ESPN removes Big East from NCAAF coverage...

[WestHartHusk]

He gets paid a million bucks so that Conn athletics and the other schools could make two million a year. Sweet gig for him, poor return on investment for the schools.

He gets paid a million a year to take money out of UConn's pocket and hand it to the rest of the dregs.

 

[Dooley]

Speaking of Wyoming, did you see their new field? Wonder if we're planning anything.

 

[whaler11]

Did we get rid of the grass when I wasn't looking. Pretty sure we can't even afford field turf.

 

[Dooley]

Did we get rid of the grass when I wasn't looking. Pretty sure we can't even afford field turf.

We did that year when they scheduled a Rolling Stones concert a few days before our home opener!

 

[Coach Flood]

ESPN is the biggest POS ever. It was plain rude to just close down the BigEast section without even an article thanking everyone for the participation. You had all these users who only posted on the BE section that now have nowhere to go..... ESPN.

 

[Dooley]

I hate ESPN. I won't watch or listen to any program that doesn't involve UConn.

 

[Coach Flood]

I hate ESPN. I won't watch or listen to any program that doesn't involve UConn.

Yup, I'm in the same exact boat.

 

[UConnDan97]

... and it appears that AAC member schools are attempting to occupy the Stanford blog in response:

http://espn.go.com/blog/stanford-fo...hil-steele-picks-oregon-usc-in-pac-12#comment

It's actually pretty funny (the #occupystanford) - not the elimination of the AAC blog.

Edit...

The movement has spread to the SEC blog where there is more traffic... LMAO. ESPN was trying to delete the comments on the Stanford Blog.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/65928/ranking-the-sec-quarterbacks-4#comment

I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but this "Occupy AAC" movement actually gives me hope for the future of this league! It might be a really small thing being done by a small group of people, but at the end of the day, it means that many of the schools of the new conference have rabid fans that are willing to be heard. And to the nay-sayers, yes I'm aware that a few of the rabid posters were Rutgers and L'Ville fans, but they didn't have to show any solidarity on that thing. Well, they did, and I thank those fans. As for the great fans of UConn, SMU, USF, Houston, etc., that made themselves heard; kudos to us all, my friends!!!

 

[Coach Flood]

Seriously, how can they get rid of the entire blog like that? There were TONS of fans on that thing.

It's either:
a. ESPN is really starting to lose money so they are firing by attrition.
b. They have an agenda against the new AAC.

 

[jbdphi]

I'm sure it won't accomplish much but I sent an e-mail to this David Duffey. We'll see what sort of response I get if any.

Mr. Duffey,
I am writing to express my disappointment with ESPN and espn.com in how they have approached the AAC blog (formerly the Big East blog) on the College Football website on espn.com. On June 30, the Big East blog was active with new content posted and comments from users and on July 1 that blog simply disappeared without any notice or announcement from ESPN.
As you likely know, there are thousands of fans for the teams that were previously covered by this blog who went to the site to respond to the news and opinions posted by Ms. Adelson and Mr. Fortuna as well as share their own thoughts. Apparently this was not sufficient for ESPN to continue publishing the blog, a venture that was costing ESPN virtually nothing in additional resources. Ms. Adelson was already posting for the ACC and Mr. Fortuna for Notre Dame - what incremental cost or even opportunity cost was ESPN incurring for having them post 2 to 3 articles a day on the AAC blog?.
Based on the above, I believe you made a poor business decision to start with. But adding to this, trying to sneak away from the AAC without even explaining your rationale or providing a forum for fans to provide feedback / debate ESPN's position is an even larger mistake. As much as ESPN may wish to allocate more resources to promote the other college football properties in which it has a larger monetary investment, as you should know by now, college football does not have to be a zero sum game. It is possible for incremental revenue to be generated from other leagues such as the AAC but ESPN has instead chosen to marginalize both the member teams and their fans instead.
I hope you reconsider this decision. As you can see from the activity on the Stanford blog, fans of the AAC are desperate for a forum where they can talk about their teams and their conference. By eliminating the blog, all you are accomplishing is eventually redirecting web traffic and users to another venue who will provide a home for these users. ESPN should be the home of college football, not just the home of the teams who got paid more.
Respectfully,
A UConn fan (I actually signed my real name here as well but don't feel like shouting it from the rooftops here)

 

[EJHarrington]

I used to love watching Sportscenter / Baseball Tonight until the announcers decided they wanted to be rock stars / entertainers. Now I go to the MLB and NHL networks for my highlights / games / etc.

Not sure what my college football TV alternative is at this point...College Football Live has become unwatchable and ESPN clearly wants to minimize the conference its home state team resides in. If anyone has any good TV alternatives let me know. Thanks.

 

[Dooley]

I used to love watching Sportscenter / Baseball Tonight until the announcers decided they wanted to be rock stars / entertainers. Now I go to the MLB and NHL networks for my highlights / games / etc.

Not sure what my college football TV alternative is at this point...College Football Live has become unwatchable and ESPN clearly wants to minimize the conference its home state team resides in. If anyone has any good TV alternatives let me know. Thanks.

There is zero reason to watch ESPN anymore, other than watching an actual UConn game. Their "experts" on their programming know less about the sport they cover than some good diehard fans. Their "sports talk shows" talk about the same tired topics over and over again even when out of season. They stopped being a sports network years ago and shifted more towards reality entertainment.

 

[whaler11]

Seriously, how can they get rid of the entire blog like that? There were TONS of fans on that thing.

It's either:
a. ESPN is really starting to lose money so they are firing by attrition.
b. They have an agenda against the new AAC.

LOL at A.

 

[john2153]

I used to love watching Sportscenter / Baseball Tonight until the announcers decided they wanted to be rock stars / entertainers. Now I go to the MLB and NHL networks for my highlights / games / etc.

Not sure what my college football TV alternative is at this point...College Football Live has become unwatchable and ESPN clearly wants to minimize the conference its home state team resides in. If anyone has any good TV alternatives let me know. Thanks.

It will be interesting to see how the new Fox Sports 1 covers college football. And all sports, for that matter. I know Direct TV already has a deal with them when the network launches in August. Its foolish to believe they can compete with ESPN, but maybe they can be a nice alternative to those sick of ESPN.

 

[uconnbill]

Seriously, how can they get rid of the entire blog like that? There were TONS of fans on that thing.

It's either:
a. ESPN is really starting to lose money so they are firing by attrition.
b. They have an agenda against the new AAC.

They moved Andrea to the ACC now as they have two writers now.

 

[whaler11]

It will be interesting to see how the new Fox Sports 1 covers college football. And all sports, for that matter. I know Direct TV already has a deal with them when the network launches in August. Its foolish to believe they can compete with ESPN, but maybe they can be a nice alternative to those sick of ESPN.

Well we've seen Fox cover baseball, the NFL and college football. Don't get your hopes up.

 

[J187Money]

Someone needs to get Anonymous on this.

 

[UConn Dan]

Today ESPN SEC blog lunch time links... UConn represent... full force.

 

[CTMike]

On one hand, I get that people feel like ESPN took something away from us. But what did people expect? We have been demoted. We are no longer part of a "power" conference. Plus, the blog was bare bones analysis at best. No thought, just reinforcing perceptions. Are we rooting for more Andrea Adelson here?

Much better conversation here IMO...

 

[UConn Dan]

On one hand, I get that people feel like ESPN took something away from us. But what did people expect? We have been demoted. We are no longer part of a "power" conference. Plus, the blog was bare bones analysis at best. No thought, just reinforcing perceptions. Are we rooting for more Andrea Adelson here?

Much better conversation here IMO...

The conversation here is all one-sided though (well not really since there are various opinions and some classic fights), but all of us are UConn fans except for the odd-ball trolls. You get what I'm saying. I have no loyalty to the American conference, only to UConn, and you don't F with UConn's exposure. And the ESPN blog at least provided some additional exposure to outsiders about UConn.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

On one hand, I get that people feel like ESPN took something away from us. But what did people expect? We have been demoted. We are no longer part of a "power" conference. Plus, the blog was bare bones analysis at best. No thought, just reinforcing perceptions. Are we rooting for more Andrea Adelson here?

Much better conversation here IMO...

I think there's something to be said for the miscreants and cast-offs to band as one against those who felt they are so "above" us. You want to view UConn as above ECU or UCF and that's fine, I get that, but for right now, we're all on the same team, and I got absolutely zero problem giving ESPN hell and banding together.

 

[J187Money]

On one hand, I get that people feel like ESPN took something away from us. But what did people expect? We have been demoted. We are no longer part of a "power" conference. Plus, the blog was bare bones analysis at best. No thought, just reinforcing perceptions. Are we rooting for more Andrea Adelson here?

Much better conversation here IMO...

Right, but to the rest of the world we disappear. We will still get UCONN news, but I liked the blog to get caught up on the other teams without having to go dig for the data. Maybe all of the AAC teams will have to go to their rival's message boards which is fine...but I liked the aggregation of content and will miss it. For what it costs them seems really that they needed to kill it. Bad form.

 

[UConn Dan]

Reminder, ESPN SEC blog lunch time links at noon... get ready -- get a log in if you dont already have one...

 

[epark88]

Reminder, ESPN SEC blog lunch time links at noon... get ready -- get a log in if you dont already have one...

SEC blog is humming already. Wow.

Y'know, this blog-occupying stuff just might help make a conference out of this AAC. The fan bases don't suck - just the money does...

Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[UConnDan97]

It is amazing how quickly the posts are going up over there!!! Fantastic stuff, everyone! Just fantastic. Go AAC!!!