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

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

Carnac

Carnac

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Right now, it’s all speculation. But don’t speculate that UConn is packing for a Big East departure. That won’t be happening anytime soon — if ever. “We didn’t join the Big East to leave,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said back in May, 2020, a little over a month before UConn officially re-joined the league. “They didn’t bring us in to leave, and we didn’t join to leave.” Plus, if things were to follow a similar model as UConn’s departure from the American Athletic Conference, the school would have to pay an ACC entry fee. The entry fee to join the Big East was $3.5 million.

www.ctinsider.com

Could UConn leave the Big East if conference realignment revs up again? Not very likely.

With news that Texas and Oklahoma are angling to leave the Big XII, conference...
www.ctinsider.com www.ctinsider.com
 
UConn isn't going anywhere. The other teams have to step up. I was deeply disappointed in DePaul, as I'm sure Doug Bruno was. With UConn in the Big East, it should bring in players who want to beat the Huskies.
 
If the Big 12 loses TX & OK, they will most certainly want to add 2 teams, for the simple reason that the NCAA requires a conference to have a minimum of 12 teams in football, in order to hold a conference championship game, which generates millions in revenue for the Big 12.

So they need a couple D1 football schools who are willing to leave their current conference or are currently unaffiliated. Forget the fact that UConn to the Big 12 makes no sense geographically. WV in the Big 12 doesn’t make much sense either. UConn would jump at the chance to join the Big 12. Whether the Big 12 would have any interest in UConn is something of a stretch.
 
bluedevil said:
Really someone explain why another league would want UCONN to join?
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None of these leagues are concerned with women’s basketball. It’s all about football. Imagine Vic Schaefer though. He played second to Dawn in the SEC and Mulkey in the Big 12. If Texas joins the SEC he’ll have to deal with both of them. Rumor is it won’t happen until 2025 though. SC cut of the SEC money is in excess of $68 million. The rich are going to get even richer.
 
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Anything is possible. But financially, it would not be wise. If UConn leaves the Big East. Heck any team for that matter, these conferences are going to make it pretty costly for schools to leave.
 
Without TX and OK the Big12 is not all that attractive as a media product and I don't see any really attractive schools they could add to change the equation. I don't see them being able to raid the Pac or B1G or ACC (or the SEC) so they are likely to become another middling conference whoever they recruit to join them.

As for Uconn ... they would jump if the B1G or ACC came calling - no way you could justify not accepting, whatever the buy-out was. Just not sure it is likely they would get a call.
JellyBean said:
Anything is possible. But financially, it would not be wise. If UConn leaves the Big East. Heck any team for that matter, these conferences are going to make it pretty costly for schools to leave.
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The cost is a one time payment, while the revenue stream is ever year. Even a $100M price tag gets paid off quickly if you increase your media take by $20M per year.
 
oldude said:
If the Big 12 loses TX & OK, they will most certainly want to add 2 teams, for the simple reason that the NCAA requires a conference to have a minimum of 12 teams in football, in order to hold a conference championship game, which generates millions in revenue for the Big 12.

So they need a couple D1 football schools who are willing to leave their current conference or are currently unaffiliated. Forget the fact that UConn to the Big 12 makes no sense geographically. WV in the Big 12 doesn’t make much sense either. UConn would jump at the chance to join the Big 12. Whether the Big 12 would have any interest in UConn is something of a stretch.
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Agree with your assessment. With all due respect to UConn football, having lived at the Ok border the past 10 years, they view our team as comparable to a D2 school. Most Big 12 schools sell out every game but Huskie football would present a unique challenge. Not happening.
 
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fireford said:
To the Big East? Only way they can do that is if their football is willing to be an Independent like Uconn and not sure if they'd want to do that.
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The way the P-5 is teetering on restructuring some independents might have a decent schedule. All those B12 teams have to make up missing conference games.

UConn's hope is for football conferences to merge into a league independent of the NCAA. With football removed UConn would be welcome in any basketball friendly major conference.
 
P 5 will become the P4. This creates the same conversation that existed when the Pac was considering taking Oklahoma and Texas some years back. With four rather than five major football conferences they could form a Super Pac and create their own playoff system amongst themselves. This would totally eliminate the power and role of the NCAA. The four conferences could leave and create their own playoff systems and the NCAA could do nothing about it. This is especially true now tht the NCAA has caved and no longer has the power it once had.
 
JellyBean said:
Anything is possible. But financially, it would not be wise. If UConn leaves the Big East. Heck any team for that matter, these conferences are going to make it pretty costly for schools to leave.
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Schools make 3-4 times more money in the ACC or Big10
 
I predict the end game is a 20-24 team league of top football powerhouses. They will leave the NCAA for football and sign their own tv deal making $100 million per team. At the end of the year they host a 4 team extra revenue playoff to determine the natty.
 
It would be a great thing if UConn was invited to the ACC or BIG. Except it's not gonna happen. First, we don't really know what is going to happen with Texas and Oklahoma. If they do opt to move, the dominos will fall in the big 12 and in the other P5 conferences. The AAC could become stronger, or they can get weaker. Clemson has been threatening to move recently, and Georgia Tech could be right behind them. If UConn was still in the AAC then this could present an opportunity, but the move to the BE was celebrated by us and the conference. Trying to leave now would not help UConns Rep, and they would be looked upon as a bad partner. If Randy can bring back the football program we would have a chance next time someone wants to make a move. This year will be critical for the football team, especially since there are a number of P5 teams on the schedule, including Clemson. As far as teams joining the BE, Kansas has a poor football program and may want to look into an independent schedule. All in all, Uconn has to sit this one out and become an observer until they are also financially sound. They are not ready to move anywhere.
 
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I know this mostly revolves around football, but it does seem like the Big 12 minus two key players is in danger of not being considered a Power 5 conference. If they raid a couple of mediocre programs from other conferences they may just move to last on the Power 5 list, but I could see the possibility of further defections, particularly if the Texas/Oklahoma potential replacements are not impressive. Geographically the Big 12 is a little vulnerable, being kinda in the middle. It would not be unreasonable to add westernmost schools to the Pac12, northern to the BIG, and further eastern schools in the conference to the SEC or ACC.

A basketball school like Baylor could even consider joining the remaining Power 4 conferences, or even joining the Big East. If you take away one more basketball school from the Big 12 and switch them to the Big East at least from a basketball standpoint the conferences might be about even.
 
I believe the end game will be that the Power 4 breakaway from the NCAA in all sports. They’ll have their own football championship, their own basketball tournament…….. The P4 are just competing are a different level. The money disparity will be just to great for those outside the P4 to overcome. All the schools outside the P4 will continue to operate under the NCAA umbrella and life will go on. In the long run this makes a lot of sense. I’m not sure what BC would do with their hockey team in this model. Most likely they would just move hockey over to the BiG10 conference.
 
Oldude, problem is the Big12 only has 10 teams. Never replaced Texas A&M or Nebraska when they departed. They would become another AAC. If Texas and Oklahoma do leave, I could see Baylor wanting to go anywhere to increase it's exposure. The only conference that the Big12 could maybe entice members to leave appears to be the AAC. Unfortunately college sports are going to change and I don't believe it will be for the better.
 
I would think if any university would be invited to the Big12 it would be the University of Houston. Geographically it fits, it’s not a complete dumpster fire when it comes to football and their men’s basketball program seems to be on the rise over the past few years. I could see them wanting to leave the AAC in favor of a Big12 contract.
 
The ACC may not fare much better. The B1G is looking at UNC and UVA. The SEC is looking at Clemson and FSU. If realignment does affect the ACC, you have to think that WVU and maybe The Yooo would be looking for a soft place to land.

Football vs basketball. The ACC has become the old BE.
 
It seems like there will be tons of movement if Texas and Oklahoma leave the B12. I think the NCAA is on borrowed time. I've read all kinds of scenarios - from the Pac-12/B10/B12 joining to make a superconference while the SEC merges with the ACC for the other conference, to everything in between.

Apparently the ACC was trying to poach Texas and OK as well - hoping to add ND as a permanent member. I think there will be a tremendous domino effect and hopefully when the musical chairs stop, UCONN is in a conference that is NOT the BE or AAC.

Sure our football team sucks, and we are independent which is a crappy situation (frankly i have no idea how they recruit anyone to the team), but I have no doubt that if we were in some kind of super conference, the University would put a lot of resources towards football, starting with expanding the Rent.

I could actually see 2 mega conferences of 32 teams each. I hope in that scenario UCONN would have a place at the big boys table. Or maybe 3 conferences of 24 teams each. Either way it will be a huge power grab led by the almighty football $$.

This is going to take years and years to work thru. UCONN sports will eventually cease to be relevant (or will become like a Gonzaga) if the entire country realigns and we still end up in the Big East. It would be a horrible situation for us. Not sustainable. IMHO.
 
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Why would any mega-conference want UConn? For its awesome football program? Academic prestige? For its basketball programs neither of which has won anything in the better part of a decade? And when Geno's contract is up in a few years and he retires our most prominent brand is gonna get double tapped. Or maybe it's the TV market which is mostly a pro-sports market? The mega-conferences are gonna be formed by those already in the P5.
 
hoopsfan22 said:
Why would any mega-conference want UConn? For its awesome football program? Academic prestige? For its basketball programs neither of which has won anything in the better part of a decade? And when Geno's contract is up in a few years and he retires our most prominent brand is gonna get double tapped. Or maybe it's the TV market which is mostly a pro-sports market? The mega-conferences are gonna be formed by those already in the P5.
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Because they could be better than Boston College, Rutgers and Syracuse. Not saying they will be - but can be.

Let's face it-- Boston College has been a joke. And there was a time when UCONN during Edsall's 1st run that he was very even with Rutgers while Syracuse was tanking. When CT was part of a sub-par but not terrible Big East Conference -- UCONN competed very well with Rutgers and Syracuse. What makes you think if they ever did get into it again - and if they had a fine coach they couldn't compete with some of the ACC teams?

Why should we ignore that during that Edsall time - UCONN showed they weren't so awful?
 
SoFla Steve said:
The ACC may not fare much better. The B1G is looking at UNC and UVA. The SEC is looking at Clemson and FSU. If realignment does affect the ACC, you have to think that WVU and maybe The Yooo would be looking for a soft place to land.

Football vs basketball. The ACC has become the old BE.
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Nonsense.
 
bluedevil said:
Really someone explain why another league would want UCONN to join?
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Off the top of my head:
  1. Four men’s basketball national championships in the last 22 years.
  2. 23 National championships, if you include soccer in 1948. Now, before anyone says no one cares about women’s basketball, which I disagree, and women’s field hockey, which I pretty much agree with, keep in mind that 23 national championships is an indication of a healthy athletic department. Yeah, woman’s field hockey doesn’t drive the bus, but having success across multiple sports is noteworthy.
  3. Having the 33rd overall media market and being a part of the New York city DMA. I agree the metric is shifting away from broadcast TV being the definitive statement of value, but those things are both good things.
  4. While we’re talking about New York City, the fact that you can’t fans show up to games, and especially in MSG also is noteworthy and has value.
  5. Brand value. UConn is a known national brand. And that drives eyeballs, which in turn contributes to value.
  6. I can’t remember which poster it was who pointed out that there are approximately 11 million people within a 2.5 hour of UConn. Why does that matter? Arguably, they are all potential viewers, but practically speaking it is equally important that in that group there are many other alumni of other institutions. Playing games against UConn gives those schools the opportunity for outreach to those alumni.
  7. Let’s talk women’s basketball. Posters love to write off its significance but keep in mind that their games regularly draw more than many DI men’s teams and have drawn more than pro sports. Someone must be watching. That is definitely noteworthy. Also keep in mind that while most women’s basketball teams play in front of empty arenas Connecticut fills up arena even on the road. They also have incredible brand value. Does that get us into a conference? Of course not. But it can’t be discounted as having no value either.
  8. Despite being located in a relatively small state Connecticut as fans who are pretty rabid and will likely subscribe in order to get digital access to games, even for sports that are not traditionally revenue producing like baseball and hockey. And digital subscribers are the next cash cow for conferences.
  9. Facilities. Gampel, the Werth Champions Center, Burton, Shenkman, Elliot Ballpark, the new softball and soccer fields and the new hockey arena that we are building are all first class facilities appropriate for an elite DI institution. Unlike a lot of other schools Connecticut wouldn’t need to spend millions upgrading their facilities in order to be able to compete. That has considerable value. The Rent is a little small, it is easily upgradable to a 50,000 seat arena. We would do it in a heartbeat if it meant admission to a P5 conference. It also is a great venue to see a game, with great site lines from literally every seat and can be incredibly loud when fans are given a reason to cheer. The tailgating around the stadium in the old airfields is excellent. Overall, it’s a pretty nice venue.
  10. We play all the revenue sports that any conference would be interested in. Sure, footballs had a bad eight years, but we still play it, well except for last year, but let’s not get into that.

  11. We are the flag ship land grant institution for our state. In that way, we are more alike to most of the P5 schools than we are to the G5 schools.
  12. UConn is the only game in town for Connecticut. We do not compete with other major universities or other in-state professional teams. That means we are more likely to draw the attention of the 3 million people in our state. Keep in mind though there are many other states with greater landmass, there aren’t all that many that have more people and certainly none that have more people and only one University, and no pro teams.
You’re welcome.
 
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