future of the conference. Who's coaching who and who's making recruiting inroads and tbh - even the TV deal. It's all totally a moot point. This is a refugee camp. It's not a conference. That TV money won't mean much when we're having expansion talks about whether we should add Southern Miss or Rice in two years. I don't know how we build a brand or something interesting around a conference like that.

Even if we stay - I'm not sure it's going to happen.

So your choice is to either get super creative and try to use whatever leverage we have left and make a move to be out ahead of things for a change - or you accept the reality that spending the money the college has spent/spends on D1 football isn't worth it anymore. To me - both roads kinda lead to the Big East while this conference is falling apart regardless of what *we decide to do with our own programs*. This fan base has GOT to look outside itself for a change.

We think alike here, we have to be out front on this for once.

When UCF and Houston leave or UCF, Houston, Cincy, and Memphis all leave what will we all be saying? If there is one thing everyone should have learned by now is be prepared for another kick, the bottom is never really the bottom. Complacency is what got us into this mess, hard to believe some are still advocating for it.

 

[Robertelamin]

Where do people think these schools are going? The Big 12 already passed on everyone in the AAC.