AAC Media Contract details

[Pudge]

This just really isn't accurate, Cincinnati is a commuter school and all UConn has in common with these schools is size. UConn is a lot better academically than most of them and culturally they are nothing alike. While most of the Big East schools are significantly smaller and Catholic culturally they are more similar and overall the league is better academically than the AAC.

this isn't accurate.

You make Cincinnati sound like Central Connecticut. It ain't. It is a full fledged Academic State University with major research and a top hospital/medical college. I don't think - walking the campus nor the neighborhood that it qualifies in any way you think as a "commuter" school.

Then. Both USF & UCF could have (*circa 1999) counted as such. Today, they are explosive growing State Universities in thriving metropolitan areas. NONE of the new Catholic BE schools are quite that - Butler, Xavier, Creighton or most of the others.

We allowed Houston & SMU to pull in some decades old rivals in Tulsa & Tulane. Memphis is a hop away; then Wichita State. We - UCONN - have Temple & Navy within driving (basically). We would be far better in the long run with a tighter budget expectations and ... Buffalo & UMASS in the same conference. Maybe Old Dominion if that grows. I object to these slides towards that Texas-centric base.

I don't think we have alignment with the BE formers.

Then. Where is the appreciation that UCONN genuinely propped up this AAC with the earned credits from the NCAA, the earned $ from the Brand buyback, the earned TV/FBS revenue from a decade ago. We - the UCONN administration & community - should be leveraging for us.

 

[FartMan69]

Not so much. Do you know the current Big East teams?
View attachment 41530
Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Indian and Ohio aren't exactly the bus trips are they? Note that all the Big East are privates and all but one are Catholic institutions. We are not a good fit for this conference at all.

Their game are broadcast on FS1 and FS2 so the exposure is bad and they make less money than we do.

But other than that, it's a great decision mothball our stadium and Shenkman and Burton and guarantee that we won't be a P5 institution.

Geesh I am so tired of the uninformed droning on about this.

 

[McLovin]

1/2 the comments on here are that the Big East is dying and we shouldn't be associated with it. The other half says the same about the AAC. So assuming people are right, looks like we are toasted either way.

College athletics outside of the P5 is growing more and more irrelevant on the national stage, except for a very small amount of programs. Our goal should be to be one of those programs, assuming we don't get a P5 bid. Conference affiliation will have 0 impact on that (look at Gonzaga). For the longevity of UConn sports, it will be all dependent on what we do between the lines and not what non-P5 conference logo is on our jersey.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

this isn't accurate.

You make Cincinnati sound like Central Connecticut. It ain't. It is a full fledged Academic State University with major research and a top hospital/medical college. I don't think - walking the campus nor the neighborhood that it qualifies in any way you think as a "commuter" school.

Then. Both USF & UCF could have (*circa 1999) counted as such. Today, they are explosive growing State Universities in thriving metropolitan areas. NONE of the new Catholic BE schools are quite that - Butler, Xavier, Creighton or most of the others.

We allowed Houston & SMU to pull in some decades old rivals in Tulsa & Tulane. Memphis is a hop away; then Wichita State. We - UCONN - have Temple & Navy within driving (basically). We would be far better in the long run with a tighter budget expectations and ... Buffalo & UMASS in the same conference. Maybe Old Dominion if that grows. I object to these slides towards that Texas-centric base.

I don't think we have alignment with the BE formers.

Then. Where is the appreciation that UCONN genuinely propped up this AAC with the earned credits from the NCAA, the earned $ from the Brand buyback, the earned TV/FBS revenue from a decade ago. We - the UCONN administration & community - should be leveraging for us.

Did you seriously just suggest adding Buffalo and Umass?

 

[superjohn]

this isn't accurate.

You make Cincinnati sound like Central Connecticut. It ain't. It is a full fledged Academic State University with major research and a top hospital/medical college. I don't think - walking the campus nor the neighborhood that it qualifies in any way you think as a "commuter" school.

Then. Both USF & UCF could have (*circa 1999) counted as such. Today, they are explosive growing State Universities in thriving metropolitan areas. NONE of the new Catholic BE schools are quite that - Butler, Xavier, Creighton or most of the others.

We allowed Houston & SMU to pull in some decades old rivals in Tulsa & Tulane. Memphis is a hop away; then Wichita State. We - UCONN - have Temple & Navy within driving (basically). We would be far better in the long run with a tighter budget expectations and ... Buffalo & UMASS in the same conference. Maybe Old Dominion if that grows. I object to these slides towards that Texas-centric base.

I don't think we have alignment with the BE formers.

Then. Where is the appreciation that UCONN genuinely propped up this AAC with the earned credits from the NCAA, the earned $ from the Brand buyback, the earned TV/FBS revenue from a decade ago. We - the UCONN administration & community - should be leveraging for us.

I didn't say anything about UCF and USF because I know very little about them and because I was replying to someone's post who said Cincinnati isn't a commuter school. I know Cincinnati and it's a commuter school. Just looked up Cincinnati 23% of undergrads live in student housing, Central Connecticut State University 24% of undergrads live in student housing.

I do think everyone knows enough to know UCF and Butler are nothing alike so no clue why you brought that up. One is the largest school in America and the other is a small urban school.

I'm not even going to touch you advocating for UConn being in the same conference as Buffalo, UMass, and Old Dominion. I try not to argue with crazy.

 

[TRest]

The big concern with the BE is that the schools are about to endure a demographic time bomb. Most middle of the road private schools will be clinging for dear life very soon. If schools like Oberlin and Hampshire are hurting, you're going to see this happen all over the USA. You'll have hundreds of Benningtons popping up everywhere. Many will go under, like Hampshire is about to do.

.

Why would your future scenario birth more tiny, "privileged" colleges like Bennington? I would think that model will also be floundering in the future.

 

[Slasher]

I didn't say anything about UCF and USF because I know very little about them and because I was replying to someone's post who said Cincinnati isn't a commuter school. I know Cincinnati and it's a commuter school. Just looked up Cincinnati 23% of undergrads live in student housing, Central Connecticut State University 24% of undergrads live in student housing.

I do think everyone knows enough to know UCF and Butler are nothing alike so no clue why you brought that up. One is the largest school in America and the other is a small urban school.

I'm not even going to touch you advocating for UConn being in the same conference as Buffalo, UMass, and Old Dominion. I try not to argue with crazy.

Living in student housing is only a small part of what makes a university of commuter school. What percentage of a school lives within 5 miles? That's much more important. These universities in big cities have a huge housing boom just off campus, that doesn't make them "commuter." In true college towns, that's much more minimal because you pretty much have to live in student housing.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I didn't say anything about UCF and USF because I know very little about them and because I was replying to someone's post who said Cincinnati isn't a commuter school. I know Cincinnati and it's a commuter school. Just looked up Cincinnati 23% of undergrads live in student housing, Central Connecticut State University 24% of undergrads live in student housing.

I do think everyone knows enough to know UCF and Butler are nothing alike so no clue why you brought that up. One is the largest school in America and the other is a small urban school.

I'm not even going to touch you advocating for UConn being in the same conference as Buffalo, UMass, and Old Dominion. I try not to argue with crazy.

Is that really a fair measure? Just because you’re not in student housing doesn’t mean you’re living with mom and dad.

 

[Towney007]

"Lower exposure on FS1"

Guys, your team's games are behind a paywall now.

 

[Towney007]

For the record, I don't care about school rankings or who is classified as a commuter school or any of it.

Given the makeup of this conference, I'm pretty sure no one making decisions at UConn cares about it at this specific moment either given the circumstances. And please stop with silliness of things like trying to make out the AAC travel schedule as somehow better and 'exposure' issues on a TV network when your team's content is going to be behind a paywall on the internet on a completely unproven platform.

 

[superjohn]

Is that really a fair measure? Just because you’re not in student housing doesn’t mean you’re living with mom and dad.

I don't really know the best way to measure it. I've been to UC and I classify it as a commuter school. I've been to Louisville which I also classify as a commuter school, I consider the schools to be really similar.

 

[McLovin]

"Lower exposure on FS1"

Guys, your team's games are behind a paywall now.

Yeah ECU vs Tulane is now behind a paywall. But guess what, when it was on ESPN NEWS no one was tuning in to watch either way. UConn vs Memphis will not be behind the paywall.

All of the sports networks that air most college sports (beyond ESPN / 2) require some additional level of sports package beyond basic cable. So technically there is a "paywall" for most college sports. It wouldn't surprise me if in a few years ESPN+ is just bundled in with existing cable packages, much like Comcast gives you the option of doing that with Neflix. You still pay additional for the content, but it integrate seamlessly into your TV. ESPN will figure out a way to make everyone pay for their flagship / traditional cable packages and ESPN+ on top of it. You can take it to the bank that is their goal.

 

[Towney007]

Yeah ECU vs Tulane is now behind a paywall. But guess what, when it was on ESPN NEWS no one was tuning in to watch either way. UConn vs Memphis will not be behind the paywall.

Keep telling yourself this as much as you can. I appreciate your optimism.

 

[SubInATub]

"Lower exposure on FS1"

Guys, your team's games are behind a paywall now.

Everyone is crying NY market with SNY etc. The NY market watches the Big East. MSG hecking extended the Big East tourney there until 2028!

 

[McLovin]

Keep telling yourself this as much as you can. I appreciate your optimism.

Point is that eventually ESPN will make sure everyone that subscribes to their flagship content is also subscribing to the "streaming" content. Either it will happen organically or ESPN will require "+" to be part of the cable package. They did it with the SEC network / are going to do it with the ACC network. People who subscribe to sports packages via cable are going to pay for and get those networks whether they want it or not. It would obviously be in their best interest to force "+" on everyone too.

 

[Towney007]

Point is that eventually ESPN will make sure everyone that subscribes to their flagship content is also subscribing to the "streaming" content. Either it will happen organically or ESPN will require "+" to be part of the cable package. They did it with the SEC network / are going to do it with the ACC network. People who subscribe to sports packages via cable are going to pay for and get those networks whether they want it or not. It would obviously be in their best interest to force "+" on everyone too.

That's the *hope*

Hulu and Netflix are not counted in TV packages. So. I wouldn't count my chickens. ACC and SEC networks are actual channels.

 

[John]

if there's one thing we should all have learned from conference realignment, it's that geography does NOT matter.

 

[Guapo]

if there's one thing we should all have learned from conference realignment, it's that geography does NOT matter.

Eh, if you really think about it, the only the things that don’t make sense are:

A) West Virginia in the Big 12

And

B) the entire AAC

 

[Husky25]

Except for Villanova, the perennially good basketball schools from the pre-2014 Big East are in the ACC or AAC. All other schools, including Georgetown are cyclical.

 

[Pudge]

I think College Football should be regionally relevant.

Two. We are not dumping UConn’s Football Program. God love you & all your claims of brilliance. And your mythology on “sunk costs”. We have a slim case for P5 status. Diminishing over years lately.

Therefore, our paradigm is best with the Florida schools + Temple + Navy + at least one more driveable conference foe.

Please stop with the Big East crap.

 

[Pudge]

This notion that Cincinnati is a commuter school is stupid. Shows your ignorance. Hmmm ... instead of counting beds, how about you look up Research dollars.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

77% of students live off campus at Cincinnati
82% live off campus at UCF
82% live off campus at USF
83% live off campus at UH
80% live off campus at ECU
94% live off campus at Temple
86% live off campus at Memphis
89% live off campus at Wichita

35% live off campus at Tulsa
46% live off campus at SMU
52% live off campus at Tulane
34% live off campus at UConn

Of course, not all of those who live off campus commute, but when the numbers for those large public schools are all 77%+ it indicates there is a very large portion of the student body who commutes.

 

[John]

Eh, if you really think about it, the only the things that don’t make sense are:

A) West Virginia in the Big 12

And

B) the entire AAC

C) Domers in ACC

D) Texas schools in SEC

Etc

Geography doesn't matter.

 

[superjohn]

77% of students live off campus at Cincinnati
82% live off campus at UCF
82% live off campus at USF
83% live off campus at UH
80% live off campus at ECU
94% live off campus at Temple
86% live off campus at Memphis
89% live off campus at Wichita

35% live off campus at Tulsa
46% live off campus at SMU
52% live off campus at Tulane
34% live off campus at UConn

Of course, not all of those who live off campus commute, but when the numbers for those large public schools are all 77%+ it indicates there is a very large portion of the student body who commutes.

You'll notice the people who are wrong on this are the people that have been wrong on everything UConn and conference related.

 

[UConnNick]

Eh, if you really think about it, the only the things that don’t make sense are:

A) West Virginia in the Big 12

And

B) the entire AAC

What about Creighton, Marquette, DePaul, Butler and Xavier in a conference called the Big East?