Big 12

[Corny2Amida]

Actually I don't think there was a single Connecticut sport that was self supporting last year including men's and women's basketball. Everyone ran a deficit.

I believe now that the Kevin Ollie payments are finished, basketball will no longer have deficits...

 

[ElGreco]

Would you trade places with them for their decade plus of ACC money?

Nooooo!!!

 

[CL82]

I believe now that the Kevin Ollie payments are finished, basketball will no longer have deficits...

I'm not sure that's correct. In any event only two payments were made to Kevin Ollie and they were both made in the same fiscal year, if I recall correctly.

I do think that men's basketball has the opportunity to break even, give or take a bit this year given that there likely will be more ticket revenue this year.

 

[Marbles90]

How has that worked out for Syracuse or Pitt or BC?

Isn’t all about winning national championships? I forget, how many national championships did BC and Pitt win while they were in the Big East?

 

[John]

I believe now that the Kevin Ollie payments are finished, basketball will no longer have deficits...

?

 

[Viet Vet]

What does Title IX have to do with football programs breaking off into their own conferences?

Nothing.........................IF those programs don't attempt to drop women's teams. Title IX is not about equal participation in NCAA sports, it's about equal participation in college sports.

 

[Fishy]

See. Here’s the thing. You don’t actually know this. It is just more CR puffery. No one knows anything. I don’t know how many times one has to get T-bagged in the CR carousel to finally realize that no one ever knows anything.
It’s flippin amazing reading all this crap all the time .
I will grant that your opening sentence seems inevitable. But you don’t KNOW this and even if it is fact ( and it’s not) you still have no idea of when.

This is all getting to be pretty sad, but I find it so amusing because of posts like this ( (and threads like this) I have a hard time shedding tears .

I guess if you’ve paid like zero attention to college sports, the concept of the power conferences separating from the NCAA likely seems impossible, but it’s going to happen.

 

[Fishy]

The ratings won't be there if they cut out UConn, Gonzaga, Villanova, etc. and they certainly won't be there if there are no cinderellas.

What part of the last 20 years makes you think that they care about UConn or need UConn to do whatever it is that they do?

 

[superjohn]

I guess if you’ve paid like zero attention to college sports, the concept of the power conferences separating from the NCAA likely seems impossible, but it’s going to happen.

Who cares at that point, it would be the end of college sports.

 

[Rico444]

What part of the last 20 years makes you think that they care about UConn or need UConn to do whatever it is that they do?

That's not what I said. I said it would be incredibly stupid and would make them less money. If they don't care about that because of uniformity, then fine, but there's no chance an NBA Jr. tournament where they're trying to sell us on Vanderbilt and Washington being the cinderellas is going to get anywhere close to the same ratings as the NCAA tournament does.

 

[uconnfan68]

Nothing.........................IF those programs don't attempt to drop women's teams. Title IX is not about equal participation in NCAA sports, it's about equal participation in college sports.

Dropping Title IX is probably very high on pols from SEC states lists.

 

[superjohn]

Dropping Title IX is probably very high on pols from SEC states lists.

Big 10 has been far worse in all this than the SEC.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Why is the ACC not an option? BC still being a bunch of clowns? It's decent football even if Clemson and FSU leave and basketball is very good with some good rivalries.

The ACC is another dying conference. I feel like we'd be the college athletics' equivalent of scavenger moving from one rotting carcass to another. I couldn't get the analogy exactly right, but you get my point.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Ok, no discussing NIL money “wink wink”.
Got it LOL. By the way, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.

The point is if the schools themselves aren’t supposed to discuss nil pre commitment they aren’t going to start allowing them to distribute money. You’re making a very large assumption without anything to back it up. Sounds like someone already sold you a bridge

 

[EnochRoot]

Wait until the courts rule that student athletes are employees of the college. Then you're going to see unionization, and in short order likely demands that include far less travel time away from their studies.

The super conferences that are coast to coast might start thinking about contraction, particularly if it doesn't affect their bottom line.

Oh, and the ACC is considering inviting Cal and Stanford? I mean, I guess the ACC would then stand for the Any Coast Conference.

 

[storrsroars]

Oh, and the ACC is considering inviting Cal and Stanford? I mean, I guess the ACC would then stand for the Any Coast Conference.

I'll be interested to see if the ACC actually moves forward with that. I don't think it would behoove them to have any potential new members try to negotiate GOR terms.

 

[Scrutineer]

I'll be interested to see if the ACC actually moves forward with that. I don't think it would behoove them to have any potential new members try to negotiate GOR terms.

Cal would be a really plum addition......

 

[CL82]

Isn’t all about winning national championships? I forget, how many national championships did BC and Pitt win while they were in the Big East?

1*

 

[HuskyHawk]

Isn’t all about winning national championships? I forget, how many national championships did BC and Pitt win while they were in the Big East?

No. If this whole process hasn't made that clear, basketball championships are seen as flukes. What matters is regularly being in the mix for one. Alabama getting a #1 overall seed probably did more for them than our title did for us. North Carolina losing to Kansas helped validate Hubert Davis. Even in football, nobody downgraded Ohio State or Alabama because Georgia won.

BC has been riding the Doug Flutie magic forever, but also produced Matt Ryan and Hasselback. Pitt has Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin and has the 4th most NFL Hall of Famers of any school. The did win a NC in 1976. You can say all of that is "old news" but in college football especially it matters. Our lack of history is a giant boat anchor weighing us down.

 

[Marbles90]

No. If this whole process hasn't made that clear, basketball championships are seen as flukes. What matters is regularly being in the mix for one. Alabama getting a #1 overall seed probably did more for them than our title did for us. North Carolina losing to Kansas helped validate Hubert Davis. Even in football, nobody downgraded Ohio State or Alabama because Georgia won.

BC has been riding the Doug Flutie magic forever, but also produced Matt Ryan and Hasselback. Pitt has Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin and has the 4th most NFL Hall of Famers of any school. The did win a NC in 1976. You can say all of that is "old news" but in college football especially it matters. Our lack of history is a giant boat anchor weighing us down.

yes, my friend. I agree with you. I was replying (sarcastically) to the comment that we don't want to end up like BC and Pitt.

I have been basically saying the same thing in all the 45+ re-alignment threads to all the folks who are scratching their heads about how much "value" we have compared other current P5 teams. We have almost zero history or tradition in football. We have a fickle northeast fanbase that only supports teams that are winning and have many other pro sports to follow when we are down. We have been historically bad for the majority of our FBS existence and our move back to the Big East and canceling 2020 was a sign to the world that we gave up on football. Mora has breathed some life into the program, but one 6-7 season isn't moving the needle all that much.

Our basketball didn't save us the first time around and it doesn't seem like it will this time. I don't get why people are shocked when teams already in the P5 have more perceived value and gets an invite over us. And I would not be shocked when OSU or WSU get in somewhere before us. We like to point out market, brand, other sports success, and national championships which we have and are proud of. But I can't believe people have not figured out that all of that matters much less in media $$ value when compared to football value.

 

[JohnFSilver]

UConn basketball will always have the budget to compete at the highest level. Every other sport will see a reduced budget well before basketball. Basketball is self supporting with the revenue they bring in anyways

Who told you that?

That isn’t a curate. Very program, when you account for cost and transfer, runs a deficit, even the women’s team.

 

[superjohn]

No. If this whole process hasn't made that clear, basketball championships are seen as flukes. What matters is regularly being in the mix for one. Alabama getting a #1 overall seed probably did more for them than our title did for us. North Carolina losing to Kansas helped validate Hubert Davis. Even in football, nobody downgraded Ohio State or Alabama because Georgia won.

BC has been riding the Doug Flutie magic forever, but also produced Matt Ryan and Hasselback. Pitt has Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin and has the 4th most NFL Hall of Famers of any school. The did win a NC in 1976. You can say all of that is "old news" but in college football especially it matters. Our lack of history is a giant boat anchor weighing us down.

Your first paragraph is totally insane.

 

[upstater]

No. If this whole process hasn't made that clear, basketball championships are seen as flukes. What matters is regularly being in the mix for one. Alabama getting a #1 overall seed probably did more for them than our title did for us. North Carolina losing to Kansas helped validate Hubert Davis. Even in football, nobody downgraded Ohio State or Alabama because Georgia won.

BC has been riding the Doug Flutie magic forever, but also produced Matt Ryan and Hasselback. Pitt has Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin and has the 4th most NFL Hall of Famers of any school. The did win a NC in 1976. You can say all of that is "old news" but in college football especially it matters. Our lack of history is a giant boat anchor weighing us down.

I think you're overestimating how long memories last. 1976 was a very long time ago.

In the memory of 95% of fans, many decades ago means nothing.

If anything, the P5 designation is the difficulty.

Younger fans are like, P5, P5, P5, they know nothing else. I see those tweets all the time.

 

[upstater]

yes, my friend. I agree with you. I was replying (sarcastically) to the comment that we don't want to end up like BC and Pitt.

I have been basically saying the same thing in all the 45+ re-alignment threads to all the folks who are scratching their heads about how much "value" we have compared other current P5 teams. We have almost zero history or tradition in football. We have a fickle northeast fanbase that only supports teams that are winning and have many other pro sports to follow when we are down. We have been historically bad for the majority of our FBS existence and our move back to the Big East and canceling 2020 was a sign to the world that we gave up on football. Mora has breathed some life into the program, but one 6-7 season isn't moving the needle all that much.

Our basketball didn't save us the first time around and it doesn't seem like it will this time. I don't get why people are shocked when teams already in the P5 have more perceived value and gets an invite over us. And I would not be shocked when OSU or WSU get in somewhere before us. We like to point out market, brand, other sports success, and national championships which we have and are proud of. But I can't believe people have not figured out that all of that matters much less in media $$ value when compared to football value.

OSU and WSU and football value? BC and football value? What am I missing here.

This is what is strange about this conversation: the huge move to consolidated conferences is happening because of a perceived move to break with the NCAA. Once that happens, the value of basketball skyrockets in relation to football.

So we can't talk about one factor, the super conferences, without talking about the other, the increased importance of basketball.

 

[FriarJ]

Hypothetically Revenue from Basketball might be $10,000,000 expenses $8,000,000 so you make a profit on Men’s basketball of $2,000,000 . Nice but it’s no program carrier .Although it’s solvent. it’s only 10% of the Athletic budget which is losing $40-50 million a year an amount that is subsidized by state taxpayers .
You’re one economic downturn away from Draconian budget cut demands from the state legislature.
In that scenario half your sports are dropped and you adopt the financial structure of our Big East conference mates . for example Nova last budget was $39,000,000 and I suspect that’s on the high side for our conference mates
Getting into a league that pays significant money takes that pressure off . If you can keep the deficits in the $10-20million range and your football teams successful everyone is happy.
If you’re successful in a league where football is valued , those fans travel which increases tax revenue to the state . Coming to Connecticut in Autumn and staying a few days means millions to the state
I read somewhere that the State of Alabama makes an estimated $1billion. a year in additional revenue on college football. Even if the Connecticut’s is a fraction of that it’s enough to offset the subsidy. As a visitor to CT the car rental tax alone is mind boggling.

PC’s is 43 million. Without FB or baseball.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Your first paragraph is totally insane.

Read all the comments from all the fans and media during all of this process and you will see it is the view held by most people. Haven't you seen last year's NC called "Lucky" despite our clear dominance? Certainly 2014 actually was lucky. 2011 is often treated the same way. The average fan probably thinks more of Gonzaga than UConn because they always get a high seed every year. Championships are not the measuring stick for realignment. Otherwise the B1G wouldn't be the most valuable conference.

UConn needs to get a #1-2 seed and go deep again this year. And the year after, and the year after that. We did that in the 00s, but not really since. On the football side, same thing. Bowl eligible, bowl eligible, bowl eligible...again and again. Winning some bowl games would help.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think you're overestimating how long memories last. 1976 was a very long time ago.

In the memory of 95% of fans, many decades ago means nothing.

If anything, the P5 designation is the difficulty.

Younger fans are like, P5, P5, P5, they know nothing else. I see those tweets all the time.

Of course it is. Most fans don't know about it. But they had Pickett in the first round two years ago. They aren't Alabama or Ohio State, but they aren't a garbage football program either. P5 is absolutely treated differently. To get in you can't just be as good as the lower half of P5 programs, you need to be better than them year after year.

 

[FriarJ]

PC’s is 43 million. Without FB or baseball.

I should add though you are right, it is the upper end.

PC 43
Georgetown 42
Nova 39
St. John’s 39
Marquette 38

 

[kemba]

Read all the comments from all the fans and media during all of this process and you will see it is the view held by most people. Haven't you seen last year's NC called "Lucky" despite our clear dominance?

By fans, that’s called when you are good you have a lot of haters, that’s all.

Who in the media is calling last years title lucky or is saying it’s better to be a #1 seed and come up short?

 

[Khal Drogo]

Wait until the courts rule that student athletes are employees of the college. Then you're going to see unionization, and in short order likely demands that include far less travel time away from their studies.

The super conferences that are coast to coast might start thinking about contraction, particularly if it doesn't affect their bottom line.

Oh, and the ACC is considering inviting Cal and Stanford? I mean, I guess the ACC would then stand for the Any Coast Conference.

If student athletes become employees that means Workers Comp would cover their sports injuries. Not just lifetime medical expenses but permanent and total disability. Football schools would go broke.