Bost Globe:Invites held back because Marinatto wants to merge with MWC and CUSA

[zls44]

At $15 million a school, that means the TV deal would be $420-480 a YEAR. Never going to happen.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

We all know that you like to attack my posts. I don't need another post from you to learn that. You have a solution other than #BegHarder?

Yes, don't bury ourselves in mediocrity for a decade or so only to hope that we may emerge one day.

Hope harder appears to be your approach and I do not get it for the life of me (as for the most part you do appear to be pretty intelligent) as grasping at straws, hoping that one actually can be used as a safety tether is not a strategy.

The core problem still is what it has been since the football schools threatened (and backed off the second they were told they wouldn't fully get their way) to leave if they could not build a legitimate football conference a bit more than two decades ago. Were are serving two masters, not serving either well at all and using band-aids to attempt to repair severed limbs in order to keep this thing going.

I did propose an idea a few weeks back:
http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/maybe-were-looking-at-this-all-wrong.2786/#post-31586

There really isn't a whole lot that we can do here and what could have been done (i did post something in 2005 that was ridiculed by a few, I believe you included) stating that we (the entirety of the football membership) needed to view this as something permanent, like a marriage and at the same time try to model our schools and athletic programs after schools who we knew would always be safe (Michigan, North Carolina, Texas), schools who are attractive both athletically and academically, who have fan bases that will remain during less than stellar seasons. I questioned the intelligence of letting ESPN decide our football schedule (for the few extra dollars this was worth) as developing rivalries through season ending games (the only one we every really utilized was WVU-Pitt) and I complained that the idea that a random (at the time there were two schools that any BE school would not play and only three with return matchups) basketball schedule made any sense (again, for a few extra dollars up front).

If we were thinking long term (twenty, thirty years in the future) we would have had to accept the idea that the hybrid was nothing more than a crutch. We needed to build the UConn-Louisville men's basketball rivalry. We needed to capitalize fully on UConn-Cuse in men's basketball. We should have created two divisions (which we couldn't do as the supposed mantra was that we weren't really two distinct conference's) allowing the football membership to play home and home games with each other (filling out the schedule with some cross division games) and build or strengthen rivalries. This was an opportunity that we let slip by solely because we wanted to pretend that the model we had really was a conference (when in fact it was solely a collection of schools who, for the purposes of men's hoops was merely operating under the premise that it was a conference). During the stretch where our rivalry with Cuse in men's hoops could have been promoted as the new, top rivalry in the sport, We often played them once a season while ESPN promoted UNC-Duke to the point where the remainder of the ACC was left in the dust. We could have (and should have) demanded something back in 2005 (when the two most recent national champions were UConn & Cuse) close to what UNC-Duke received, promoting this rivalry as the marquee of the BE but not wanting to overshadow the catholic schools and taking the few extra upfront television dollars that no control over conference scheduling offered was more important.

We blew it. We didn't just blow it over the past six to eight weeks, this goes back years, decades. Thje most recent idea is a last gasp to keep the catholic schools aligned with the football schools because they are more worried than anyone. The bulk of the successful ones are afraid of being the only ones carrying around the dead weight at the bottom. The dead weight at the bottom is afraid that if they lose the football schools they may not be able to keep enough quality non football members to remain in a major conference. If this proposal (BIG USA) is the best we can do we are screwed, more royally than anything anyone could have predicted in August.

I still believe that this is not over. There will be no expansion beyond fourteen at the moment but shortly after the BCS allows a third school from one conference in a BCS bowl (the SEC has already petitioned for this), expansion to sixteen will quickly follow. This is where our opportunity will arrive as the SEC will move to sixteen and there is no way they will continue expanding west (unless OU can move without OSU).

 

[upstater]

The bottom line is unless the other AQ conferences are done expanding this is just temporary and most of the remaining BE fb schools will be going somewhere else within 5 years.

Maybe sooner so we don't go too far south and be a very weak addition to the remaining conferences.

If this idea causes the implosion of BE football (i.e. lowers the quality of recruits, play, coaching, and most importanly, $$$) one wonders whether UConn, Rutgers or Ville will be attractive enough for any of the AQ conferences in 5 years.

 

[UConnJim]

If this is an option, it means one thing. All of the football schools would leave in an instant and this would be the only way to allow teams to exit at will to a better conference, but allow the "left behinds" to still have a viable conference. In other words, we should expect more football detections soon. By the way, this is ND's dream scenario.

 

[ctchamps]

A whole thread discussing the merits and futility of the proposal in this Boston Globe article. Only one poster discussed the source of the article and its reliability. I find that interesting.

The article starts off stating it is conjecture. At least thats the impression I get when I read: "One of the reason the Big East may be holding off on any expansion announcements about potential new members........"

The operative word is may. This is just Blaudschun being creative imo.

The more rational explanation for the delay is everyone is waiting on Missouri and the future steps of the B12.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

That is the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time. It would kill our football program. If Marinatti is even considering this, he should be fired on the spot!

 

[alexd]

A whole thread discussing the merits and futility of the proposal in this Boston Globe article. Only one poster discussed the source of the article and its reliability. I find that interesting.

The article starts off stating it is conjecture. At least thats the impression I get when I read: "One of the reason the Big East may be holding off on any expansion announcements about potential new members........"

The operative word is may. This is just Blaudschun being creative imo.

The more rational explanation for the delay is everyone is waiting on Missouri and the future steps of the B12.

The article starts off by quoting from "documents obtained". I don't see the sentence about "..the Bug East may be holding off..." anywhere in the linked Boston.com article...

 

[HuskyNan]

It's the Globe so I won't put too much stock into this.

This story is too out there for consideration.

In recent times, the Globe has been ahead of a lot of papers with news regarding the Big East. It was way ahead of the CT papers during UConn's coach search, for example.

 

[ctchamps]

The article starts off by quoting from "documents obtained". I don't see the sentence about "..the Bug East may be holding off..." anywhere in the linked Boston.com article...

That's interesting. It has been revised because I linked to the article just prior to writing my post and that link had in the first line the sentence "The Big East may be holding off..."

Sometime in the last 35 minutes or so Blaudschaun changed the wording in his opening paragraph.

 

[RS9999X]

What's happening is inevitable. It's no different than pro sports.

The NBA has a proposal to downsize the league to 28 teams.

The money question will come down to whether the 62 BCS teams can stick together.

If it was pro-sports the Texas, Texas, Tech, Oklahoma, OSU rift would grow larger and the BCS would shrink. Wake and Duke and Virginia and Maryland wouldn't have a permanent place in BCS college football. The BCS would be looking at four 12 team super conferences. Vandy and Miss State would go for a long walk along with Washington State, Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State .

Stadium sizes and average attendance would be pushing 50,000 minimum to be considered.

 

[alexd]

That's interesting. It has been revised because I linked to the article just prior to writing my post and that link had in the first line the sentence "The Big East may be holding off..."

Sometime in the last 35 minutes or so Blaudschaun changed the wording in his opening paragraph.

That's what I was thinking....that is was revised. Before I posted, I even checked for a revision date/time on the article which many sites use.

 

[junglehusky]

It may be worth serious evaluation. But let's be clear what this would mean, it would lump every remaining Big East school into the non-BCS status. The strategy is to take the non-AQ schools, the Boises, Utah States, etc. (no more TCU or Utah, by the way) and attempt to strengthen their position by numbers. My worry would be that if this turns out to be a TV ratings success and generates money, the BCS will move to freeze out the non-BCS, perhaps by doing the superconference breakaway from the NCAA, without actually going to superconferences. This would position UConn on the wrong side of the divide.

 

[Revrat]

Reports are this was proposed by the MWC/ CUSA FOLKS. Big east is not expected to take it seriously.
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[SubbaBub]

This is stupid on many levels. Boiled down, this is the same as forfeiting the AQ bid. It might be better PR wise for Providence than the conference folding, but the two things are equivalent.

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[uconnfan68]

It may be worth serious evaluation. But let's be clear what this would mean, it would lump every remaining Big East school into the non-BCS status. The strategy is to take the non-AQ schools, the Boises, Utah States, etc. (no more TCU or Utah, by the way) and attempt to strengthen their position by numbers. My worry would be that if this turns out to be a TV ratings success and generates money, the BCS will move to freeze out the non-BCS, perhaps by doing the superconference breakaway from the NCAA, without actually going to superconferences. This would position UConn on the wrong side of the divide.

It's going to take something that drastic for people to notice it, and Congress to act on it. The NCAA needs to rightfully reclaim the governance of ALL college sports, as bad as they can be, the BCS is a total fraud.

 

[HuskyV]

This is exactly what the BCS conferences are hoping for - making everyone else second class citizens & allowing them to keep the big $$$ for themselves.

It is the same reason they are talking about paying players. They do not want to pay their student-athletes, but they know the competition can not afford to do so.

Voluntarily agreeing to such an situation makes no sense, unless you do not want to be in the football business.

 

[gars44]

This is exactly what the BCS conferences are hoping for - making everyone else second class citizens & allowing them to keep the big $$$ for themselves.

It is the same reason they are talking about paying players. They do not want to pay their student-athletes, but they know the competition can not afford to do so.

Voluntarily agreeing to such an situation makes no sense, unless you do not want to be in the football business.

I disagree, the conferences that are included are essentially the traditional feeding grounds for the big Marlins that everyone wants to catch. The bowls and TV want to see an 11-1 or 12-0 USC or Ohio State or Michigan or AL, or TX or any of the other favored ones. To get there they need teams to feed on. This is the purpose of conferences. So the contract has to be made with the entire conference. Everyone not lucky enough to be a feeder fish in one of these conferences is in fact a second class citizen.

Edited: Certain types of fish are too small to be considered by the big Marlins. They let their feeder fish eat the small fish so the feeder fish don't die. Rutgers and Uconn are these smaller fish that the Marlins let their feeder fish eat, but they don't want to eat them themselves. It's not that the small fish are that different from some of the feeder fish, and sometimes the small fish actually eat a feeder fish here and there. It's just, how many of them do you need in your pen?

 

[MattMang23]

I say merge us all. It could be the FBS equivalent of the FCS conference in which both Marist and San Diego compete.

 

[RS9999X]

This is stupid on many levels. Boiled down, this is the same as forfeiting the AQ bid. It might be better PR wise for Providence than the conference folding, but the two things are equivalent.

It's a gamble. If you want to force Notre Dame's hand this is one way. ND would be locked out of the BCS

If the 32 league together, ND is out unless 2 bids were guaranteed (AQ and at-large) and there was a specific ND and BYU clause.

OTOH, given that most of what Marionette does backfires, ND could go to the ACC and drag UConn along w/ them and BYU drag LU as the #12 to the B12.

 

[gars44]

It's a gamble. If you want to force Notre Dame's hand this is one way. ND would be locked out of the BCS

If the 32 league together, ND is out unless 2 bids were guaranteed (AQ and at-large) and there was a specific ND and BYU clause.

OTOH, given that most of what Marionette does backfires, ND could go to the ACC and drag UConn along w/ them and BYU drag LU as the #12 to the B12.

There will always be some type of ND exception unless they allow the program to degenerate into an Army or Yale/Harvard level.

 

[CL82]

Sigh...

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Only the Big East's contract is up for renewal. Would Comcast roll over the MWC's rights into the Big East's for more $$ if it's not contractually obligated to do so? That doesn't make any business sense.

That's why they in essence all agree to join the Big East, they all get the BE BCS Bid and get to negotiate a new contract when the Big East Does. I think it's crazy enough to possibly work.

 

[gars44]

This is stupid on many levels. Boiled down, this is the same as forfeiting the AQ bid. It might be better PR wise for Providence than the conference folding, but the two things are equivalent.

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What do you want to do, just sit and wait for them to take it away? The reason these scenarios are being circulated is because it is starting to sink around the BE conference circles that the AQ will go away without WVA, Boise, Air Force, Navy, etc., joining, and it appears that the BE is about to get poached again, and that these schools aren't joining up.

 

[RS9999X]

Let's run with this fantasy a bit.

Team that end up on the lower half of the bracket will sport 3-4 records at the top. The two teams that then run the table of the weaklings ends up 8-4. Bowl ready.

Same with the 8 teams that go 4-3 and get knocked out of the round of 16. The two 7-5 teams would look pretty good in terms of SOS or RPI.

Then the 8 teams that play the round of eight and semis? All will look good on paper.

Pretty much any variation will yeild a good selection of bowl teams: better than the 6-6 mess that exists now

 

[RS9999X]

If they run a playoff of 8 teams starting just before Thansgiving (week 10) I think they will get some ratings leading to the AQ game.

Round of 8
SMU v Houston
UConn v Cincy
Southern Miss v UAB
Boise v Nevada

Semis:
Houston v Cincy
Southern Miss v Boise

Finals
Cincy v Boise

That gets me all excited.