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I have no idea what's going to happen in the future with this conference changing business, and even if I did - I don't leak.
What I do know, is that the only conference that hasn't seen major change since the 1970s, is the Ivy League, and that's because they have no need to be concerned about the flow of the $, and don't care about the college football post season.
For everybody else in intercollegiate athletics, since the mid 1970s -and accelerating through the 1980s - division 1 football, becoming division 1A football athletic departments, the CFA collapsing with regards to NCAA revenue sharing around college football broadcasting - under anti-trust laws - talking to YOU - Oklahoma board of regents------
Frigging Notre Dame and NBC, and then the flocking of independants into conferences, and the television contracts for conference revenue sharing, and the post season bowl arraignments - and all of it.
It's been about following the money. Always. The concept that it's about athletics and academics is hogwash. Some conferences put up a better show of that than others - but it's about money. What schools choose to do themselves, from an academic profile - is up to them, themselves.
In that respect, I'm proud of what UCONN has become in the past 30 years. We are a top notch university. Without a doubt. Academically and athletically - we put the mission of a higher education institution together, and make it work, from intramural programs, to national championship winning scholarship athletics, to top level research funding and grants, and publishing.
We are the 6th borough to NYC.
So - I have no idea what's going to happen - but I do know what UCONN can control, and we're doing it. When these people get together and vote it seems no different than a d---ck measuring contest at a fraternity or a catfight at a sorority. If it was different, UCONN wouldn't be in the position it is now, in the intercollegiate landscape.
So we got to make sure we're playing the game of Survivor right, so that when the votes happen, we can be part of a tribe that we want to be part of - and that's that.
So without further ado - some interesting stuff about the Long Horn Network that is easily accessible with an internet connected devise and google. Interesting articles for a full read, and to learn more - I picked out some quotes that stuck out to me.
Personally, I'm psyched for UCONN football in the fall - with Cuse back on the schedule - but the ACC? The voting there, goes back to my fraternity and sorority analogy. Complete idiocy by the voters in that conference. They're very much going to lose any foothold in the northeast corridor without Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
So - the Big 12 - appears to be the next conference that may sit down at a table for a tribal council vote. We shall see.
http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...e-network-in-the-country-has-lost-6721906.php
"The launch of the Longhorn Network was such a disaster that ESPN used it as a road map for what not to do when they launched the SEC Network. The result? The SEC Network was the most successful channel launch in cable history; the Longhorn Network remains the least successful cable launch in ESPN history."
http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...e-network-in-the-country-has-lost-6721906.php
Sports business sages and envious athletic directors variously said that ESPN, the Bristol, Connecticut, juggernaut valued at $51 billion in 2013, had dramatically overpaid Texas, that the fledgling network would disrupt the Big 12 conference’s ability to secure a sweet network TV deal, and that the whole affair smacked of Longhorn hubris. “Those were bigger numbers than even Notre Dame was getting from NBC,” said former Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne. “I was stunned. What Texas did was extraordinary, and I suspect I was a little jealous.” But from the beginning, LHN had problems: Not enough cable providers signed up in the first three years. LHN did not offer any major football games — only the lowest “third-tier” matchups such as Kansas or Rice. And a steady diet of what is left — volleyball, soccer, softball, swimming, golf and campus academic events — never was enough to excite even the most loyal Longhorn.
What I do know, is that the only conference that hasn't seen major change since the 1970s, is the Ivy League, and that's because they have no need to be concerned about the flow of the $, and don't care about the college football post season.
For everybody else in intercollegiate athletics, since the mid 1970s -and accelerating through the 1980s - division 1 football, becoming division 1A football athletic departments, the CFA collapsing with regards to NCAA revenue sharing around college football broadcasting - under anti-trust laws - talking to YOU - Oklahoma board of regents------
Frigging Notre Dame and NBC, and then the flocking of independants into conferences, and the television contracts for conference revenue sharing, and the post season bowl arraignments - and all of it.
It's been about following the money. Always. The concept that it's about athletics and academics is hogwash. Some conferences put up a better show of that than others - but it's about money. What schools choose to do themselves, from an academic profile - is up to them, themselves.
In that respect, I'm proud of what UCONN has become in the past 30 years. We are a top notch university. Without a doubt. Academically and athletically - we put the mission of a higher education institution together, and make it work, from intramural programs, to national championship winning scholarship athletics, to top level research funding and grants, and publishing.
We are the 6th borough to NYC.
So - I have no idea what's going to happen - but I do know what UCONN can control, and we're doing it. When these people get together and vote it seems no different than a d---ck measuring contest at a fraternity or a catfight at a sorority. If it was different, UCONN wouldn't be in the position it is now, in the intercollegiate landscape.
So we got to make sure we're playing the game of Survivor right, so that when the votes happen, we can be part of a tribe that we want to be part of - and that's that.
So without further ado - some interesting stuff about the Long Horn Network that is easily accessible with an internet connected devise and google. Interesting articles for a full read, and to learn more - I picked out some quotes that stuck out to me.
Personally, I'm psyched for UCONN football in the fall - with Cuse back on the schedule - but the ACC? The voting there, goes back to my fraternity and sorority analogy. Complete idiocy by the voters in that conference. They're very much going to lose any foothold in the northeast corridor without Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
So - the Big 12 - appears to be the next conference that may sit down at a table for a tribal council vote. We shall see.
http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...e-network-in-the-country-has-lost-6721906.php
"The launch of the Longhorn Network was such a disaster that ESPN used it as a road map for what not to do when they launched the SEC Network. The result? The SEC Network was the most successful channel launch in cable history; the Longhorn Network remains the least successful cable launch in ESPN history."
http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...e-network-in-the-country-has-lost-6721906.php
Sports business sages and envious athletic directors variously said that ESPN, the Bristol, Connecticut, juggernaut valued at $51 billion in 2013, had dramatically overpaid Texas, that the fledgling network would disrupt the Big 12 conference’s ability to secure a sweet network TV deal, and that the whole affair smacked of Longhorn hubris. “Those were bigger numbers than even Notre Dame was getting from NBC,” said former Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne. “I was stunned. What Texas did was extraordinary, and I suspect I was a little jealous.” But from the beginning, LHN had problems: Not enough cable providers signed up in the first three years. LHN did not offer any major football games — only the lowest “third-tier” matchups such as Kansas or Rice. And a steady diet of what is left — volleyball, soccer, softball, swimming, golf and campus academic events — never was enough to excite even the most loyal Longhorn.
