ACC Network? Ah, no.

[upstater]

Again I said I picked HIS LAST MESSAGE to respond to because I didn't want to go back 2 pages and respond to the first one again. Secondly, where does the ACC source the conference won't negotiate with FOX Sports to purchase back the sub-licensed rights?

Pac12 media consultant. Not ACC.

and boy, the poster who mentioned Cuse fans is right. You guys are deluded.

 

[alsacs]

Pac12 media consultant. Not ACC.

and boy, the poster who mentioned Cuse fans is right. You guys are deluded.

First, off thank you correcting yourself. Second, I am not going to defend Cuse fans or any fans of other teams. Every team fanbase is delusional towards its own program. We all love our team more than others, but I am fair for the most part and tell it the way I see it. I don't expect UConn fans on this site NOT to be deluded towards UConn because you are all fans and alums of UConn. I am done agruing with you as I didn't even bring you into this, but go back to your take any ESPN taxbreaks rants. I am done arguing and unless your willingly to have a legitimate conservation I don't care to bark back and forth.

 

[UPitt]

You're jumping to conclusions. UConn wouldn't ask for special allowances. It would be fine with $25 million up front. What I am saying is that women's bball is one of the big reasons why SNY charges $2.50 in the state per household. And yes, that's $30 million a year not including advertising revenue. I'm assuming that ESPN would take the same number of games.

If Uconn woman's BB was worth $2.50 or $30 mil/year it would have twice the clout of ND in realignment. SNY carriers a lot more than Uconn. I think a poll of 8 million people in NYC would show that the Mets and Jets are the reason SNY can charge $2.50. With all due respect, I would find it hard to believe that women's BB influences the price of SNY more than live Mets games, Mets analysis and talk shows, Jets analysis and talk shows, Uconn football, Uconn men's BB, and other Big East football and BB including Rutgers. We all understand the Uconn women are very good and popular in CT, but they are not worth anywhere close to $30 million dollars a year. No women's BB program is going to influence realignment, including Uconn.

 

[upstater]

If Uconn woman's BB was worth $2.50 or $30 mil/year it would have twice the clout of ND in realignment. SNY carriers a lot more than Uconn. I think a poll of 8 million people in NYC would show that the Mets and Jets are the reason SNY can charge $2.50. With all due respect, I would find it hard to believe that women's BB influences the price of SNY more than live Mets games, Mets analysis and talk shows, Jets analysis and talk shows, Uconn football, Uconn men's BB, and other Big East football and BB including Rutgers. We all understand the Uconn women are very good and popular in CT, but they are not worth anywhere close to $30 million dollars a year. No women's BB program is going to influence realignment, including Uconn.

1. I never said the women on their own are worth $30m a year.
2. We are talking Conn. Not NYC. SNY charges that much in Conn. I multiplied monthly subscription x cable households in the state.
3. Women's bball received higher ratings than ALL television shows including network a couple times this year.
4. Women's bball knocked a Syracuse bball game off the air across all of SNY this year.
5. $30m is the revenue. You're forgetting production costs. Remember, Fox's take per team on BTN dwarfs the per team payout. They have to pay production. The BTN payout is a fraction of what Fox takes in for running the channel.
6. Yes, I do expect that UConn women's bball is more popular in Ct. than the Mets.

Check this out: http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130111&content_id=40929348&vkey=2

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

6. Yes, I do expect that UConn women's bball is more popular in Ct. than the Mets.

That's not saying much.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I watch a lot of SEC football. You and I both know that UConn football only looked like SEC for a few games when Zach Frazer caught fire. Otherwise, not even close.

I had a really long, detailed response to this written out, because people that might read this, and don't know too much about UCONN football, are going to be dumber, for having read it, but then I looked at the name "hoophound", right before clicking "post reply" and I thought to myself....."oh yeah....that old problem."

Hoops fan.

Then I deleted the response, and will simply write this: The words "Zach Frazer"and "caught fire", are absolutley meaningless, unless you know something about an episode where he actually lit himself on fire away from the field at some point. (and I do think Zach Frazer was a great QB, for the teams he palyed on against the competition we played)

....and that we have destroyed SEC opponents two of the last 3 times we matched up, AND we are a coaching and walk on QB combination blunder in a high pressure situation call, in his first road start, late in a game....from being 3-0 vs. SEC programs. And I will go ahead and say that I gaurantee I know a lot more about college football, than you do, and that winning, is a lot more important, than the aesthetics of how you go about winning, when it comes to building and engaging the interest of a fan base.


Now - back to the Big 10 discussion........

 

[FAIRTIDES]

OK. If adding Rutgers to the Big 10 meant the BTN would get NJ, NYC, and Fairfield County to subscribe to the BTN at $0.90 per sub, this was the greatest move that Delaney ever could have made. Of course, it doesn't work that way as people have questioned if adding Rutgers would bring NYC. As I wrote above, the FCC requires that cable companies and cable nets negotiate prices and tiers. The cable companies are not required to put channels on a certain tier. And, politicians can influence this.

Not-for-nuttin, but my gut and forty-plus years living in Greenwich or Stamford tell me that the availability of Michigan, Wisconsin and even Northwestern would have greater impact on FF County that Rutgers.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Good fan bases don't abandon their team after two tough seasons. UConn can barely get 30k homes in Hartford to watch a game against a Top 20 opponent. Yet, people want to throw around the term no-brainer when it comes to conference realignment.

whaler, "fanatics" don't abandon their teams and it's the fanatics that continue to show-up at the Rent regardless of the opponent, weather or day/night of the week. Sports teams are not competing for their fanatics. By necessity, they target the more casual fan; a fan that tends to be more discerning and demanding. To those people, only a good, exciting,well-promoted product will produce interest and affection.

Carl is 100% correct on the importance of winning. Hoophound is correct about the need for an exciting brand of play. And Upstater is right in noting that the SEC plays "defense-based" FB, for the most part. What many seem to miss is that the SEC product includes marketing/promotion that constantly reinforces it's greatness to the world beyond Dog Patch. It's always 1) Product, 2) Excitement, 3) Promotion = Winning Casual Fans.

 

[whaler11]

whaler, "fanatics" don't abandon their teams and it's the fanatics that continue to show-up at the Rent regardless of the opponent, weather or day/night of the week. Sports teams are not competing for their fanatics. By necessity, they target the more casual fan; a fan that tends to be more discerning and demanding. To those people, only a good, exciting,well-promoted product will produce interest and affection.

Carl is 100% correct on the importance of winning. Hoophound is correct about the need for an exciting brand of play. And Upstater is right in noting that the SEC plays "defense-based" FB, for the most part. What many seem to miss is that the SEC product includes marketing/promotion that constantly reinforces it's greatness to the world beyond Dog Patch. It's always 1) Product, 2) Excitement, 3) Promotion = Winning Casual Fans.

Then we don't have enough fanatics. Define the terms any way you like. When a flagship State U that has been playing in a BCS conference has 30k homes watch a road game against a top 25 team that they win in triple OT you don't get to complain that realignment left you behind.

Either enough people get on board through thick and thin or we drift into irrelevance. It's a chicken and egg situation in a sense, but the people of Connecticut have the ability to chose to support the program to the point where it can't be ignored.

Too many people want to play the victim and blame Boston College or ESPN or Notre Dame or Swofford. That route is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Either enough people care deeply about UConn being at the highest level or it is the AAC. The choice is actually ours - no matter how many people don't believe that.

 

[Nostical]

marketing/promotion that constantly reinforces it's greatness to the world beyond Dog Patch. It's always 1) Product, 2) Excitement, 3) Promotion = Winning Casual Fans.

Folks in places like Columbus are immersed in significant amounts of promotion. There is simply a dearth of promotion about UConn football. In places where football matters, where I often go on business, all the TV stations (not just the station carrying the game) are filled with promos. News reports are filled with stories about the big game and weather leads with the game forecast.
Our historical lack of media support presents a challenge to building the necessary demand for our football product. If we can't rely on our local media oulets for promotion, our UConn AD staff needs to start banging those drums, loudly. A great example is NECN, New England Cable News. Their sports reports hardly ever mention UConn. Aren't we in New England? When our five players were drafted I watched their sports report to hear about the feat. But there was nothing mentioned about it on NECN. So I sent this tweet:

4/29/13, 9:14 AM
@kevinwalshtvSaw your NECN segment on NFL draft. Why no mention of 5 UConn players drafted? How often does that happen? Isn't NECN a New England network?

His response? Good point, but we had a feature on Blidi.

@kevinwalshtv Thanks Kevin but even a simple "kudos to UConn with 5 players drafted!" would have worked. We got nat'l att'n yet zero from our "home" TV.

Why do I complain? Because a simple mention of our draft success on their broadcast (which gets repeated throughout the day) gets both clueless viewers and casual fans all over New England thinking "Wow, that's impressive--UConn football is a lot better than I thought". It puts us in their consciousness--whether they were paying close attention to the broadcast or not.
Frankly, we need to hold outlets like NECN to a higher standard of reportage. They had time to mention Geno Smith but not enough for a shout out to one of their constituent schools after a tremendous achievement? If we can't control what these media oulets say, (which is the constant response I get from Storrs) then our UConn athletic brass should at least let them hear about it when they miss the mark. And folks like me shouldn't have to do it. There should be interns monitoring this stuff.

 

[UConn990411]

NECN doesn't really talk about college athletics at all - their sportscasts tend to be on the very short side, so they're not going to dedicate 30 seconds of a 5 minute segment to the amount of UConn players drafted.

UConn (including the women's team) is fairly well-covered on NESN, getting at least as much airtime as BC. The simple reality is that Boston is predominantly a pro town - I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[orangehomer]

1. I never said the women on their own are worth $30m a year.
2. We are talking Conn. Not NYC. SNY charges that much in Conn. I multiplied monthly subscription x cable households in the state.
3. Women's bball received higher ratings than ALL television shows including network a couple times this year.
4. Women's bball knocked a Syracuse bball game off the air across all of SNY this year.
5. $30m is the revenue. You're forgetting production costs. Remember, Fox's take per team on BTN dwarfs the per team payout. They have to pay production. The BTN payout is a fraction of what Fox takes in for running the channel.
6. Yes, I do expect that UConn women's bball is more popular in Ct. than the Mets.

Check this out: http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130111&content_id=40929348&vkey=2

everytime that you think you have convinced yourself that womens basketball matters in some way, you should remind yourself that WOMENS BASKETBALL DOESNT MATTER

 

[noeynox]

Folks in places like Columbus are immersed in significant amounts of promotion. There is simply a dearth of promotion about UConn football. In places where football matters, where I often go on business, all the TV stations (not just the station carrying the game) are filled with promos. News reports are filled with stories about the big game and weather leads with the game forecast.
Our historical lack of media support presents a challenge to building the necessary demand for our football product. If we can't rely on our local media oulets for promotion, our UConn AD staff needs to start banging those drums, loudly. A great example is NECN, New England Cable News. Their sports reports hardly ever mention UConn. Aren't we in New England? When our five players were drafted I watched their sports report to hear about the feat. But there was nothing mentioned about it on NECN. So I sent this tweet:

4/29/13, 9:14 AM
@kevinwalshtvSaw your NECN segment on NFL draft. Why no mention of 5 UConn players drafted? How often does that happen? Isn't NECN a New England network?

His response? Good point, but we had a feature on Blidi.

@kevinwalshtv Thanks Kevin but even a simple "kudos to UConn with 5 players drafted!" would have worked. We got nat'l att'n yet zero from our "home" TV.

Why do I complain? Because a simple mention of our draft success on their broadcast (which gets repeated throughout the day) gets both clueless viewers and casual fans all over New England thinking "Wow, that's impressive--UConn football is a lot better than I thought". It puts us in their consciousness--whether they were paying close attention to the broadcast or not.
Frankly, we need to hold outlets like NECN to a higher standard of reportage. They had time to mention Geno Smith but not enough for a shout out to one of their constituent schools after a tremendous achievement? If we can't control what these media oulets say, (which is the constant response I get from Storrs) then our UConn athletic brass should at least let them hear about it when they miss the mark. And folks like me shouldn't have to do it. There should be interns monitoring this stuff.

Years ago, I was basically laughed off the board when I suggested UConn should have a billboard on the interstate as you entered the state from NY in Stamford, and when you entered from Mass via 91/84, trumpeting that BCS football was "up ahead". I feel the reason UConn football was under promoted was cause the school itself didn't promote the teams accordingly. Looking back, it was Hathaway just sort of maintaining the status quo and not pushing to get to another level. It didn't help that Edsall had a bunker mentality about everything regarding program, when it was a neophyte program that should have been promoted at any and all costs. I will always feel that our early years in the Big East were a wasted opportunity to pimp the shiz out of the teams that were coming to play our team and the fact that we "were BCS football". Wasted opportunity.

 

[whaler11]

Promotion sure. Billboards are so worthless it's painful. May as well commission a daguerrotype of Pasqualoni (oh wait those already exist).

 

[noeynox]

Promotion sure. Billboards are so worthless it's painful. May as well commission a daguerrotype of Pasqualoni (oh wait those already exist).

I've heard others say this and you guys may be right (Frankly I don't know enough about marketing), but the fact is the school did very little to try and leverage the superior hand they were dealt by upgrading from FCS to BCS. I was a casual fan of UConn football, that followed the boxscores and articles in the paper. I went to a handful of games at memorial stadium. I was a slam dunk fan when they upgraded. The guys in my group I got them to get tickets and they got hooked. There are tons of people waiting to get hooked, some way some how, the school has to bring has to tap into those people.

 

[whaler11]

I've heard others say this and you guys may be right (Frankly I don't know enough about marketing), but the fact is the school did very little to try and leverage the superior hand they were dealt by upgrading from FCS to BCS. I was a casual fan of UConn football, that followed the boxscores and articles in the paper. I went to a handful of games at memorial stadium. I was a slam dunk fan when they upgraded. The guys in my group I got them to get tickets and they got hooked. There are tons of people waiting to get hooked, some way some how, the school has to bring has to tap into those people.

Totally agree they dropped the ball. Billboards are just setting money on fire. We need just north of 1% of the population to have a season ticket to create enough demand to justify stadium expansion. It's not an unreasonable goal.

 

[UPitt]

1. I never said the women on their own are worth $30m a year.
2. We are talking Conn. Not NYC. SNY charges that much in Conn. I multiplied monthly subscription x cable households in the state.
3. Women's bball received higher ratings than ALL television shows including network a couple times this year.
4. Women's bball knocked a Syracuse bball game off the air across all of SNY this year.
5. $30m is the revenue. You're forgetting production costs. Remember, Fox's take per team on BTN dwarfs the per team payout. They have to pay production. The BTN payout is a fraction of what Fox takes in for running the channel.
6. Yes, I do expect that UConn women's bball is more popular in Ct. than the Mets.

Check this out: http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130111&content_id=40929348&vkey=2

Women's BB will have zero impact on conference expansion. Only in CT is women's BB more popular than football, men's BB, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and the debate team. For everyone else, women's BB is nothing but a title IX requirement that loses money every year. If anything, Uconn has hurt the sports popularity for everyone except Uconn fans. Due to Uconn's success, not enough programs can compete with Uconn and thus drive ratings down everywhere outside of CT.

Congrats on the championships. I truly do respect the program and can only compare its success to the old UCLA teams. In CT the women's BB is a huge success. But with very little competition, women's BB has a very local market.

 

[noeynox]

Women's BB will have zero impact on conference expansion. Only in CT is women's BB more popular than football, men's BB, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and the debate team. For everyone else, women's BB is nothing but a title IX requirement that loses money every year. If anything, Uconn has hurt the sports popularity for everyone except Uconn fans. Due to Uconn's success, not enough programs can compete with Uconn and thus drive ratings down everywhere outside of CT.

Congrats on the championships. I truly do respect the program and can only compare its success to the old UCLA teams. In CT the women's BB is a huge success. But with very little competition, women's BB has a very local market.

Just shut up already. No one really cares what you think. And no, I don't think Women's basketball matters one frigging iota. But please let us wallow in our misery without your two cents please.

 

[upstater]

Women's BB will have zero impact on conference expansion. Only in CT is women's BB more popular than football, men's BB, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and the debate team. For everyone else, women's BB is nothing but a title IX requirement that loses money every year. If anything, Uconn has hurt the sports popularity for everyone except Uconn fans. Due to Uconn's success, not enough programs can compete with Uconn and thus drive ratings down everywhere outside of CT.

Congrats on the championships. I truly do respect the program and can only compare its success to the old UCLA teams. In CT the women's BB is a huge success. But with very little competition, women's BB has a very local market.

And what does this have to do with what I wrote? Nada!

The point is MONEY. I refuted your points. The women make money and are on TV. Does the B1G have something against moeny? Does it not like money? And contrary to what you say, what were Rutgers, Louisville and Notre Dame doing in women's bball before they started competing against UConn?

In the last 6 years, 4 different BE teams made the F4. 11 F4 appearances total. Before Auriemma came along, no one made it. You're wrong as can be on this. But you're from Pitt, what would you know about the Final4?

 

[upstater]

everytime that you think you have convinced yourself that womens basketball matters in some way, you should remind yourself that WOMENS BASKETBALL DOESNT MATTER

Sigh. Who said it mattered? It only matters to the people selling TV rights for big money. To the rest of us it doesn't matter. It's like Rutgers sports. They don't matter at all. They only matter to the TV rights people!

Now go be stupid somewhere else.

 

[Nostical]

NECN doesn't really talk about college athletics at all - their sportscasts tend to be on the very short side, so they're not going to dedicate 30 seconds of a 5 minute segment to the amount of UConn players drafted..

You're right that NECN emphasizes pro sports and not much airtime is dedicated to any sports---but they did discuss the draft. Walsh used his time to talk about the #1 pick and Manti Te'o (I get it) --and Geno Smith going to The Jets--(really?). The time it would have taken for him to say "And kudos to those UConn Huskies who had five players drafted" is 7.5 secs, not 30. He failed to mention it because UConn isn't at the forefront of his thinking. That's what a quality promotion effort by our staff ought to have resulted in, especially since UConn and its fans are part of the audience NECN claims to serve.

In our current position we will only get the coverage we think we deserve when we make the extra effort to get the word out. That's what "promotion" is all about--and it's critical when trying to change perception. Right now the words "UConn Football" bring tepid reactions, smirks of derision or, maybe worse--no reactions at all. NECN informing all of New England about our draft success would have helped foster a better perception among lots of previously unknowing/uncaring fans. What you want is for football fans to hear the info and register this reaction -- "Wow, I didn't realize that--UConn's a lot better than I thought!" But you also want non-fans to hear and internalize those kudos as they repeat on a loop throughout the day. Then, whenever the subject of UConn comes up, they'd be far more apt to say "Oh yeah, they have a really good football team" Sure, attendance matters, wins matter, but this stuff is also important in trying to improve, bit by bit, the image of a football program looking for greater respect. By ignoring us, NECN blew it-- and they (and UConn's promotions department) deserved being called out.

 

[kyleslamb]

The FCC allows cable operators to negotiate directly with cable nets, but the cable operator has the right to determine what tier the cable net will be offered. Thus, the BTN could require $0.90 per sub, but they may get put into a sports tier for example. I'm sure politicians could support the cable companies pushing back on the BTN.

The Big Ten's contracts expressly lay out that in those situations, they're to be placed on basic or expanded basic tiers. So in this case, they've already eliminated the possibility that a net could simply put them on sports tier.

 

[upstater]

The Big Ten's contracts expressly lay out that in those situations, they're to be placed on basic or expanded basic tiers. So in this case, they've already eliminated the possibility that a net could simply put them on sports tier.

Whatever the BTN's contract states, it's not getting them anywhere in Eastern Pa. (which is PSU's homebase). Comcast refuses to play ball with them there. BTN is on there, but for a pittance.

 

[UConnJim]

The Big Ten's contracts expressly lay out that in those situations, they're to be placed on basic or expanded basic tiers. So in this case, they've already eliminated the possibility that a net could simply put them on sports tier.

That is what the BTN wants, not what is required by law. There is no law saying the BTN must be carried and at what price. BTN says they want a certain price and a certain carriage, but it doesn't mean that is what they will get.

If the choice was be carried in a sports tier in NYC and get, say $40 million per year or not get carried at all, what the BTN do? Of course, they would take the money!

 

[uconnric]

You're right that NECN emphasizes pro sports and not much airtime is dedicated to any sports---but they did discuss the draft. Walsh used his time to talk about the #1 pick and Manti Te'o (I get it) --and Geno Smith going to The Jets--(really?). The time it would have taken for him to say "And kudos to those UConn Huskies who had five players drafted" is 7.5 secs, not 30. He failed to mention it because UConn isn't at the forefront of his thinking. That's what a quality promotion effort by our staff ought to have resulted in, especially since UConn and its fans are part of the audience NECN claims to serve.

In our current position we will only get the coverage we think we deserve when we make the extra effort to get the word out. That's what "promotion" is all about--and it's critical when trying to change perception. Right now the words "UConn Football" bring tepid reactions, smirks of derision or, maybe worse--no reactions at all. NECN informing all of New England about our draft success would have helped foster a better perception among lots of previously unknowing/uncaring fans. What you want is for football fans to hear the info and register this reaction -- "Wow, I didn't realize that--UConn's a lot better than I thought!" But you also want non-fans to hear and internalize those kudos as they repeat on a loop throughout the day. Then, whenever the subject of UConn comes up, they'd be far more apt to say "Oh yeah, they have a really good football team" Sure, attendance matters, wins matter, but this stuff is also important in trying to improve, bit by bit, the image of a football program looking for greater respect. By ignoring us, NECN blew it-- and they (and UConn's promotions department) deserved being called out.

NESN couldn't care less about UConn athletics. Like much of the Boston sports mindset, it's a pro town and they are very provincial. Nothing really matters to them outside of the city limits. It's not the fault of our marketing dept. either. Connecticut is not part of the Boston tv market.

 

[Nostical]

This is about NECN not NESN.