Berry Tramel: My advice to Connecticut — invest heavily, HEAVILY, in football or get out of the rat

[clmssun]

race.


http://newsok.com/goodbye-florida-state.-hello-cincinnati/article/3796225

I know it sounds crazy. It is certainly far from optimal. It is probably NOT a viable long-term stable situation for UConn to be in the Big 12. But, as we all know, UConn is the most valuable chess piece out there (unless, perhaps, you include BYU as "available"). The Big12 could benefit from UConn, and UConn could benefit (short term, at least) in the Big 12. (But there is also a question as to whether UTx, OU, and KU truly want a stable, strong Big12, as they will be safe anywhere if/when Big12 fails).

I am one person hoping Big 12 adds UConn, Cincy, UCF, and USF.

 

[Waquoit]

Who the hell is Berry Tramel?

 

[specialisthusky]

Who the hell is Berry Tramel?

I don't know but he is confusing me. Is he saying we tied in Conference Realignment?

 

[frankthetank]

Who the hell is Berry Tramel?

It's a bit of a strange column from him, but he's arguably the most prominent sportswriter in Oklahoma and, as such, has a pipeline of connections to the Big 12. When national radio and TV shows want to talk about the Sooners or Thunder, they usually try calling him first.

 

[frankthetank]

By the way, my educated guess based on what Tramel has written in the past, he meant to call Cincinnati instead of Connecticut as a "Winner" as he has noted several times in the past that they were on the Big 12's radar. Note that the link refers to "Goodbye Florida State. Hello Cincinnati." I think it's a typo (and unfortunately one that will probably put a lot of people in a tizzy.)

 

[ucinnc]

Frank - unless I'm missing something, I don't think that's the case. He follows it up with this:

Winner: Connecticut. If the Big 12 ever decides to expand, UConn might move up to No. 1 on the list. The Huskies would give West Virginia a semblance of a neighbor. My advice to Connecticut — invest heavily, HEAVILY, in football or get out of the rat race.

 

[frankthetank]

ucinnc - Yeah, you might be correct. I sent him a Tweet to see if he could clarify that since the blog post was worded so strangely.

 

[RS9999X]

There's that dark horse scenario where the play offs expand to 8 to 12 teams to replace the conference tournaments which are not doing too well in attendance or ratings overall.


The Big-12 would be forced to add two teams in this scenario and have divisions. That opens up something for UConn and Cincy. But, we've heard that siren song before.

 

[huskymedic]

ucinnc - Yeah, you might be correct. I sent him a Tweet to see if he could clarify that since the blog post was worded so strangely.

Agree strange format (broken into 2 pages) - but I think this on page 2 clarifies.

Winner: Cincinnati: I’m not kidding about this West Virginia problem. That’s an issue that won’t go away. The Mountaineers are not so much better off than Hawaii, which has forever tried to find a stable conference home. If the Big 12 ever has to address the issue with a partner for West Virginia, Cincinnati is at least on the list. Same advice for UConn goes for Cincy.

 

[freescooter]

Yeah, basically he is saying that UCONN and Cincinnati have a more or less equal shot. Depending on which factors are given priority. For what its worth, if the B-12 were to break up due to Texas/Oklahoma to the PAC, I think Kansas is a long way from being safe. They are the UConn of the B-12. Their best sport is the one that doesn't matter one bit.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Because somebody had to. My advice to you? Shut up.

 

[freescooter]

LOL, if basketball mattered even one ounce in the realignment discussions, UConn wouldn't even be discussing it. We'd be "realigned." But it doesn't. I here comments from guys like OkaforPrez all the time. They simply do not get it even after all we've been through. We could win basketball championships from now until the cows come home. We will remain stranded on the isle of misfit toys conference, playing for peanuts in front of smaller crowds in lousy time slots. All the nonsense that nelson and other spout about content being key is just that. Nonsense. Football is the key. Don't believe me, go back and look at Kansas when the B-12 almost broke up back in 2010. Bill Self was almost in tears because it looked like Kansas, one of the bluest of blue blood basketball programs would be left for dead.

 

[CL82]

We should have pressed for Kansas, K-State then.

 

[freescooter]

We should have pressed for Kansas, K-State then.

We did, but the basketball schools didn't want them!

 

[OkaForPrez]

LOL, if basketball mattered even one ounce in the realignment discussions, UConn wouldn't even be discussing it. We'd be "realigned." But it doesn't. I here comments from guys like OkaforPrez all the time. They simply do not get it even after all we've been through. We could win basketball championships from now until the cows come home. We will remain stranded on the isle of misfit toys conference, playing for peanuts in front of smaller crowds in lousy time slots. All the nonsense that nelson and other spout about content being key is just that. Nonsense. Football is the key. Don't believe me, go back and look at Kansas when the B-12 almost broke up back in 2010. Bill Self was almost in tears because it looked like Kansas, one of the bluest of blue blood basketball programs would be left for dead.

Dude get over yourself. My Jimmy Link up was in reference to the title of the Tramel article. I skim your posts on occasion, usually I just jump to the next post.

 

[pj]

All of you guys are missing the fact that basketball matters a great deal. Football has been the driver the last 5 years because the NCAA controls basketball revenue and football and the new playoff system is where all the marginal revenue has been. But now that the marginal football revenue has largely been divvied up, the next opportunity to raise revenue is in conference networks with year-round content. The B1G, Pac, SEC and probably the ACC are all assembling their own cable networks and they need inventory and year-round content and basketball is a crucial piece for that (~30 games per year vs 12 for football, a longer season, a similar audience size, content spread over 7 days a week so games do not compete with one another as much).

In the new network world, the basketball powers will rise in importance. This will be even more true if/when the power conferences break away from the NCAA in order to claim a larger fraction of the basketball and non-football sports revenue. The NCAA basketball tournament money (>$500 mn / yr) alone is bigger than the new football playoff money ($500 mn/yr), it is only divvied up among more schools; and power conferences can greatly increase their take by breaking away.

In the emerging world, UConn and Kansas will be major prizes. I expect the B1G would like nothing better than to bring in UConn and Kansas to get to 16. But they probably can't peel Kansas away without something happening to provide a good home for K State, unless the Big 12 breaks up independently. Look for Fox to revisit the Texas/Oklahoma schools to Pac 12 possibility to bring that about.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yeah, basically he is saying that UCONN and Cincinnati have a more or less equal shot. Depending on which factors are given priority. For what its worth, if the B-12 were to break up due to Texas/Oklahoma to the PAC, I think Kansas is a long way from being safe. They are the UConn of the B-12. Their best sport is the one that doesn't matter one bit.

Not true at all. They make money...more than anybody in the B12 other than Texas. They are AAU. They'd be ahead of every B12 team but Texas and maybe OU, by quite a bit. Iowa State is worst off, then probably TCU, TT, then KSU, OSU and Baylor in a group.

 

[ZooCougar]

This column is actually right on the money. The problem is that this cycle hit us while we were offbalance, in the aftermath spending over $100 Million on the program, and in throes of getting the basketball facility together. Strategically this is bad timing.

 

[freescooter]

All of you guys are missing the fact that basketball matters a great deal. Football has been the driver the last 5 years because the NCAA controls basketball revenue and football and the new playoff system is where all the marginal revenue has been. But now that the marginal football revenue has largely been divvied up, the next opportunity to raise revenue is in conference networks with year-round content. The B1G, Pac, SEC and probably the ACC are all assembling their own cable networks and they need inventory and year-round content and basketball is a crucial piece for that (~30 games per year vs 12 for football, a longer season, a similar audience size, content spread over 7 days a week so games do not compete with one another as much).

In the new network world, the basketball powers will rise in importance. This will be even more true if/when the power conferences break away from the NCAA in order to claim a larger fraction of the basketball and non-football sports revenue. The NCAA basketball tournament money alone is in the same ballpark as the football tournament money, and power conferences can greatly increase their take by breaking away.

In the emerging world, UConn and Kansas will be major prizes. I expect the B1G would like nothing better than to bring in UConn and Kansas to get to 16. But they probably can't peel Kansas away without something happening to provide a good home for K State, unless the Big 12 breaks up independently. Look for Fox to revisit the Texas/Oklahoma schools to Pac 12 possibility to bring that about.

Basketball doesn't matter. it has never mattered all that much. It matters not at all now. And to keep talking about all the content is just nuts. There has been a grand total of 0 moves that were basketball driven. It is about as important as womens bowling in the scheme of things. Beyond that, Basketball powers and football powers will be, actually mostly are already, the same schools, or at least the same conferences.As far as year round network stuff, pretty much anything fills the bill...baseball, softball hockey womens basketball, its all there. And there are so many teams and so many leagues that you can actually backfill with MAC games of MAAC Games or even AAC games if you want or need to.

Seriously, go back and look at Bill Self's interviews when it looked like the B-12 would split a few years back. He was shocked to think that Kansas was being left out. And they were. Iowa State is screwed too, no doubt. But Kansas, for all it offers is not going anywhere in a Big 12 break up if the Big doesn't decide to expand.

 

[Adios]

Translation: Expand your damn stadium.

 

[Atross]

I've said it before on the the football board and have been called a troll but now is the time to go all in on football. It also has to have a major focus on offense and the passing game. After all that's what sells and puts people in the stands The SEC style come to mind here.

 

[pj]

Basketball doesn't matter. it has never mattered all that much. It matters not at all now. And to keep talking about all the content is just nuts. There has been a grand total of 0 moves that were basketball driven. It is about as important as womens bowling in the scheme of things. Beyond that, Basketball powers and football powers will be, actually mostly are already, the same schools, or at least the same conferences.As far as year round network stuff, pretty much anything fills the bill...baseball, softball hockey womens basketball, its all there. And there are so many teams and so many leagues that you can actually backfill with MAC games of MAAC Games or even AAC games if you want or need to.

Seriously, go back and look at Bill Self's interviews when it looked like the B-12 would split a few years back. He was shocked to think that Kansas was being left out. And they were. Iowa State is screwed too, no doubt. But Kansas, for all it offers is not going anywhere in a Big 12 break up if the Big doesn't decide to expand.

Foolish. ACC expansion has been driven by football. They needed to become competitive for the football playoff -- they were in danger of being frozen out. B1G expansion has been driven by markets -- Rutgers and Maryland bring two sizable states. I am saying that the driving force is evolving from football (old driver) to markets (most recent driver) to markets + basketball (next realignment driver).

The one constant that matters is money. If the power conferences break away from the NCAA, instead of $500 mn spread among >300 schools, you have $400 mn spread among 60 schools. The power conferences are starting their own networks -- why? They want to poach a significant fraction of ESPN's $5 bn annual profits. ESPN probably gets close to $1 bn of annual profit from college basketball, 90% from the power conferences. That's profit, not revenue. The dollars are huge.

Basketball money is comparable to football money. Universities are hungry for money. Between conference network formation to capture regular season bball revenue from ESPN and the opportunity to capture the NCAA tourney revenue by realignment, basketball is the next big driver of college athletics.

 

[ZooCougar]

I've said it before on the the football board and have been called a troll but now is the time to go all in on football. It also has to have a major focus on offense and the passing game. After all that's what sells and puts people in the stands The SEC style come to mind here.

Welcome friend.

 

[Fishy]

I've said it before on the the football board and have been called a troll but now is the time to go all in on football. It also has to have a major focus on offense and the passing game. After all that's what sells and puts people in the stands The SEC style come to mind here.

I absolutely agree - I want to see them throw them throw the football like the running backs all called in sick.

I want to win games 63-3, but if that doesn't work, I'd rather lose 66-63 than 10-7.

I also think we should cheat really hard.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Go after Nick Saban... Match His salary and then offer a 100% bonus if he gets uconn in the NC. 200% for winning it.

If that doesn't work, screw everyone and hire Petrino. Just hire some shadow to keep him out of trouble.

We can 'invest' all we want but the current coaching strategy is the Achilles heel.