Could UConn leave the Big East if conference realignment revs up again?

[CL82]

Anything pre August of 1973 doesn’t count as an NCAA Championship

True, but we were talking national championships not NCAA championships.

 

[Tank]

For 2019, UCONN FB averaged a little over 10,200 in actual home attendance for each game. There are women’s basketball teams that draw larger average crowds.

Tickets scanned​

Wagner: 10,701
Illinois: 14,133
South Florida: 10,715
Houston: 9,563
Navy: 10,462
East Carolina: 6,142
Average: 10,286

 

[CONN78SEJ]

For 2019, UCONN FB averaged a little over 10,200 in actual home attendance for each game. There are women’s basketball teams that draw larger average crowds.

Tickets scanned​

Wagner: 10,701
Illinois: 14,133
South Florida: 10,715
Houston: 9,563
Navy: 10,462
East Carolina: 6,142
Average: 10,286

I think there’s only one.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Syracuse, BC, Louisville were part of the ESPN plan to destroy the BE, period. The others have been members of their current conferences long before any of this garbage, except Colorado, who somewhat fits your otherwise flawed reply.
If you don’t think all of this is about football $, why don’t we talk about a bridge I just put on the market?

Nice fairy tale, and I wouldn’t take your stupid bridge if it was free. ESPN never killed the Big East. The Big East killed themselves when the Catholic Basketball schools voted no to inviting Penn State in 1982. I’d brush up on your history if I were you.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

No university gets an invitation to the SEC, ACC, B1G or the PAC12 unless they have a big time football program. Big time as in financially attractive to ESPN. FB pays the bills, always has. Those conferences are not looking to add new members that don’t “pay their way”.

The B1G paid out $54million to each of its 14 members last year. They aren’t dividing the pie more unless a new member(s) can bring the kind of pull needed to renegotiate the TV deal so that revenue and payments go up, not down. Think ND. Don’t think UCONN.

Same for the ACC, which paid $34million to each member, it’s ND or they take a hard pass. They don’t want to divide their pie into more pieces either unless the new member will pay their own way by enticing a new tv deal with ESPN. WV does not move the needle for ESPN, and only gets an ACC invite if ND enters first.

The SEC is getting ready to pay it’s members $61 million each. Once Texas/OU are officially in, that is expected to be renegotiated with ESPN to approximately $70million each, because Texas and OU bring big time FB programs to the table. They “pay their way” and add to the pie.

UCONN isn’t going to get any invites into conferences like that because they would be revenue draining rather than revenue adding. The schools in the last 4 major conferences already dwarf all others in revenue and annual payments to member schools. This will widen much much more as time goes by.

If anyone thinks that those riches won’t find their way into the NIL system for student athletes they are kidding themselves.

Said the physics professor who stamped their checks with passing grades.

 

[Tank]

I think there’s only one.

Two…

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_RB/2021/Attend.pdf

 

[Tank]

Anyone remember this article written just after UCONN decided to leave the AAC for the BE? In hindsight the author was spot on….

 

[HopJim]

Doesn’t seem to bother BC or Syracuse flying all over the eastern third of the country. Not to mention a few OOC trips to Texas, sunny California or Hawaii.

BC and Syracuse may have benefited financially on the football side, but its been years since their overall athletic program has been relevant in terms of wins and losses. Not sure this is a path for UConn to take.

 

[visitingcock]

The big schools have athletic dept. revenues in the $170 to $240 million range. Don't think we are in that club.

Only a handful of the REALLY big schools in MegaConferences have revenue like that.

Let's assume that the shakeout is going to be 4 FOUR 16-20 team conferences. That's 64-80 teams. Included will be private schools that don't have to report their finances like giants Stanford, Southern Cal, Notre Dame, and charity wealthy like Northwestern, Vandy, Wake Forest and a small handful of others. The rest will be school in the top 50 or 60 revenue producers. UConn does have a budget on the lower range. Would probably not make if four 16 team conferences emerge, but probably would if it's four 20 team conferences - if budgets are the criteria.

NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY

Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.

sports.usatoday.com

---------------------------------------------------------------TOTAL REVENUE---------TOTAL EXPENSES (2018-2019)

1	Texas	Big 12	$223,879,781	$204,234,897	$0	0.00
2	Texas A&M	SEC	$212,748,002	$169,012,456	$0	0.00
3	Ohio State	Big Ten	$210,548,239	$220,572,956	$0	0.00
4	Michigan	Big Ten	$197,820,410	$190,952,175	$261,773	0.13
5	Georgia	SEC	$174,042,482	$143,299,554	$3,508,850	2.02
6	Penn State	Big Ten	$164,529,326	$160,369,805	$0	0.00
7	Alabama	SEC	$164,090,889	$185,317,681	$2,654,551	1.62
8	Oklahoma	Big 12	$163,126,695	$157,958,270	$0	0.00
9	Florida	SEC	$159,706,937	$141,829,002	$2,261,773	1.42
10	LSU	SEC	$157,787,782	$148,977,880	$0	0.00
11	Wisconsin	Big Ten	$157,660,107	$154,621,828	$3,029,000	1.92
12	Florida State	ACC	$152,757,883	$150,147,316	$15,607,019	10.22
13	Auburn	SEC	$152,455,416	$139,260,711	$5,261,252	3.45
14	Iowa	Big Ten	$151,976,026	$146,282,275	$650,000	0.43
15	Kentucky	SEC	$150,435,842	$144,886,246	$0	0.00
16	Tennessee	SEC	$143,765,903	$142,976,173	$0	0.00
17	South Carolina	SEC	$140,695,659	$136,879,732	$0	0.00
18	Michigan State	Big Ten	$140,010,865	$135,655,740	$885,690	0.63
19	Louisville	ACC	$139,955,824	$151,167,940	$5,923,817	4.23
20	Arkansas	SEC	$137,497,788	$129,620,361	$0	0.00
21	Nebraska	Big Ten	$136,233,460	$124,148,206	$0	0.00
22	Clemson	ACC	$133,861,515	$131,978,513	$5,602,440	4.19
23	Washington	Pac-12	$133,792,677	$131,317,636	$4,151,964	3.10
24	Minnesota	Big Ten	$130,456,454	$129,450,256	$7,972,732	6.11
25	Indiana	Big Ten	$127,832,628	$114,822,135	$2,954,505	2.31
26	Oregon	Pac-12	$127,508,498	$128,943,543	$452,924	0.36
27	Arizona State	Pac-12	$121,698,840	$118,404,377	$19,356,134	15.90
28	Kansas	Big 12	$121,553,307	$108,881,800	$1,746,274	1.44
29	Illinois	Big Ten	$118,565,501	$120,168,951	$8,652,815	7.30
30	Mississippi State	SEC	$112,273,809	$98,832,615	$0	0.00
31	Purdue	Big Ten	$110,844,907	$102,026,477	$0	0.00
32	Virginia	ACC	$110,219,117	$112,621,238	$18,429,801	16.72
33	Maryland	Big Ten	$108,796,303	$108,785,924	$25,363,715	23.31
34	Mississippi	SEC	$108,442,428	$113,013,400	$3,095,396	2.85
35	UCLA	Pac-12	$108,412,967	$127,339,042	$2,577,213	2.38
36	North Carolina	ACC	$107,812,619	$110,809,706	$9,163,374	8.50
37	Missouri	SEC	$106,610,244	$108,398,447	$1,015,000	0.95
38	Arizona	Pac-12	$105,091,389	$100,565,835	$21,886,167	20.83
39	Rutgers	Big Ten	$103,251,280	$103,167,344	$29,859,395	28.92
40	West Virginia	Big 12	$102,680,928	$98,249,890	$3,902,899	3.80
41	Utah	Pac-12	$99,526,695	$96,000,514	$12,594,513	12.65
42	Virginia Tech	ACC	$96,772,489	$93,961,068	$10,278,338	10.62
43	Texas Tech	Big 12	$96,625,347	$95,132,604	$3,517,672	3.64
44	Iowa State	Big 12	$95,411,884	$95,315,376	$2,054,314	2.15
45	Oklahoma State	Big 12	$95,335,482	$95,008,483	$87,640	0.09
46	Colorado	Pac-12	$94,935,198	$98,413,284	$12,283,025	12.94
47	North Carolina State	ACC	$92,724,548	$90,100,025	$6,851,989	7.39
48	Kansas State	Big 12	$89,919,822	$83,079,244	$0	0.00
49	California	Pac-12	$87,500,758	$106,676,734	$0	0.00
50	Georgia Tech	ACC	$85,802,112	$96,334,831	$8,257,182	9.62
51	Oregon State	Pac-12	$82,058,386	$82,364,021	$11,811,725	14.39
52	Connecticut	AAC	$80,900,404	$80,814,173	$43,856,484	54.21
53	Houston	AAC	$75,049,955	$73,678,308	$48,372,196	64.45
54	Washington State	Pac-12	$71,691,339	$76,258,966	$5,462,015	7.62
55	Central Florida	AAC	$69,121,887	$67,916,343	$31,739,067	45.92
56	Cincinnati	AAC	$68,845,672	$66,832,326	$29,702,420	43.14
57	Air Force	Mt. West	$60,009,782	$54,192,115	$40,851,962	68.08
58	East Carolina	AAC	$59,970,346	$56,281,920	$37,692,722	62.85
59	Colorado State	Mt. West	$56,081,379	$54,289,162	$23,735,343	42.32
60	Memphis	AAC	$55,815,109	$55,494,325	$20,575,512	36.86
61	South Florida	AAC	$55,045,769	$53,569,756	$32,033,551	58.19
62	San Diego State	Mt. West	$54,731,404	$55,379,174	$29,222,098	53.39
63	James Madison	CAA	$52,704,654	$52,704,654	$42,086,075	79.85
64	Nevada-Las Vegas	Mt. West	$50,784,275	$50,445,250	$23,562,155	46.40

 

[Tank]

Actually, UCONN revenue is now at $35.3 million. AD total expenditures were $78.8 million, resulting in a deficit of $43.5 million. Click on the usatoday article above, then click on UCONN for the breakdown of that “reported” $80million dollar revenue. $35million comes from the schools pockets to make up shortages and $8.7million comes from added student fees to help compensate. The school is losing over $43million per year and growing, with real revenues at about $35.3 million/year and dropping.

UConn athletic budget deficit increases to $43.5 million

The deficit is slightly higher than the $42.3 million from the year before and remains...

www.nhregister.com

 

[visitingcock]

Actually, UCONN revenue is now at $35.3 million. AD total expenditures were $78.8 million, resulting in a deficit of $43.5 million.

UConn athletic budget deficit increases to $43.5 million

The deficit is slightly higher than the $42.3 million from the year before and remains...

www.nhregister.com

Well, you Northerners don't mind paying taxes.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

BC and Syracuse may have benefited financially on the football side, but its been years since their overall athletic program has been relevant in terms of wins and losses. Not sure this is a path for UConn to take.

It’s absolutely all about UConn benefiting financially on the football side. You’re saying joining a power conference is detrimental to a schools success on the court or the field?????? Syracuse does btw have an excellent women’s basketball program and the men’s coach is in the HOF. Geez

 

[Tank]

BC and Syracuse may have benefited financially on the football side, but its been years since their overall athletic program has been relevant in terms of wins and losses. Not sure this is a path for UConn to take.

Running an annual deficit in excess of $43million isn’t the path either, unless you are looking to have even more athletic programs eliminated than the four recently announced. UCONN is now only four programs away from the absolute minimum needed for an athletics department to operate at D1 level.

With FB losing over $16million a year on its own, UCONN will have to eventually make the tough decision to take that program back to the FCS level. No, that is not an easy choice, but unless more programs are going to be eliminated, that decision will eventually have to be made.

Losing $43million a year (most in the nation) isn’t sustainable for long.

 

[CL82]

I think there’s only one.

 

[Tank]

There are two WBB programs (SC and Oregon) which average more in attendance than Husky FB. Apparently there can be more than one……

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_RB/2021/Attend.pdf

 

[CL82]

There are two WBB programs (SC and Oregon) which average more in attendance than Husky FB. Apparently there can be more than one……

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_RB/2021/Attend.pdf

My message is a riff off of @CONN78SEJ's correction of your grammar error.

There can be only one UConn woman's basketball program.

 

[Littlemin]

Nice fairy tale, and I wouldn’t take your stupid bridge if it was free. ESPN never killed the Big East. The Big East killed themselves when the Catholic Basketball schools voted no to inviting Penn State in 1982. I’d brush up on your history if I were you.

Yeah because the BE was just another conference after that; you’re the one espousing the importance of sports other than football and you prove my point because the greatest basketball conference in the history of CBB couldn’t hold itself together against the back door politicking of ESPN. You haven’t a clue.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Yeah because the BE was just another conference after that; you’re the one espousing the importance of sports other than football and you prove my point because the greatest basketball conference in the history of CBB couldn’t hold itself together against the back door politicking of ESPN. You haven’t a clue.

OK

 

[Tank]

The decision to leave the AAC was made for basketball, but in doing so it completely chopped the legs off of the FB program, forcing it to independent status without a conference tv/media stream of revenue.

Now, saddled by a FB program bleeding close to $20million per year and an athletic department losing close to $45million per year, the school is forced to drop other sports. Independent status for FB only works if you are a ND with your own TV contract and a huge National following.

There will be no power four/five invitations sent to UCONN, not even if or when realignment goes to perhaps 4 conferences of 16 or more teams. Those invites will be exclusively for schools with healthy FB programs and those that can help a league generate more revenue. With the power conferences now paying their members between $30m and $60m per year (and climbing fast), those on the outside are looking at a bleak future.

UCONN generates around $34m per year in actual revenue when you subtract the money which the school must subsidize from their own pockets and student fees. They spend close to $80m annually on sports. The annual $44-45m deficit cannot sustain for long. Hard decisions are coming. There will not be a power conference lifeline to rescue UCONN.

The Athletic Dept. over the past ten years has failed in almost every conceivable way to maneuver the school in the new era. It is a sad tale of events highlighted in the SI article attached. The day comes when the best players and coaches will be found where the money is found.

UConn Has Only Itself to Blame for Sports Cuts

A series of mistakes around its football program over the last decade cost the Huskies four sports.

www.si.com

 

[CONN78SEJ]

The decision to leave the AAC was made for basketball, but in doing so it completely chopped the legs off of the FB program, forcing it to independent status without a conference tv/media stream of revenue.

Now, saddled by a FB program bleeding close to $20million per year and an athletic department losing close to $45million per year, the school is forced to drop other sports. Independent status for FB only works if you are a ND with your own TV contract and a huge National following.

There will be no power four/five invitations sent to UCONN, not even if or when realignment goes to perhaps 4 conferences of 16 or more teams. Those invites will be exclusively for schools with healthy FB programs and those that can help a league generate more revenue. With the power conferences now paying their members between $30m and $60m per year (and climbing fast), those on the outside are looking at a bleak future.

UCONN generates around $34m per year in actual revenue when you subtract the money which the school must subsidize from their own pockets and student fees. They spend close to $80m annually on sports. The annual $44-45m deficit cannot sustain for long. Hard decisions are coming. There will not be a power conference lifeline to rescue UCONN.

The Athletic Dept. over the past ten years has failed in almost every conceivable way to maneuver the school in the new era. It is a sad tale of events highlighted in the SI article attached. The day comes when the best players and coaches will be found where the money is found.

UConn Has Only Itself to Blame for Sports Cuts

A series of mistakes around its football program over the last decade cost the Huskies four sports.

www.si.com

I take it you are not a season ticket holder or the father of a recruit Coach Edsall is recruiting?

 

[CL82]

The decision to leave the AAC was made for basketball, but in doing so it completely chopped the legs off of the FB program, forcing it to independent status without a conference tv/media stream of revenue.

Now, saddled by a FB program bleeding close to $20million per year and an athletic department losing close to $45million per year, the school is forced to drop other sports. Independent status for FB only works if you are a ND with your own TV contract and a huge National following.

There will be no power four/five invitations sent to UCONN, not even if or when realignment goes to perhaps 4 conferences of 16 or more teams. Those invites will be exclusively for schools with healthy FB programs and those that can help a league generate more revenue. With the power conferences now paying their members between $30m and $60m per year (and climbing fast), those on the outside are looking at a bleak future.

UCONN generates around $34m per year in actual revenue when you subtract the money which the school must subsidize from their own pockets and student fees. They spend close to $80m annually on sports. The annual $44-45m deficit cannot sustain for long. Hard decisions are coming. There will not be a power conference lifeline to rescue UCONN.

The Athletic Dept. over the past ten years has failed in almost every conceivable way to maneuver the school in the new era. It is a sad tale of events highlighted in the SI article attached. The day comes when the best players and coaches will be found where the money is found.

UConn Has Only Itself to Blame for Sports Cuts

A series of mistakes around its football program over the last decade cost the Huskies four sports.

www.si.com

The decision to leave the AAC contributes to UConn deficit for football how exactly? On a net basis UConn in the Big East, a basketball only conference, makes the same (or more) money than they would in the American. We didn't have to invest in production facilities, which was a requirement under the ESPN contract. On a go forward basis we don't have to pay for production costs and the move from the AAC says us @$2M annually in travel costs.

There are arguments to be made that leaving the American hurts the football program (loss of bowl access, scheduling challenges etc.) but the net impact to the bottom line isn't one of them.

Also, if you want to talk about the football program, perhaps the women's basketball forum isn't the most logical place to do it?

#trollbetter

 

[Ozimoto]

UConn is not the only school that is in this situation, though they may be deeper in the mud than many. As the landscape of college football changes with realignment and the continuing erosion of revenue from sports television continues, I foresee a limited number of "blue blood" programs continuing to operate successfully. The next round of TV contracts are not going to be as lucrative. They simply can't be. The majority of schools will not have the economic firepower to maintain a meaningful football program on a national scale in the coming years. The game will become regional again with regional rivalries that hold some interest so there will still be games worth attending, but I see only a dozen or so programs that will garner national attention and the revenue that goes with it. I don't see the idea of super conferences of 20 teams as being realistic or sustainable.

 

[CL82]

UConn is not the only school that is in this situation, though they may be deeper in the mud than many. As the landscape of college football changes with realignment and the continuing erosion of revenue from sports television continues, I foresee a limited number of "blue blood" programs continuing to operate successfully. The next round of TV contracts are not going to be as lucrative. They simply can't be. The majority of schools will not have the economic firepower to maintain a meaningful football program on a national scale in the coming years. The game will become regional again with regional rivalries that hold some interest so there will still be games worth attending, but I see only a dozen or so programs that will garner national attention and the revenue that goes with it. I don't see the idea of super conferences of 20 teams as being realistic or sustainable.

That sounds ideal in some ways. The problem is that a football program is expensive to maintain regardless of whether it operates on "a national scale" or not. The apparent solution then seems for most schools to cut football. The issue with that is that football is the source of the money for major conferences.

The Big 10 distributes @ $55M annually to each school for media rights; the SEC @ $42M (which will soon increase) and the ACC pays each school @ $32M. (Those are from memory but the are likely no more than a few million off.) The Big East distributes @$4M per each school. That differential means that the big football schools have more spending power for coaches and facilities than non P5 schools. Eventually that will price out all sports, including woman's basketball, from being able to compete for recruits (due to facility and staff differences) and coaches. UConn is well positioned to survive this longer than most, if not all, non "national football" schools, but they will not be able to do so forever. I don't see a solution to that.

 

[Tank]

. Earlier this year, the AAC proudly announced its billion-dollar deal with ESPN, set to take effect in 2020-21. On paper, that deal yields about $7 million per school annually. The Big East, by contrast, gives its schools about $4.16 million per year.The decision to leave the AAC contributes to UConn deficit for football how exactly? On a net basis UConn in the Big East, a basketball only conference, makes the same (or more) money than they would in the American. We didn't have to invest in production facilities, which was a requirement under the ESPN contract. On a go forward basis we don't have to pay for production costs and the move from the AAC says us @$2M annually in travel costs.

There are arguments to be made that leaving the American hurts the football program (loss of bowl access, scheduling challenges etc.) but the net impact to the bottom line isn't one of them.

Also, if you want to talk about the football program, perhaps the women's basketball forum isn't the most logical place to do it?

#trollbetter

UCONN paid over $17m to leave the AAC, which pays it‘s members over $7m each per year. UCONN is paying the Big East $3.5m to enter the conference which pays it’s members a little over $4m per year.

The bigger concern of course, is that FB now Is without any conference affiliation in a time when media/tv rights for FB are accelerating. That new AAC $1billion media/tv deal looks better all the time, especially if they grow it going forward. Explain how UCONN FB gets revenue growth going forward.

 

[CL82]

UCONN paid over $17m to leave the AAC, which pays it‘s members over $7m each per year. UCONN is paying the Big East $3.5m to enter the conference which pays it’s members a little over $4m per year.

The bigger concern of course, is that FB now Is without any conference affiliation in a time when media/tv rights for FB are accelerating. The AAC’s new $1 billion media/TV contract begins in 2021, how’s that for timing?

Pretty good, actually. The economics of the change of deal is explained in the post above. Did you read it? It is a net positive annually to UConn. Additionally Connecticut already has a deal that pays for it’s independent football games. How’s that for timing?