Big 12 Pausing Expansion

[UConnJim]

I understand where you think it’s going and I disagree. A division of 80 schools and they all get into the tournament. That’s a sham. The richest European soccer clubs just tried this and the entire continent revolted. I wouldnt want any part of it either.

You have to be 100% certain that a new division doesn't form to be comfortable that UConn will be OK. Are you 100% certain? I'm not so I think you have to move to a P4.

 

[John]

UCLA — 11
Kentucky — 8
UConn — 6
North Carolina — 6
Duke — 5
Indiana — 5
Kansas — 4
Villanova — 3
Cincinnati — 2
Florida — 2
Louisville — 2
Michigan State — 2
NC State — 2
Oklahoma State — 2
San Francisco — 2

 

[UConnJim]

Nobody has answered the riddle of how we would have managed being competitive for the next 7 years without a huge investment in football - a dollar amount the university and state have never gotten to. A yearly loss of tens of millions more.

Here is the way I think about, not just for UConn football, but for businesses in general. If you invest more will you have higher revenues? I think investing $2 million per year more in coaching salaries will return >$2 million in annual revenues and reduce or keep the deficit flat. The UConn mindset seems to be we'll invest more in football when we have higher revenues instead of we'll get higher revenues when we invest more. It's business/marketing 101. Investing more in football will result in more wins which will increase interest and attendance which will lead to an offer to join a better conference. In basketball, UConn got it by investing in Hurley which has lead to higher men's basketball revenues.

 

[Rdkid]

And that begs the question of were we offered bball and other sports, no football - and we could drop the sport? Would that be an offer in the best interest of the university? Would that protect basketball forever? What does UConn leadership believe is the future of college sports? What is the plan to get there? If we are not starving or cutting men’s programs are we charging students more or cutting from academics?

btw - I’m not a football dropper, I’m an all-in supporter to get a seat at what I believe will be a 70-ish seat table. That is in the school and state’s long-term interest. It will hurt and this will take leadership. The poster who is talking about fiscal conflict between athletics and academics is not wrong.

 

[superjohn]

UCLA — 11
Kentucky — 8
UConn — 6
North Carolina — 6
Duke — 5
Indiana — 5
Kansas — 4
Villanova — 3
Cincinnati — 2
Florida — 2
Louisville — 2
Michigan State — 2
NC State — 2
Oklahoma State — 2
San Francisco — 2

You only went back 70 years.

Weird flex

 

[bendm]

The dollars required for revenue sharing are going to continue to increase. It's derived from the average power conference school revenue. As more schools get left out of power conferences and the TV money increases but consolidates, the overall dollars required to run an athletic department at the top of the sport are going to increase at an alarming rate. What happens when revenue sharing isn't $20m but it's $40m? And suddenly basketball players are all supposed to earn $1m/yr from revenue sharing. And the Big schools have rosters of 15. That's another $15m per basketball team.

it's not assured that revenue will continue to increase. why would the tv networks keep paying more and more to broadcast fewer and fewer competitive games that less and less of the country is invested in? example- cbs/turner renewed its march madness deal w/ the ncaa for less money than the original deal.

but ok, worst case scenario let's say you're right. eventually UConn/CT won't be able to cover the losses incurred from increased revenue sharing. so let's win another chip or two before then and go out on top. then i'll just start following the nba and nfl.

to be clear i was never, and am still not, arguing against joining a p4, but that dream appears to be dead once and for all. so what are you advocating for? that the school/state increases the investment in football (which combined w/ the title ix women's teams is already losing $20mill/year), in the hopes that we can join the leftover acc teams in 2036? there's still no guarantee we will ever be invited to the p3 much less to a breakaway league, and we would have killed the bball programs in the meantime.

 

[John]

You only went back 70 years.

Weird flex

Wrong interpretation - I went to NCAA website and got list of schools with most men's championships, ones in red are at kid's table.

 

[superjohn]

Wrong interpretation - I went to NCAA website and got list of schools with most men's championships, ones in red are at kid's table.

Back to back with a legit chance at a three-peat.

 

[John]

Back to back with a legit chance at a three-peat.

and still at the kid's table

 

[superjohn]

and still at the kid's table

And still dominating college basketball.

 

[JMick]

it's not assured that revenue will continue to increase. why would the tv networks keep paying more and more to broadcast fewer and fewer competitive games that less and less of the country is invested in? example- cbs/turner renewed its march madness deal w/ the ncaa for less money than the original deal.

but ok, worst case scenario let's say you're right. eventually UConn/CT won't be able to cover the losses incurred from increased revenue sharing. so let's win another chip or two before then and go out on top. then i'll just start following the nba and nfl.

to be clear i was never, and am still not, arguing against joining a p4, but that dream appears to be dead once and for all. so what are you advocating for? that the school/state increases the investment in football (which combined w/ the title ix women's teams is already losing $20mill/year), in the hopes that we can join the leftover acc teams in 2036? there's still no guarantee we will ever be invited to the p3 much less to a breakaway league, and we would have killed the bball programs in the meantime.

I'm not advocating for anything. I'm saying we are screwed and that people who want to stay in the Big East and sabotage us getting into a power conference are clueless.

 

[John]

And still dominating college basketball.

as long as Hurley is here and getting paid and getting financial resources, I'd say yes even if the rest of the athletic department burns down around him.

 

[Travelman6]

UCLA — 11
Kentucky — 8
UConn — 6
North Carolina — 6
Duke — 5
Indiana — 5
Kansas — 4
Villanova — 3
Cincinnati — 2
Florida — 2
Louisville — 2
Michigan State — 2
NC State — 2
Oklahoma State — 2
San Francisco — 2

It's amazing what they've done without being in the p4

 

[baggerbob]

Advertising is the reason football is bigger, football has more commercial breaks then basketball. And they seem to be longer, plus you have a captive audience for 4 1/2 hours versus 2 hours.
A longer period of repetition sells more buisness.

 

[August_West]

I'm not advocating for anything. I'm saying we are screwed and that people who want to stay in the Big East and sabotage us getting into a power conference are clueless.

LOL "Sabotaging getting us into a conference"

Yeah that is why we are where we are. Touch grass man.

 

[August_West]

The day will come (and within a decade) where the third best BE team, performing somewhat similar or slightly better than Seton Hall did last year will be left out with the narrative being "they didn't play as strong a schedule as the 12th best SEC school".

In other words there will arguments on selection Sunday about a team getting snubbed from tourney.

I've never seen that happen before! What a dangerous possibility the sports world faces with that potential!

 

[upstater]

But wait, our hopes are not dead yet...

Are we at the 2 arms lopped off or 2 arms and 2 legs stage?

 

[CTBasketball]

Nah mate, I'm note that played for college guy. I am a proud alumnus who is tired of seeing his uni publicly dragged through the mud and slandered as not good enough time and time again. As I wrote, I never put any stock or belief in any of the CR rumors on UConn because I know better. UConn has been the one university that has been maligned over and over and for what valid reason? The only other school that can compare is SDSU when they wanted to join the PAC12, other than that, when most other schools were associated with the call-up, they were actually called up, but never us. Name another school that had to make multiple pitches to 2 major conferences over a decade and got rejected every time. It's that duality that antagonizes me and mars the reputation of my school. That as well as some shidiots in their self-made studios pontificating that UConn will never be good enough for Px blah blah blah. I cannot control said shidiots, but it sucks seeing this play out so damn publicly. I looked at Thamel's piece on the Big12-UConn pause and see 83% of the respondents like the decision while 12% laugh at our misfortunate...why we are so hated is beyond me (and yes, I get that winning a lot in basketball may have something to do with that, but by the same token, does the rest of the sporting world hate UCLA for their BB titles?)

As for the tourny you mentioned, just recall the NIT used to be the main tournament until it was supplanted by the NCAA tourney. If the Px want to break away and create a new one, who's to say they can be stopped? When LSU starts getting UConn level talent because of the money following into that program, the eyes will likely shift. Georgetown was great a long time ago, now not so much. I don't want UConn becoming like that.

As pointed out in this thread, the AD and pro-UConn media is dragging the school thru the mud because there is a <0% shot at the Big 12. It’s pure ignorance on their end and we are made fools because of it.

The fact Dave had to send out that email to control damage says it all.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

In other words there will arguments on selection Sunday about a team getting snubbed from tourney.

I've never seen that happen before! What a dangerous possibility the sports world faces with that potential!

Try reading it again.

Recently the arguments have been about the sixth, seventh, eighth school from say the B1G, ACC, whatever vs the third or fourth school from the A-10, MWC. In a decade it will be the 14th B1G vs the third Big East.

If you don't believe that this is what the plan is I don't know what to tell you.

 

[JMick]

LOL "Sabotaging getting us into a conference"

Yeah that is why we are where we are. Touch grass man.

I'm not talking about you. But you don't think Murphy's tweet was sabotage? Or the original leak?

 

[superjohn]

Try reading it again.

Recently the arguments have been about the sixth, seventh, eighth school from say the B1G, ACC, whatever vs the third or fourth school from the A-10, MWC. In a decade it will be the 14th B1G vs the third Big East.

If you don't believe that this is what the plan is I don't know what to tell you.

We don't know what things will look like in a decade. We don't even know if we'll be around.

The deck has been stacked against us for a very long time. People on this board have been talking about us being dead in college basketball for over a decade and here we are dominating the sport.

I'm not even sure some of you enjoy it when you're so busy talking about our death all these years.

 

[bendm]

as long as Hurley is here and getting paid and getting financial resources, I'd say yes even if the rest of the athletic department burns down around him.

having the best bball program in the country, one of the only two sports that matter, aint a bad consolation prize.

 

[August_West]

I'm not talking about you. But you don't think Murphy's tweet was sabotage? Or the original leak?

No. I think it was an opinion of his. One that happens to be held by many. It wasn't an outlandish opinion and it wasn't Sabatoging in the slightest nor was it intended as such. He shared a personal sentiment that I'm sure echoed with a lot of his constituents. And didn't echo with others. That's fine. Luckily he is a politician and has thick skin when it comes to disagreements and vitriol because the resulting thread and attacks directed at him by those who didn't share that opinion were probably the most embarrassed I've ever felt being a UConn fan.

and until someone proves to me otherwise, I think I will decline subscribing to all the conspiracy theories about this "original leak" because even if there was a leak, I have yet to be shown any evidence of it being born of anything other than some loser plying info for "in the know" clout.

But that original twitter thread did bring me some enjoyment. Because along with the attacks came heaping amounts of "mansplaining" conference realignment and why the earth is going to turn into a ball of ice and hurl into the sun if UConn doesnt get this Big12 invite by a bunch of dopes who think they understand anything about anything. You know me Jmick, Im always up for watching people make Scalitos of themselves , a mansplaining record may have been set. It's so prevalent with this topic there needs to be it's own term for it. ConfSplaining or ReAlignmentSplaining or something.

 

[John]

having the best bball program in the country, one of the only two sports that matter, aint a bad consolation prize.

if it comes to that it definitely puts us in our place as a state flagship university with big national aspirations.

 

[August_West]

if it comes to that it definitely puts us in our place as a state flagship university with big national aspirations.

Are we not repeatedly setting Application records and enrollment records on a yearly basis these days? And we are able to do this all without the affiliation with the mighty Big12 conference*? Seems to me out state flagship university credentials and aspirations are in a great spot right now.

*A conference by the way that is made up of Universities so far beneath UConn academically that we would probably take a ding by joining on that front.