Dom Amore: If Big 12 calls, UConn will have to choose between Big East love and Power Five money.

[noeynox]

Who is to guarantee that a conference you join now looks the same in 5 years?

Who is to guarantee that a piano won't fall on our heads while walking on a sidewalk? Not trying to be a jerk but i think what makes our fans most comfortable is that no one in the Big East is likely to be poached.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Who is to guarantee that a piano won't fall on our heads while walking on a sidewalk? Not trying to be a jerk but i think what makes our fans most comfortable is that no one in the Big East is likely to be poached.

The simplest explanation is that it's a club. Why is Miss State in it? Vandy? Rutgers? Once you're in the club, you're perceived as being in the club. When a later shakeout comes, if it does, those schools in the club will have priority over those not in the club. Now, we can say that maybe there will be tiers, SEC/B1G -> Next two conferences -> the rest of FBS -> BB Only. Right now we are in both the last two tiers, and if a chance to move up comes, you take it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Please explain why any 1G or SEC would consider spinning football off from all other athletic programs.

Yes, this scenario would be great for any school that isn't in either of those two conferences but the two conferences that have the massive advantages aren't going to give those advantages up just to make things easier for the other conferences

No one needs to spin off an athletic program. They simply do not need to have the same conference affiliations with football that they have with other sports.

Every program has to balance doing what is best for itself vs. what is best for the sport. Do the SEC and Big 10 want 70% of the revenue in a sport that shrinks dramatically because most fans are locked out, or do they want 40% of a massive entertainment product? I guess it comes down to whether you think SEC and Big 10 presidents understand fractions.

If you are right, and there will only be a P2, then why will it stop there? Why won't the power programs in the P2 push the dead weight out?

If you are right, and there will only be a P2, then why in the heck should UConn EVER JOIN THE BIG 12?

One thing to remember is that the defendant almost always loses in anti-trust cases involving sports. The reason for that is that every sport violates the principle of free competition within existing anti-trust laws. The College Football Playoff and these mega conferences exist because of court cases, and there will be more court cases in the future as the dollars get bigger. Do you think the P5 conferences pay the G5 for the CFP because they are nice? Nope. They do it to keep the G5 from suing them.

 

[Waquoit]

I can't believe the folks that want to wave the helicopter away for the 2nd time.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

No one needs to spin off an athletic program. They simply do not need to have the same conference affiliations with football that they have with other sports.

Every program has to balance doing what is best for itself vs. what is best for the sport. Do the SEC and Big 10 want 70% of the revenue in a sport that shrinks dramatically because most fans are locked out, or do they want 40% of a massive entertainment product? I guess it comes down to whether you think SEC and Big 10 presidents understand fractions.

If you are right, and there will only be a P2, then why will it stop there? Why won't the power programs in the P2 push the dead weight out?

If you are right, and there will only be a P2, then why in the heck should UConn EVER JOIN THE BIG 12?

One thing to remember is that the defendant almost always loses in anti-trust cases involving sports. The reason for that is that every sport violates the principle of free competition within existing anti-trust laws. The College Football Playoff and these mega conferences exist because of court cases, and there will be more court cases in the future as the dollars get bigger. Do you think the P5 conferences pay the G5 for the CFP because they are nice? Nope. They do it to keep the G5 from suing them.

I am fully convinced that the scenario you are drawing out us something the P-2 view as "we will cross that bridge when we get to it".

There always have been schools that "over perform" when comparing results to resources. There will always be a few schools outside of the P-2 competing for a championship (and in most cases falling a bit short). College football has been basically the SEC winning championships with an occasional outlier for the past decade and a half. Revenues have exploded. As long as the P-2 give the appearance that they will throw the occasional bone to schools in other conferences they won't need to worry about shrinking revenues.

 

[Stinger92860]

I get why UConn would have to join the big 12 if offered but understand we will become like Syracuse and Pitt in the ACC.

We will never become like Cuse and Pitt. We win Championships and we will continue to win Championships.

 

[Stinger92860]

I mean we will never be Michigan or Ohio State in Football so we shouldn't try to be Minnesota or Purdue either. BB has spoiled this fanbase. If you're not at the tippity top of the sport you shouldn't try. In its first ever game at The Rent this program pimp smacked Indiana.

We went to the Fiesta Bowl, why can’t we do that again? Mora is a huge upgrade.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

We went to the Fiesta Bowl, why can’t we do that again? Mora is a huge upgrade.

Not saying we can't, I'm saying if we do it will be at the expense of our basketball team

 

[noeynox]

Not saying we can't, I'm saying if we do it will be at the expense of our basketball team

When we were in the Big East FB success impeded the BB program? How?

 

[Banta55]

Not saying we can't, I'm saying if we do it will be at the expense of our basketball team

At the expense of the basketball team? You just don't get it.

 

[Hurleyman216]

Yes baseball and football are two big winners and our bread and butter basketball team loses. What killed us in the AAC and what makes us thrive in the Big East is geographical and cultural fit. We are a northeast basketball powerhouse. I don't care that we would play Kansas every year, this will be the end of the our dominance in MBB.

I get why UConn would have to join the big 12 if offered but understand we will become like Syracuse and Pitt in the ACC.

As a fan, I am not willing to sacrifice one of the greatest basketball programs in college history to get a check and act like we belong in football.I. would rather drop the football team entirely than be Syracuse or Pitt basketball. I know I'm not the only one.

I don’t think rivalries take as long to develop as some of us think. Take Cincy for example. They didn’t even join the Big East until 2005, but because we both ended up in the AAC we quickly became rivals and those were some great games. We also very quickly formed a rivalry with Houston. The same would happen in the Big 12. I think we’d have instant rivalries with Kansas and Baylor that after even a few years would really start to simmer. As long as we’re playing high quality basketball teams I don’t personally care so much. As a side note, I MUCH prefer the Big 12 style of basketball to the Big 10.
It’s not even close. The Big 10 style of slow white guys who just jack up 100 3’s a game is not fun to watch and history has shown it isn’t very effective come March.

Imagine having almost EVERY home game in our conference being a top 25 ranked team. That’s what it would have been like if we were in the Big 12 this year. It’s the closest thing to the old Big East there has been.

 

[John]

Not saying we can't, I'm saying if we do it will be at the expense of our basketball team

?

 

[Billy Jack]

What is happening in the ACC now is what happened in the Big12 in 2016.

The football powers (OU and Texas in the Big12 and Clemson and FSU in the ACC) were seeing their revenue drop below the SEC and BIG10 programs and they put the conference on notice they are leaving unless their payout improved.

In both cases, the football powers “explored” expansion purely as a way to increase revenue. Truthfully everyone knew there were no available programs which could bring in that kind of immediate revenue but it allowed TX and OU to say they tried to stay with the Big12 but couldn’t make the money work. It was purely kabuki theater designed to help their PR optics when they left.

The difference now is the BIg12 is looking for stability and long term growth…programs that can actually grow in value even if they aren’t $40 million producers now. UConn fits that model.

For those saying UConn should hold out for an ACC offer i’d opine it ain’t coming while FSU and Clemson are in the ACC drivers seat. They are just the new TX and OU who wouldn’t allow expansion in 2016. If it doesn’t add to their immediate football prestige and payout they aren’t interested. UConn can’t meet that standard now.

Btw the top half of the Big12 is stronger than the bottom half of the ACC. When the top half of the ACC gets poached by the SEC/BIG the Big12 will be the stronger league and in a better position to absorb the middling ACC programs. When that happens UConn would be well served too already be in the Big12.

How is the top half of the ACC going to get poached when they’re tied to the league by a GOR which no one has yet found a way around and when current exit fees would cost them $120 million?

The Big XII was inherently unstable because there was uneven revenue distribution, so the rest of the league wasn’t necessarily unhappy to see TX and OK go. The circumstances in the ACC are different.

 

[Billy Jack]

The simplest explanation is that it's a club. Why is Miss State in it? Vandy? Rutgers? Once you're in the club, you're perceived as being in the club. When a later shakeout comes, if it does, those schools in the club will have priority over those not in the club. Now, we can say that maybe there will be tiers, SEC/B1G -> Next two conferences -> the rest of FBS -> BB Only. Right now we are in both the last two tiers, and if a chance to move up comes, you take it.

This is too simplistic.

 

[jontaejones]

Put another way, never has a non-P5 school gotten a P5 invite and turned it down. And yes, I realize by the time an invite is extended votes and the invitation have already been settled.

First you promote up and get a seat at the table. Then, if things go awry you look to optimize.

Any port in a storm is rule #1.

Well... Notre Dame.

Apparently Colorado and Arizona have put Big 12 invitations on ice to see how the PAC-12 shakes out.

I mean, technically the PAC-12 is a Big 5 league, but at this point, they are as much so as the Big East.

 

[CL82]

I can't believe the folks that want to wave the helicopter away for the 2nd time.

When was the first time?

 

[CTBasketball]

You guys make me laugh.

 

[Billy Jack]

I don’t think rivalries take as long to develop as some of us think. Take Cincy for example. They didn’t even join the Big East until 2005, but because we both ended up in the AAC we quickly became rivals and those were some great games. We also very quickly formed a rivalry with Houston. The same would happen in the Big 12. I think we’d have instant rivalries with Kansas and Baylor that after even a few years would really start to simmer. As long as we’re playing high quality basketball teams I don’t personally care so much. As a side note, I MUCH prefer the Big 12 style of basketball to the Big 10.
It’s not even close. The Big 10 style of slow white guys who just jack up 100 3’s a game is not fun to watch and history has shown it isn’t very effective come March.

Imagine having almost EVERY home game in our conference being a top 25 ranked team. That’s what it would have been like if we were in the Big 12 this year. It’s the closest thing to the old Big East there has been.

They might not take long to develop for you, but they do for the general public, the general “ticket buying” public. People will always buy tickets and watch on TV in good times, but it’s in the not-so-good years that we find out how much interest there really is. And that happened when attendance cratered in the AAC when things were not so good. It never happened in the Big East years precisely because fans cared about the rivalries, the ones they argued about with friends, family, and co-workers who went to other Big East schools. An upset of another Big East school was a big deal in an off year for exactly this reason. The rivalry factor is why the Army-Navy game means so much. If one of those teams hasn’t won a game all year, but wins that one, then the season is a success. Same for Michigan-Ohio State and any number of other rivalries around the country. There would be absolutely none of that in the Big XII.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Not saying we can't, I'm saying if we do it will be at the expense of our basketball team

What happened a few months after our Fiesta bowl appearance?

I will repeat a response I made to an A-Dub post. There is a serious flaw in logic if you believe we. An only be successful in men's hoops if we are in the Big East. I will add that if this is truly the case, our program isn't close to what we want to believe it is.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

What happened a few months after our Fiesta bowl appearance?

I will repeat a response I made to an A-Dub post. There is a serious flaw in logic if you believe we. An only be successful in men's hoops if we are in the Big East. I will add that if this is truly the case, our program isn't close to what we want to believe it is.

It has nothing to do with our level as a program. There are far more examples of teams leaving the Big East and failing to maintain basketball excellence, than leaving the Big East and succeeding.

 

[superjohn]

What happened a few months after our Fiesta bowl appearance?

I will repeat a response I made to an A-Dub post. There is a serious flaw in logic if you believe we. An only be successful in men's hoops if we are in the Big East. I will add that if this is truly the case, our program isn't close to what we want to believe it is.

Other top programs would also be hurt if they were the one geographic and cultural outlier in a new conference where instead of running things like they did in their previous conference they are now the outsiders playing by the rules of the good old boys.

 

[champs99and04]

When we were in the Big East FB success impeded the BB program? How?

I think most would agree that returning to something like the old Big East would be ideal for all programs. I just don't know whether a Big 12 invite would promise that, and if it did, how quickly. Even in a perfect world where we're in a division with Cuse, WVU, Pitt, Cincy, etc. again, losing Rutgers still leaves a huge void.

 

[Billy Jack]

What happened a few months after our Fiesta bowl appearance?

I will repeat a response I made to an A-Dub post. There is a serious flaw in logic if you believe we. An only be successful in men's hoops if we are in the Big East. I will add that if this is truly the case, our program isn't close to what we want to believe it is.

Everyone will have their own opinion about the circumstances and the reasons why, but we had a losing record in conference play in the last 4 years combined in the AAC and were only 1 game over .500 overall in those same 4 years.

Draw your own conclusions. But that’s what people are looking at.

 

[Billy Jack]

It has nothing to do with our level as a program. There are far more examples of teams leaving the Big East and failing to maintain basketball excellence, than leaving the Big East and succeeding.

Are there any examples of teams leaving and succeeding at a higher level than they did in the Big East? This year’s run to the Final 4 by Miami 20 years after they left the Bug East?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I think most would agree that returning to something like the old Big East would be ideal for all programs. I just don't know whether a Big 12 invite would promise that, and if it did, how quickly. Even in a perfect world where we're in a division with Cuse, WVU, Pitt, Cincy, etc. again, losing Rutgers still leaves a huge void.

We must have very different definitions of "huge void".