Expansion Rumors site profiles UConn | Page 14 | The Boneyard

Expansion Rumors site profiles UConn

Status
Not open for further replies.
Geography is interesting.

I just bought a cabin in western North Carolina (I have loved this area for a long while). You'd expect Tar Heel fans.

Nope...you get more Georgia and Tennessee fans.... with a sprinkling of FSU and Florida fans the further west you go in the mountains.


Western Carolina is definitely not North Carolina territory - it's Appalachia.

Freaking beautiful out there.
 
Western Carolina is definitely not North Carolina territory - it's Appalachia.

Freaking beautiful out there.
I am very familiar with this area due to the Moonshiner "reality" shows. Great place to live if you can make a living.
 
markets shmarkets...

And Houston is in a huge market...so is Texas San Antonio, so is FIU, so is San Diego State....

I'd rather have teams that people want to watch then those teams in their markets. Maybe Boise is in a micro market, but I'd tons rather have them then FIU.

Markets are for selling carriage rights...good teams are for good conferences.

Give me Bama, South Carolina, Auburn and screw the markets.
 
I am very familiar with this area due to the Moonshiner "reality" shows. Great place to live if you can make a living.


My wife and I have been riding a Harley up to various areas in western NC for 13 years...several times a year. No matter where we have roamed, our hearts keep bringing us back to the land of waterfalls, long views, and rural life. We decided it was time to buy a second/retirement home. We have wandered the Blue Ridge, Appalachian, Smoky, Black, Unicoi, and Snowbird ranges, among others.

West Virginia is also a beautiful place to explore on a motorcycle...but North Carolina was it for us. I will go up at the end of this month and probably stay through November..back to Florida and then go back up in late March. My boy is salivating over his inheritance...two tickets on the 40. We'll be watching more games on the big screen.
 
markets shmarkets...

And Houston is in a huge market...so is Texas San Antonio, so is FIU, so is San Diego State....

I'd rather have teams that people want to watch then those teams in their markets. Maybe Boise is in a micro market, but I'd tons rather have them then FIU.

Markets are for selling carriage rights...good teams are for good conferences.

Give me Bama, South Carolina, Auburn and screw the markets.

When you think like a Television Network rather than a football conference, you look at it differently. It becomes "How much can we get for the carriage in that DMA?" rather than what is the record of that football team. It becomes the potential of the football program and how many TV sets will tune into it locally if it does improve.

And you are correct in that Houston, San Antonio, Miami, and San Diego are large markets. The whole Texas idea for the ACC I'm sure is being looked at. Miami the ACC already has so rule out FIU, but San Diego puts Navy in play.
 
ESPN/ABC isn't looking to be carried or to expand their carriage...I can not think of a market, major or not, where ESPN isn't on the plan.

ESPN wants eyeballs, wants to corral college football viewers.

They have a huge inventory....But the competition is really the quality matches. Fox will win this weekend's ratings with the Bama-Texas Aggies game...that is the competition that ESPN wants to win over the season.

Regional Channels (& I count the BTN as such) have less national carriage than does ESPN. Here in Tallahassee, on Comcast, it is not in the basic or preferred packages. One can purchase BTN coverage though.

and if you did have BTN, you could watch Akron vs Michigan, Western Illinois vs Minnesota, Central Florida vs Penn State, or Western Michigan vs Northwestern....not games for the casual fan....
 
.-.
It's going to be interesting to see how well Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, etc. enjoy giving up playing Wisconsin, Illiniois, Purdue, etc. to go play Maryland and Rutgers. It's going to be a big change for them.

If you read some of their respective Scout boards, its a mixed bag.
 
I think Mich,OSU and MSU will welcome it (at least according to there boards) as MD/RU are probably a signifigant upgrade on Ill and Purdue "at least talentwise" and RU/MD's recruiting has been better than Wisky's in the last few years!I don't think anyone cares what Indiana thinks..at least in FB?I think coming to NYC/Balt/DC areas offers more than most destinations so whats not to like?

After the first couple of seasons, whatever griping there might be will be gone. And then, they'll see RU and UMD as simply another B1G conference opponent. Which is exactly what you'd be. The assimilation into the league will be complete by then (2015), and, it should be smooth sailing.
 
It's going to be interesting to see how well FSU, Clemson, Virginia, UNC, etc. enjoy giving up playing Maryland, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech etc. to go play Syracuse, Pitt, and Louisville. It's going to be a big change for them.

As a UNC fan, it is disappointing to see UMD leave, as they were a founding member of the ACC. UNC, NCSU, and UMD have all been in the same leagues together for what will be 107 years at the conclusion of this school year. It will be odd not playing them anymore, I do admit. But, if they feel their future is better served being elsewhere, I wish them good luck, and, God Bless 'em.

To your statement, truth be told, I do not think it'll be a big change at all for ACC members. Will it be weird? Yes, for sure. But, with the possible exception of UVA, none of the schools you mention ever really considered UMD a true rival. Everybody else has at least 2-3 REAL hardcore rivalries within the ACC, and, others that they'd like to play more often. I don't know of any who'd include UMD in either category.
 
If I were King of CR:

I'd make ND play in a conference and have the ACC look like this..

North:

Notre Dame
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Louisville
Boston College
Pitt
Syracuse
UConn or WVU

South:

Miami
FSU
Clemson
GT
North Carolina
NC State
Wake
Duke

That alignment makes complete sense. Which is why it'd never fly.

Every school in the South Division would go for that alignment TODAY. No questions asked.

But, both UVA and VPI would raise Hades for being put in the North.

It could work, if the ACC would allow schools to schedule each other OOC in years where they don't meet in league play. Like UNC-UVA, which is the South's most played rivalry (118 games).
 
Geography is interesting.

I just bought a cabin in western North Carolina (I have loved this area for a long while). You'd expect Tar Heel fans.

Nope...you get more Georgia and Tennessee fans.... with a sprinkling of FSU and Florida fans the further west you go in the mountains.

Very sad, but true. Outside of Asheville itself, there really aren't many UNC fans in western NC (not many there, either). Its always been Tennessee, Georgia, and Clemson fans, from my experience. Neither UNC nor NCSU have been able to sustain any kind of success for more than 3-4 years at a time, so, the better HSFB players there matriculate to those three schools. Who could blame them?
 
ESPN/ABC isn't looking to be carried or to expand their carriage...I can not think of a market, major or not, where ESPN isn't on the plan.

ESPN wants eyeballs, wants to corral college football viewers.

They have a huge inventory....But the competition is really the quality matches. Fox will win this weekend's ratings with the Bama-Texas Aggies game...that is the competition that ESPN wants to win over the season.

Regional Channels (& I count the BTN as such) have less national carriage than does ESPN. Here in Tallahassee, on Comcast, it is not in the basic or preferred packages. One can purchase BTN coverage though.

and if you did have BTN, you could watch Akron vs Michigan, Western Illinois vs Minnesota, Central Florida vs Penn State, or Western Michigan vs Northwestern....not games for the casual fan....

Football won't be the driver for the ACC Network. It will be basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, soccer, and some tier 3 football games with replays of the tier 1 games and Notre Dame home games. It will also probably cover the championships of other olympic sports and possibly stike a deal with Hockey East to show Boston College and Notre Dame hockey. ESPN will keep the live Tier 1 ACC football games on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPNU.

With the Big East basketball games moved over to FS1 away from ESPN, ESPN is down a lot of college basketball inventory. And they know that the large eastern markets who love college basketball as much as they love college football won't be watching SEC basketball. Many SEC schools can't get their own fans to come sit in the seats of their arenas to watch SEC basketball. So the goal of the ACC Network will be to get basic cable coverage in the large Eastern Markets that love college basketball.
 
.-.
As a UNC fan, it is disappointing to see UMD leave, as they were a founding member of the ACC. UNC, NCSU, and UMD have all been in the same leagues together for what will be 107 years at the conclusion of this school year. It will be odd not playing them anymore, I do admit. But, if they feel their future is better served being elsewhere, I wish them good luck, and, God Bless 'em.

To your statement, truth be told, I do not think it'll be a big change at all for ACC members. Will it be weird? Yes, for sure. But, with the possible exception of UVA, none of the schools you mention ever really considered UMD a true rival. Everybody else has at least 2-3 REAL hardcore rivalries within the ACC, and, others that they'd like to play more often. I don't know of any who'd include UMD in either category.

For UVA, Maryland is a distant third behind UNC and Virginia Tech. Only the Virginia fans that live in the Washington, DC metro area that interact with Maryland fans regularly even care about the UVA Maryland rivalry. In the rest of the state including Charlottesville, the Maryland rivalry isn't much different than the NC State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke, Clemson, etc. rivalries where we have some level of rivalry with each. You won't see any evidence of UVA fans and alumni pushing to keep Maryland on the schedule. I did see where Syracuse is going to schedule Maryland in football. Apparently Randy Edsell has some attachment to Syracuse.
 
Football won't be the driver for the ACC Network. It will be basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, soccer, and some tier 3 football games with replays of the tier 1 games and Notre Dame home games. It will also probably cover the championships of other olympic sports and possibly stike a deal with Hockey East to show Boston College and Notre Dame hockey. ESPN will keep the live Tier 1 ACC football games on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and ESPNU.

With the Big East basketball games moved over to FS1 away from ESPN, ESPN is down a lot of college basketball inventory. And they know that the large eastern markets who love college basketball as much as they love college football won't be watching SEC basketball. Many SEC schools can't get their own fans to come sit in the seats of their arenas to watch SEC basketball. So the goal of the ACC Network will be to get basic cable coverage in the large Eastern Markets that love college basketball.

We were in the conference with many of these teams. They had anemic ratings, maybe because they couldn't win important games. The conference was carried by other teams, who played football. ESPN, by the way, has filled in with AAC games. The exposure this year is higher than what the old BE had.
 
We were in the conference with many of these teams. They had anemic ratings, maybe because they couldn't win important games. The conference was carried by other teams, who played football. ESPN, by the way, has filled in with AAC games. The exposure this year is higher than what the old BE had.

Yes. And they've put the ACC on Monday nights now. I don't ever remember the ACC playing basketball games on a Monday night. Unfortunately for the first one they've picked our game at Duke where we typically play like crap. Hopefully, we'll play better this year at Cameron.

I'm sure ESPN will be showing quite a few AAC games this years. There remain several basketball powers in the AAC like UConn, Temple, Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston. I'm not sure if Houston is still good, but at one time they were really good. I did think that the Georgetown, Marquette, St. John's, Villanova, etc. group had good ratings though. Maybe I'm incorrect.
 
Yes. And they've put the ACC on Monday nights now. I don't ever remember the ACC playing basketball games on a Monday night. Unfortunately for the first one they've picked our game at Duke where we typically play like crap. Hopefully, we'll play better this year at Cameron.

I'm sure ESPN will be showing quite a few AAC games this years. There remain several basketball powers in the AAC like UConn, Temple, Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston. I'm not sure if Houston is still good, but at one time they were really good. I did think that the Georgetown, Marquette, St. John's, Villanova, etc. group had good ratings though. Maybe I'm incorrect.

Well, Marquette was a latecomer to the group, so I really don't know about their ratings. I assume they are good because they fill up their arena. G'town has limited interest even as a fanbase, because the school is small, and DC is filled with transplants. Look at G'town's average. Villanova is always going to have a good many fans because they are a Philly institution. St. John's is moribund--not many fans at all. I just don't see the ratings with these schools. Granted the AAC doesn't have great draws either, but Memphis is an upgrade over anything in the BE when it comes to fan interest and actually winning games. After Cincy and UConn, it's a struggle. I don't know much about Temple's fans either but I note they sent 10k fans to Brooklyn last year for a game against Syracuse.
 
Louisville splits its own city with the University of Kentucky and their influence doesn't extend one step outside of it.

I have lurked on your boards for years, often resisting the urge to sign up and respond to posts that are not factual when the topic involves The UofL. I have agreed with and enjoyed most of what I have read here. I would like however to respond to the above and offer some facts.

1. Louisville doesn't share the city with UK fans. The reality is UK holds an annual basketball in Louisville at Freedom Hall every season. It hasn't sold out in decades. There is simply no interest. If the Nations 16th largest city is split between UofL and UK fans, wouldn't cat fans be able to fill 19k arena?

2. UK out of conference football and basketball games are not shown live in Louisville. They are broadcast tape delayed at 1AM Sunday morning. If they were popular wouldn't they be on live TV like they are in Lexington?

3. UK pays a local clear channel radio station 1 million a year to broadcast games for them in Louisville. The radio station can't sell advertising because Louisville business's refuse to support UK. Ironically one of the primary sponsor's of UK coaches call in shows in Louisville is the University of Louisville.

It is difficult for those that don't live in Louisville to understand the connection the city and metro area have to the university. UofL is the city's team and businesses support it much in the same way a professional team is supported in other larger cities. The Yum Center has 72 luxury suites and Papa Johns has 62. All are bought by local businesses to support the university. The Yum Center has over 22,000 seats. There is a 10 year waiting list for season tickets. Louisville football sold out over 45,000 season tickets this year.

As a side note, much has been written here about Louisville's sweetheart deal at The Yum Center. Keep in mind the city and state's chief negotiator was Jim Host. You can Google him and read his bio. Host is UK booster. His company Host Communications has close ties to UK.
UofL did not want The Yum Center built. Jurich, Ramsey and Papa John Schnatter wanted an on campus arena and had the money to build it. UofL only agreed to go Downtown after Host made them a deal they couldn't turn down. The primary reason Host and UK wanted the arena built? Host and UK wanted an arena in Kentucky that UK could play early round tournament games at. Much in the same manner UNC and Duke play early round games in arenas in North Carolina.

No doubt UK is popular in the state. However, in the city of Louisville and in bedroom communities in surrounding counties, UK has little to no presence.
CJ
 
I have lurked on your boards for years, often resisting the urge to sign up and respond to posts that are not factual when the topic involves The UofL. I have agreed with and enjoyed most of what I have read here. I would like however to respond to the above and offer some facts.

1. Louisville doesn't share the city with UK fans. The reality is UK holds an annual basketball in Louisville at Freedom Hall every season. It hasn't sold out in decades. There is simply no interest. If the Nations 16th largest city is split between UofL and UK fans, wouldn't cat fans be able to fill 19k arena?

2. UK out of conference football and basketball games are not shown live in Louisville. They are broadcast tape delayed at 1AM Sunday morning. If they were popular wouldn't they be on live TV like they are in Lexington?

3. UK pays a local clear channel radio station 1 million a year to broadcast games for them in Louisville. The radio station can't sell advertising because Louisville business's refuse to support UK. Ironically one of the primary sponsor's of UK coaches call in shows in Louisville is the University of Louisville.

It is difficult for those that don't live in Louisville to understand the connection the city and metro area have to the university. UofL is the city's team and businesses support it much in the same way a professional team is supported in other larger cities. The Yum Center has 72 luxury suites and Papa Johns has 62. All are bought by local businesses to support the university. The Yum Center has over 22,000 seats. There is a 10 year waiting list for season tickets. Louisville football sold out over 45,000 season tickets this year.

As a side note, much has been written here about Louisville's sweetheart deal at The Yum Center. Keep in mind the city and state's chief negotiator was Jim Host. You can Google him and read his bio. Host is UK booster. His company Host Communications has close ties to UK.
UofL did not want The Yum Center built. Jurich, Ramsey and Papa John Schnatter wanted an on campus arena and had the money to build it. UofL only agreed to go Downtown after Host made them a deal they couldn't turn down. The primary reason Host and UK wanted the arena built? Host and UK wanted an arena in Kentucky that UK could play early round tournament games at. Much in the same manner UNC and Duke play early round games in arenas in North Carolina.

No doubt UK is popular in the state. However, in the city of Louisville and in bedroom communities in surrounding counties, UK has little to no presence.
CJ

Granted, I have only spent a week on Louisville and it was early this year for work. All I did was work in the office downtown, sleep at the Courtyard and grab food and a beer at various places downtown. Did not even have a rental car.

Based on my very informal survey in the office, about 1/3 don’t care about college sports, 1/3 are Louisville Fans, and ¼ are Kentucky fans with the balance being transplants, especially Indiana U fans. And after reading about the financial hit that the city is taking from the Yum Center in the local paper, the 1/3 die-hard Louisville fans are too embarrassed to talk about it and 2/3 of the city are very unhappy.
 
.-.
I spent many weeks over a 30 year period in western ky for my former employer.
Taking in high school games. Talking sports with the locals and wearing my UConn shirts whenever possible. In my down time.
Coming from a BB state helps break the ice.
After we beat Duke in the 99 they were ecstatic for obvious reasons.
Actually is was a group of UK fans who convinced me UConn going FSB in football was a good idea. I was shocked when they told me football generated more revenue for them than basketball.

Granted we are talking 3 to 4 hours from Louisville but Card fans are almost non-existant in that area.
 
What do you mean, if it's real? The guy says outright he is doing scenarios.

This one is implausible. If it's football only and teams reform into other conferences, what in the world is the incentive to keep the AAC going. You'd have a bunch of teams shopping around their Olympic sports in that scenario.
 
I didn't say I thought it was real. He's speculating and I saying if he is even 33% right that sucks. Nothing more. Sheesh.
 
.-.
Texas in the ACC fits like a mini skirt on Roseanne Barr....

Close 'nuff for ya??

roseanne_splashnews-online-com.jpg
 
Yep...as uglee as Texas would be in the ACC.....

As my grandmother used to say..."she thinks she's sweet but the bees don't know it".
 
The senario is definitely scary, but I would not be in the least bit surprised if those plucked from the American is as listed.
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,333
Messages
4,564,909
Members
10,464
Latest member
Rollskies27


Top Bottom