As Big 12 expansion rumors boil, UConn pours NIL money into football: ‘Tired of being disrespected’ (Mike Anthony)

[huskymedic]

Nice job by Mike Anthony - worth the full read.



Scoop <<

-> The Huskies have an incredible brand, incredible teams, unsurpassed facilities, so much more that adds up to an athletic muscle flex across the board that few Division I schools can match.

But they do not have a successful football program, which is about all that is valued in the neighborhood they’re trying to enter. Like that reality or not, love the Big East or favor the Big 12, UConn is moving with great energy into a new era of college sports essentially with the thought in mind that Mora articulated in announcing his quarterback.

Want to win in football and stay relevant as a nationally celebrated athletic program? Raise money, spend, recruit. Raise money, spend, recruit. Repeat until one of these conference realignment rinse cycles lands with the Huskies in a power conference, earning some $20-30 million more annually than it does today, and then double-down on efforts again years into the future.

Mora several times last season used the same setting he occupied on Tuesday to emphasize the importance of raising money to recruit. The Huskies raised and spent about $100,000 last season through NIL efforts. This season, the number is up ten-fold, to somewhere between $1-1.25 million.

That is something Benedict was willing to discuss.

“We’re going to double it next year, at least,” he said. “We’re going to pour gas on it. We’re going to win in football. I’m tired of being disrespected as a brand, nationally, because of football. And I get it. But the difference as we sit here today is we have NIL and revenue sharing now. And before, when we were a BCS affiliate with the old Big East, we could recruit differently. When that went away, it really impacted this university in a way that is probably unique because of the location. There are very, very good recruits here. But there are a limited number. And they all go, if you look at the top 10 every year, there’s one thing in common — all of them are going to power [conferences]. Whether NIL and revenue sharing will help us keep some of those kids will be determined, but we can recruit in a totally different way. We have an unbelievable university. We have great facilities. We have great coaches. And we’re going to start providing people with great opportunities in other ways.” <-

 

[LStudfellow]

Anyone who does not realize that our best shot of getting into the Big12 or ACC at this point is with David Benedict as our AD, I do not know what to tell you. He is the best, most forward-thinking AD we have had since Lew Perkins. And I wonder aloud how things would have fared with the ACC if he had been our AD at the time. Is he perfect? Of course not. But he is a whole lot better than the last two AD's we had, particularly Jeff Hathaway.

On the one hand, I love being in the Big East for our men's basketball team. It really is the best fit regionally, competitively and has helped us regain our perch at the top of men's college basketball.

But I can also be clear-headed and know that for us to have any chance at remaining relevant into the distant future we have to get into one of the Big 4 and cast our lot with them. If not, eventually all of our sports teams will suffer. I believe this has become crystal clear during this latest men's basketball recruiting cycle.

One other comment - great article by Mike Anthony, who has proven to be the best, most consistent, most thoroughly-researched writer on any topic UConn sports-related in the whole business over the last 20 to 25 years.

 

[Nostical]

And enough already with The Rent. The conversations we keep having about keeping our football in The Rent —and pouring more money to renovate it—is (let me say it out loud here) insane.
How many students come to UConn looking forward to getting on a bus to watch us play bad football. Stop deceiving yourselves. The on-campus stadium is imperative to our future succes.

If we had our own stadium on campus we would not be paying to rent “The Rent”. We’d own the ticket sales, the parking, the concessions, the naming rights. Right now we’re bleeding money.

Our football team can improve (I’m convinced we can) but if we’re bleeding revenue we’re dumber than we deserve to be. And
we can’t survive on Big East payouts. We need Big 12 payouts, especially to revenue share with players.

Our commitment to the Big 12 requires huge inflows from the State, and our boosters.. (Have we ever reached out to the Indian tribes for major investment in our athletic programs?—just asking)

This is a wake up call for UConn and the State of Connecticut. It’s existential for UConn football. Innovative leaders from our political, business and university communities need to step up and save our ability to compete at the level that befits this highly admired land grant school. Time is running out.

Hoping to see a big turnout this weekend down In Maryland. Let’s root the guys to victory! That’s the kind of unspoken message that counts more than most.

 

[DCUconnfan]

That was by far the best article I've read all pre-season.

I, for one, am glad I spammed the over.

 

[tiger paw]

Raise money ! Years ago my proposal was ignored. Time for the state of CT to get behind the huskies. Anybody that buys 2 or more season tickets gets to deduct 5K off their state income tax for that year. All tickets would be sold , the buyer can use the or give them away. Ned Lamont please step up. Waiting for a few big doners to pay for everything is a pipe dream

 

[temery]

Raise money ! Years ago my proposal was ignored. Time for the state of CT to get behind the huskies. Anybody that buys 2 or more season tickets gets to deduct 5K off their state income tax for that year. All tickets would be sold , the buyer can use the or give them away. Ned Lamont please step up. Waiting for a few big doners to pay for everything is a pipe dream

The seats will still be empty.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[noeynox]

Raise money ! Years ago my proposal was ignored. Time for the state of CT to get behind the huskies. Anybody that buys 2 or more season tickets gets to deduct 5K off their state income tax for that year. All tickets would be sold , the buyer can use the or give them away. Ned Lamont please step up. Waiting for a few big doners to pay for everything is a pipe dream

Better idea is to give them to schools in the state to organize field trips.

 

[The Viking]

Mike Anthony is a Connecticut treasure. Never a bad article.

 

[jostar1]

 

[LoyalFanCT]

And enough already with The Rent. The conversations we keep having about keeping our football in The Rent —and pouring more money to renovate it—is (let me say it out loud here) insane.
How many students come to UConn looking forward to getting on a bus to watch us play bad football. Stop deceiving yourselves. The on-campus stadium is imperative to our future succes.

If we had our own stadium on campus we would not be paying to rent “The Rent”. We’d own the ticket sales, the parking, the concessions, the naming rights. Right now we’re bleeding money.

Our football team can improve (I’m convinced we can) but if we’re bleeding revenue we’re dumber than we deserve to be. And
we can’t survive on Big East payouts. We need Big 12 payouts, especially to revenue share with players.

Our commitment to the Big 12 requires huge inflows from the State, and our boosters.. (Have we ever reached out to the Indian tribes for major investment in our athletic programs?—just asking)

This is a wake up call for UConn and the State of Connecticut. It’s existential for UConn football. Innovative leaders from our political, business and university communities need to step up and save our ability to compete at the level that befits this highly admired land grant school. Time is running out.

Hoping to see a big turnout this weekend down In Maryland. Let’s root the guys to victory! That’s the kind of unspoken message that counts more than most.

excellent points. the casinos may be among the donors to build the on campus stadium

 

[Scrutineer]

"it’s become very much more like pro football.”

Perfect summation in a very well written and thought out article.

As these rounds of realignment have played out I've gone from wishing we'd been invited to the ACC to hoping the B1G's leadership would be as forward looking as Brett Yormark appears to have been.

If you look at college sports dominance overall, the B1G needs us more if they want to keep challenging the SEC. The B1G offers (till this year) less travel plus a much bigger media contract and a couple local rivals (Rutgers and Maryland) we already dislike. UConn would bring winning in basketball to the B1G that they haven't had in the last 25 years, plus the New England, New York and New Jersey media markets.

Yormark may value what UConn can do for league's profile, while adding the New England, NY and NJ media markets to their next media rights deal, even with a weak football program because now that OK and TX have left for the SEC UConn has as many championships in football as the entire current Big 12......

For all the hype about the B1G's competiton with the SEC for dominance, what have they won of note in the last 25 years?
A total of 5 championships in the three major sports while the SEC has 23 and the Big 12 has 9!

The leagues' total championships in the past 25 years:
-B1G-3 football championships (Michigan 2024 and Ohio State 2002 and 2014) while the SEC has 14 and the Big12 has 2 (but both by teams now in the SEC, OK and Texas).
-B1G-1 men's basketball championship (Michigan State 2000. I didn't count Maryland because they won in 2002 while a member of the ACC) while the SEC and Big 12 each have 3.
-B1G-1 women's basketball championship (Purdue in 1999. I didn't count Maryland in 2006 because they were a member of the ACC at the time) while the SEC has 6 and the Big12 has 4.

UConn's positives in Yormark's eyes are:
-the explosion of interest in the women's game and what the UConn brand would bring to a league;
-the immense success of the men's team and how much praise the program and its coaching staff has received (we re-watched the Illinois game last night and it was stunning to listen to the broadcast team effusively praise the program, the coaches, the character and skill of the players and their utter dominance of the sport the last two years);
-the potential to own the Northeast for fandom and media rights, including New York and New Jersey, for college sports

We can fix football, so whether the Presidents see it the same way and the media consultants see the value Yormark sees in the UConn brand will be what matters...........but the B1G would be so much better for UConn.