Arizona, Arizona State, & Utah to B12....

[BigTenFan]

What

This is because 80% of them are delusional and feel that not getting into the Big 12 was a win and staying in the BE is where it's at. Their view is as short sighted as the Big 12's expansion view.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize that these contracts for football pays the bills for 99 percent of the Olympic sports at most schools. Even if you have no use for football- it"s the revenue generator for the rest of the athletic dept. I believe UConn Mens and Women's basketball are in in a good spot because everything I read - they are self sufficient on the revenue side.

Title 9 will also be a bigger issue going forward. If we don't get enough money into the coffers - programs will need to be cut to comply. State taxpayers and tuition will not be enough to cover all these sports.

 

[UCFBfan]

Our independent scheduling options just expanded. If that means fewer games against Liberty, it's a win for us. WSU, OSU are better off going indy than joining the MW. Question is can they adjust to the drop in revenue

There is no way they are better off going independent. I don't know how we have the deal we have for FB but full credit goes to AD DB. The guaranteed money that the MW will give WSU and OSU is a no brainier.

 

[LBird33]

Rule #1 always wins out so I'm not shocked. What concerns me is what happens with Mora. He said that conference affiliation is going to matter and my hunch is that he was banking on us making it into the Big 12. I'm curious if that QB recruit from TX was told something similar.

I could easily see Mora leaving because we lack a conference and our small financial resources are limiting what he needs to do. We can't keep up at this spending pace.

Mora knew what he was walking into. If he were to leave now he’s no better the RE. It’s not an easy road but there will be further realignment in the next few years after that if we are sill out. A different story. One year track record need to 3 to 4 year for people to take notice. Forget what was. No one remembers

 

[UCTitleTown]

Once again UConn has been used for leverage. Are there any conferences in Canada?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If we get a basketball only invite from them, we should take it. It gets our foot in the door and would likely come with some scheduling agreement for football. If we continue the current trajectory of the program under Mora, then I can see them giving us a football invite sometime in the future. Also, being a member in basketball+the scheduling agreement would help us build a rapport with the Big 12 schools to the point where I think we would definitely have the upper hand over the ACC schools when the next cycle of realignment happens and the Big 12 thinks about expanding again.

Hell no, unless they are willing to offer a full share (equal to what full members receive), which they would never do.

Prior to last night I did not believe one narrative (that a handful on this board have been claiming) that Yormark never really wanted us as a full member, but needed the threat to land the four corner schools from the PAC. I also doubted the rumor that they were considering adding basketball only membership with some schools. If we do get a basketball only offer it will confirm that both claims that I doubted were in fact real. If someone wants to use us, the only reason to agree to it would be if we are also using them, both sides are fully aware of the relationship terms and we are getting more out of it than we are providing. If they want our brand for basketball, we demand a premium in return.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

It begs the question - if the ACC opens up and the Big 12 takes Cuse and Pitt, would it even be still worth going there?

Why would the Big 12 take Pitt or Cuse? IIRC the Big 12 commissioner already visited Storrs and came away very impressed while he ignored Pitt or Cuse. It’s clear the Big 12 is more interested in UConn than a low level ACC team for a northeastern corridor/NYC market grab. Cuse or Pitt didn’t make a great hire in Mora, UConn did.

 

[Marbles90]

The northeast just doesn’t support college football. It’s all about pro sports here. We have no FBS history. No tradition. We had a few years where we were decent with our Fiesta Bowl year and had some good crowds at the Rent. But that is a blip compared to these P5 schools that for the most part support their team even when they are bad. It is way more than just a few bad hires. It was the majority of our FBS existence. And it was way worse than bad. It was historically bad. And with bad came almost no support. Those of you who were with me at a near empty Rent over the last few years are nodding. Meanwhile, the South and Midwest set their clock to college football. Iowa State was 1-8 - dead last in the Big 12 and have average 57k over the last 5 years - near capacity.

I didn’t buy this doubling down on basketball stuff. I am sorry to say, nobody cares about basketball and certainly not the media partners that are driving these crazy conference deals. If folks cared, we would have already been there. But they don’t. We went back to the Big East to save basketball in the short term. Many of us on the football board were against it. But that is how the country sees it. UConn gave up on football so why the heck would these conferences just hand us $50million in TV contract $ that is 80% driven by football?

I love Mora and think he has us on the right path. I love attending UConn football games and will continue to do so. I love that we won #5 last spring and have great hockey and baseball. I trust in our Athletic Department. Yes, not getting into the Big 12 suxx and it is easy to look at the negative and doom and gloom. But there will be more change in the coming years. ALOT more change. Just keep supporting your teams. All your UConn teams - but especially football and (hopefully) things will be ok.

 

[uconnfan68]

The northeast just doesn’t support college football. It’s all about pro sports here. We have no FBS history. No tradition. We had a few years where we were decent with our Fiesta Bowl year and had some good crowds at the Rent. But that is a blip compared to these P5 schools that for the most part support their team even when they are bad. It is way more than just a few bad hires. It was the majority of our FBS existence. And it was way worse than bad. It was historically bad. And with bad came almost no support. Those of you who were with me at a near empty Rent over the last few years are nodding. Meanwhile, the South and Midwest set their clock to college football. Iowa State was 1-8 - dead last in the Big 12 and have average 57k over the last 5 years - near capacity.

I didn’t buy this doubling down on basketball stuff. I am sorry to say, nobody cares about basketball and certainly not the media partners that are driving these crazy conference deals. If folks cared, we would have already been there. But they don’t. We went back to the Big East to save basketball in the short term. Many of us on the football board were against it. But that is how the country sees it. UConn gave up on football so why the heck would these conferences just hand us $50million in TV contract $ that is 80% driven by football?

I love Mora and think he has us on the right path. I love attending UConn football games and will continue to do so. I love that we won #5 last spring and have great hockey and baseball. I trust in our Athletic Department. Yes, not getting into the Big 12 suxx and it is easy to look at the negative and doom and gloom. But there will be more change in the coming years. ALOT more change. Just keep supporting your teams. All your UConn teams - but especially football and (hopefully) things will be ok.

The idea that media partners only care about football is crazy. They want CONTENT to show and sell advertising for. Basketball offers almost 4x as many games, and women play too so double that.

 

[Hamms30]

If we get a basketball only invite from them, we should take it. It gets our foot in the door and would likely come with some scheduling agreement for football. If we continue the current trajectory of the program under Mora, then I can see them giving us a football invite sometime in the future. Also, being a member in basketball+the scheduling agreement would help us build a rapport with the Big 12 schools to the point where I think we would definitely have the upper hand over the ACC schools when the next cycle of realignment happens and the Big 12 thinks about expanding again.

That reeks of "He promised to divorce his wife and we'd be together finally." The way they feel about playing football with us is exactly how we feel about playing basketball with any of them excepting Kansas. They just used us as bait and lied to the school's athletic department. We are not the ones that need to bring goodwill to the negotiating table anymore.

 

[kemba]

This is because 80% of them are delusional and feel that not getting into the Big 12 was a win and staying in the BE is where it's at. Their view is as short sighted as the Big 12's expansion view.

Or because there are already like 12 threads about this on the Conference realignment board about this all saying the same exact stuff?

 

[FearThePups]

this just goes to show how devastating pasqualoni/diaco/edsall_2 eras were for this program. I never imagined our football brand being viewed THIS badly by the national stage when the time came, but looking again over the statistics during the years 2018, 2019 especially... gosh we were just an absolute joke. I do not mean offense by that, but i find no other way to describe it.

and as much as I wish the contrary, I understand the hesitation from B12 presidents and ADs to believe that a 6-7 program has really turned the corner from 6-32. There's a lot of money on the line. it hurts a lot, but i understand.

as a relatively new fan, i'm just catching up to the history. I'm sure the boneyard is fully aware, so not trying to pour salt on the wound, but just reflecting now, on just how damaging this was. what a fall from fiesta-bowl grace.

very... VERY... sad.

Believe the reality of how bad our football program has been for over 70 years. We may be heading in the right direction now, but that isn’t convincing to other conferences. A lot of yarders were wrongly thinking that by joining a P5 conference, that alone would make our program more competitive. That’s a false narrative. Read the article posted today by a writer. I tend to agree with it. MSN

 

[Marbles90]

The idea that media partners only care about football is crazy. They want CONTENT to show and sell advertising for. Basketball offers almost 4x as many games, and women play too so double that.

Yes they want content, but value it at $0.20 on the dollar compared to football. I am shocked that you folks do not realize that.

 

[FearThePups]

That reeks of "He promised to divorce his wife and we'd be together finally." The way they feel about playing football with us is exactly how we feel about playing basketball with any of them excepting Kansas. They just used us as bait and lied to the school's athletic department. We are not the ones that need to bring goodwill to the negotiating table anymore.

Agreed. Our basketball franchises are number 1 in the country. We don’t need to beg anyone for an invite.

 

[FearThePups]

Rule #1 always wins out so I'm not shocked. What concerns me is what happens with Mora. He said that conference affiliation is going to matter and my hunch is that he was banking on us making it into the Big 12. I'm curious if that QB recruit from TX was told something similar.

I could easily see Mora leaving because we lack a conference and our small financial resources are limiting what he needs to do. We can't keep up at this spending pace.

Perhaps if Mora can produce a better than 6-7 record, we’d be more attractive to conferences. He came here knowing what he was in for.

 

[storrsroars]

Those of you who were with me at a near empty Rent over the last few years are nodding. Meanwhile, the South and Midwest set their clock to college football. Iowa State was 1-8 - dead last in the Big 12 and have average 57k over the last 5 years - near capacity.

How confident are you in that 57K?

D1Tracker shows UConn had a 50% uptick last year over 2021. Also that it's averaged 20K+ over the past five years. From your morose commentary, it sounds like that's about 400% off on the high side. 22K puts us in the Liberty/Marshall/Duke/UAB/JMU neighborhood. And I think most here agree we can do better with a good coach and a more competitive team. Even without annual name rivalries. By the numbers, UConn did better than Tulane and Tulsa.

The site also shows BC with average attendance of 35K last year. How many posts on here have noted nobody shows up for those?

So maybe that 57K is a bit off. Anyway, what else is there to do in Iowa?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Once again UConn has been used for leverage. Are there any conferences in Canada?

No. That's why Syracuse is in the ACC.

 

[B1GEast]

Adding ASU and Utah will end up as being the dumbest move for the Big 12.

They didn't need redundancy in Utah and Arizona. Those were safe picks, established brands, but expanding eastward in my opinion would have opened up new media markets.

Yormark had a vision, he should have stuck to his guns. I'm sure the university presidents including Colorado and Arizona rallied for ASU and Utah, but in the end I don't think the Big 12 is better because of their additions.

If UConn ends up in another conference eventually, the Big 12 will look back and wonder what if?

Let's keep winning championships and support the football team.

ASU, Utah, really? UConn was low hanging fruit. SMH.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Why would the Big 12 take Pitt or Cuse? IIRC the Big 12 commissioner already visited Storrs and came away very impressed while he ignored Pitt or Cuse. It’s clear the Big 12 is more interested in UConn than a low level ACC team for a northeastern corridor/NYC market grab. Cuse or Pitt didn’t make a great hire in Mora, UConn did.

Rivalries(for UConn)

 

[kemba]

If UConn ends up in another conference eventually, the Big 12 will look back and wonder what if?

As much as that scenario would feel good it’s very unlikely. ACC has shown no interest and the big 12 appears willing to add more. I think they feel they could take us whenever they want to and they probably aren’t wrong about that

 

[FearThePups]

No. That's why Syracuse is in the ACC.

Looking back, how smart does Syracuse look now at going to the ACC? Irrelevant in both basketball and football.

 

[Marbles90]

How confident are you in that 57K?

D1 tracker is they only thing I had to go off of so it may not be accurate to butts in seats, but it is what we got for a relative comparison. And what we really need is TV viewers but that is probably harder to find.

I am sure you and many of you have been to games in big college football areas where there is tradition even when the team is bad or mediocre. That is my point more than the exact numbers.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Adding ASU and Utah will end up as being the dumbest move for the Big 12.

They didn't need redundancy in Utah and Arizona. Those were safe picks, established brands, but expanding eastward in my opinion would have opened up new media markets.

Yormark had a vision, he should have stuck to his guns. I'm sure the university presidents including Colorado and Arizona rallied for ASU and Utah, but in the end I don't think the Big 12 is better because of their additions.

If UConn ends up in another conference eventually, the Big 12 will look back and wonder what if?

Let's keep winning championships and support the football team.

ASU, Utah, really? UConn was low hanging fruit. SMH.

True but there is a lot more to this equation.

The logical end game is the B1G and SEC with 40-48 combined members as tier one. Tier two would be two or three conferences (number of actual conferences may not fully matter) with another 40 or so members.

By adding ASU & Utah, the B-12 was able to remove the PAC from the equation of potential tier two conferences. The remaining schools from the PAC likely will get absorbed at some point in tier two conferences but a number of lesser brands in the B-12 likely weren't very confident that they would find a tier two home if their conference was raided down the road. Now they can have a good amount of confidence that tier two will include all current members of their conference.

 

[Urcea]

Why would the Big 12 take Pitt or Cuse? IIRC the Big 12 commissioner already visited Storrs and came away very impressed while he ignored Pitt or Cuse. It’s clear the Big 12 is more interested in UConn than a low level ACC team for a northeastern corridor/NYC market grab. Cuse or Pitt didn’t make a great hire in Mora, UConn did.

Pitt is such an obvious fit for the Big 12. They have WVU and Cincy and are quality. They didn’t vet it because the ACC isn’t open for business yet. It’s not obvious to me that the Big 12 is “more interested” in us

 

[UCTitleTown]

Can someone please explain to me why there's been zero interest by the Big 10 to add UConn? It seems like a no-brainer. UConn > Rutgers and would be a logical expansion into the Northeast Market. Big 10 or bust for me. The Big 12 played us and the ACC is a dying conference. I feel bad for the football recruits that have been told we're getting into the Big 12.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

Can someone please explain to me why there's been zero interest by the Big 10 to add UConn? It seems like a no-brainer. UConn > Rutgers and would be a logical expansion into the Northeast Market. Big 10 or bust for me. The Big 12 played us and the ACC is a dying conference. I feel bad for the football recruits that have been told we're getting into the Big 12.

connecticut is a small state, uconn is not in aau, our football team was awful during the 2010s. That does not mean if UConn improves academic research and gets into AAU and the football team ends the season in the top 25 -- we wouldn't be asked to join. Maybe around the same time they go after Duke, UVA etc.

 

[kemba]

Can someone please explain to me why there's been zero interest by the Big 10 to add UConn? It seems like a no-brainer. UConn > Rutgers and would be a logical expansion into the Northeast Market. Big 10 or bust for me. The Big 12 played us and the ACC is a dying conference. I feel bad for the football recruits that have been told we're getting into the Big 12.

Because the big 10 can get anyone they want except for sec teams sand there’s too many schools who have more value than UConn. And they are in no rush so they can just wait for who they want in the Acc to be available.


For the recruits I doubt they’ve been told 100% we were going more like that it’s on the table and what it would mean for us. Just like last year when a recruit mentioned mora was talking about joining the Acc. And regardless, they could always still decomitt if this news is a deal breaker

 

[CL82]

Once again UConn has been used for leverage. Are there any conferences in Canada?

That's a depressing thought, so I guess it would be fun to play Syracuse again.

 

[CL82]

connecticut is a small state, uconn is not in aau, our football team was awful during the 2010s. That does not mean if UConn improves academic research and gets into AAU and the football team ends the season in the top 25 -- we wouldn't be asked to join. Maybe around the same time they go after Duke, UVA etc.

Add to that that the big 10 gets first tier pricing for its net work in the NYCDMA which includes Fairfield County. They've gotten what they wanted in the nyc metro area.

 

[That Guy]

Agreed. Our basketball franchises are number 1 in the country. We don’t need to beg anyone for an invite.

As I'm sure you're aware by now, basketball means NOTHING to these people. It's all about football, and our football has been arguably the worst FBS program over the last decade as a G5 school. No one is going to take us unless we get 5+ very solid seasons under our belt going forward.

 

[UCTitleTown]

connecticut is a small state, uconn is not in aau, our football team was awful during the 2010s. That does not mean if UConn improves academic research and gets into AAU and the football team ends the season in the top 25 -- we wouldn't be asked to join. Maybe around the same time they go after Duke, UVA etc.

Connecticut is mid-sized by population (29th) and has a larger population than two states with schools in the Big 10 and for what it's worth is not much small than Oklahoma and I don't think many conferences wouldn't want Oklahoma.