Get Us Out of This God-Forsaken Conference

[campcalhoun2009]

Xavier was in the bonus at 14 min, in the double bonus at 11 min. They shot 14 FTs in the second half before we shot one. They shot 20 more free throws than us in a blowout.

This is not sustainable. This conference is an absolute travesty.

The Big East is just terrible basketball. Terrible officiating. It’s not even the Big East anymore really. Why are we playing Catholic schools from Nebraska and Ohio.

Save us AD David Benedict

 

[FfldCntyFan]

My only comment is that for very long stretches it appeared the rule for calling anything on X was "no blood, no foul".

 

[Purple Stein]

For now we're stuck where we are. Hopefully HC JC will make football attractive enough to get us somewhere else.

In the meantime, let's beat the crap out of Georgetown tonight.

 

[HuskyNan]

Sure, it worked so well for BC and Rutgers

 

[Kowalski]

Sure, it worked so well for BC and Rutgers

I wouldn’t exactly call BC and Rutgers success stories when they were in the Big East either.

 

[freescooter]

Boston Collegevwas actually pretty good in their early years in the ACC. Their problems have more to do with mismanagement and poor coaching hires than anything. They went to the NCAA tournament 2005-2009 I think. After that it was almost like they lost interest. On the football side they have also been badly managed. And they haven’t kept coaches.

Rutgers is Rutgers.

 

[HuskyNan]

Follow up post.

The Colonel forgot three time National Champion field hockey, which got to the Elite 8

 

[Ldandy]

I know that football is apparently all that matters in any realignment discussion, and don't get me wrong I love it, but IMO it's almost criminal that UConn is not at least in the ACC when you read the results in that Tweet. Realistically you would add more to the B1G than a third or more of the current conference membership. A UConn Addition immediately makes the B1G a top 2 league for Men's Hoops and #1 for Women's. You would add competitive teams in the majority of nonrevenue sports while potentially motivating another program to upgrade Women's Hockey so that there could be a Big 10 League. Football would take some time to ramp up, but even if it struggled in perpetuity, you would still bring far more to the table elsewhere than legacy members like Purdue, NW, Minnesota, RU, and a few others are currently providing. I hope that you get your turn when the carousel spins again in the next few years. You've earned that.

 

[CL82]

Sure, it worked so well for BC and Rutgers

Rutty, BCU and FSU?

 

[ZooCougar]

I know that football is apparently all that matters in any realignment discussion, and don't get me wrong I love it, but IMO it's almost criminal that UConn is not at least in the ACC when you read the results in that Tweet. Realistically you would add more to the B1G than a third or more of the current conference membership. A UConn Addition immediately makes the B1G a top 2 league for Men's Hoops and #1 for Women's. You would add competitive teams in the majority of nonrevenue sports while potentially motivating another program to upgrade Women's Hockey so that there could be a Big 10 League. Football would take some time to ramp up, but even if it struggled in perpetuity, you would still bring far more to the table elsewhere than legacy members like Purdue, NW, Minnesota, RU, and a few others are currently providing. I hope that you get your turn when the carousel spins again in the next few years. You've earned that.

Too bad they loaded up on empty calories and they don’t have any room.

 

[Ldandy]

Too bad they loaded up on empty calories and they don’t have any room.

I do think that UConn will eventually be in some version of The ACC, it’s too bad that this version will likely be diminished. I’d like to see The Huskies there now getting to match up in football and M/W Basketball.

 

[B1GEast]

I'm curious to see if UConn can somehow take advantage of private equity

It's a national brand. I understand you give up some long term equity, but the up front cash infusion could buy us some time.

 

[Kolumbo]

I'm curious to see if UConn can somehow take advantage of private equity

It's a national brand. I understand you give up some long term equity, but the up front cash infusion could buy us some time.

 

[ZooCougar]

I'm curious to see if UConn can somehow take advantage of private equity

It's a national brand. I understand you give up some long term equity, but the up front cash infusion could buy us some time.

 

[B1GEast]

Honestly I don't get the negativity. I'm just asking a question here.

UConn has a national brand. To me it makes sense.

If anyone wants to provide reason, by all means, share. It's not like I scroll through all the thread if this has been discussed

 

[KryHavok]

Honestly I don't get the negativity. I'm just asking a question here.

UConn has a national brand. To me it makes sense.

If anyone wants to provide reason, by all means, share. It's not like I scroll through all the thread if this has been discussed

There are others that are more business savvy than I, but I'll give you a bird's eye view: a private equity deal for an entity like UConn is akin to making a deal with devil. We are already running a deficit that is being partially subsidized by the state, and that would like be exacerbated with a private equity deal. I get that you want UConn to get a leg up and finally be rid of this conference alignment malignancy, but private equity isn't the panacea that it is being made out to be. The PE firm would be looking to maximize their ROI, not necessarily UConn's (though one can argue that having both succeed is mutually beneficial, the PE firm isn't into financial altruism and rather wants to achieve the highest return possible). Meanwhile, said deal would result in UConn giving up a piece of its already marginal monetary intake while having to potentially sacrifice other aspects. The way I see it, the PE deal would be a short term gain for UConn that would result in a long term loss for it...then how does the school recover, what are the safety guarantees? There's just too much risk. If a conference wants to make a PE deal, at least that Faustian agreement would be shared among conference members (reducing the impact of the soul selling), but again as a single entity, there is no ducking way UConn should ever entertain a PE deal.

 

[Purple Stein]

Too bad they loaded up on empty calories and they don’t have any room.

Much of which you consume you must excrete.

Not that this will help us at all, but it may be the best entertainment we get.

 

[ZooCougar]

There are others that are more business savvy than I, but I'll give you a bird's eye view: a private equity deal for an entity like UConn is akin to making a deal with devil. We are already running a deficit that is being partially subsidized by the state, and that would like be exacerbated with a private equity deal. I get that you want UConn to get a leg up and finally be rid of this conference alignment malignancy, but private equity isn't the panacea that it is being made out to be. The PE firm would be looking to maximize their ROI, not necessarily UConn's (though one can argue that having both succeed is mutually beneficial, the PE firm isn't into financial altruism and rather wants to achieve the highest return possible). Meanwhile, said deal would result in UConn giving up a piece of its already marginal monetary intake while having to potentially sacrifice other aspects. The way I see it, the PE deal would be a short term gain for UConn that would result in a long term loss for it...then how does the school recover, what are the safety guarantees? There's just too much risk. If a conference wants to make a PE deal, at least that Faustian agreement would be shared among conference members (reducing the impact of the soul selling), but again as a single entity, there is no ducking way UConn should ever entertain a PE deal.

I can think of so many brands that have been ruined irreparably by PE.

 

[jostar1]

What happened to page 1 of this topic? Posts are gone?

 

[B1GEast]

There are others that are more business savvy than I, but I'll give you a bird's eye view: a private equity deal for an entity like UConn is akin to making a deal with devil. We are already running a deficit that is being partially subsidized by the state, and that would like be exacerbated with a private equity deal. I get that you want UConn to get a leg up and finally be rid of this conference alignment malignancy, but private equity isn't the panacea that it is being made out to be. The PE firm would be looking to maximize their ROI, not necessarily UConn's (though one can argue that having both succeed is mutually beneficial, the PE firm isn't into financial altruism and rather wants to achieve the highest return possible). Meanwhile, said deal would result in UConn giving up a piece of its already marginal monetary intake while having to potentially sacrifice other aspects. The way I see it, the PE deal would be a short term gain for UConn that would result in a long term loss for it...then how does the school recover, what are the safety guarantees? There's just too much risk. If a conference wants to make a PE deal, at least that Faustian agreement would be shared among conference members (reducing the impact of the soul selling), but again as a single entity, there is no ducking way UConn should ever entertain a PE deal.

Utah's private equity deal allows the university to retain a majority ownership of equity and all athletic decisions stay in house.

I think there's a fine balance where UConn could gain some upfront funding without giving away the farm.

My point was that doing nothing isn't a safe option either. I'm concerned will UConn falling further behind.

 

[CL82]

There are others that are more business savvy than I, but I'll give you a bird's eye view: a private equity deal for an entity like UConn is akin to making a deal with devil. We are already running a deficit that is being partially subsidized by the state, and that would like be exacerbated with a private equity deal. I get that you want UConn to get a leg up and finally be rid of this conference alignment malignancy, but private equity isn't the panacea that it is being made out to be. The PE firm would be looking to maximize their ROI, not necessarily UConn's (though one can argue that having both succeed is mutually beneficial, the PE firm isn't into financial altruism and rather wants to achieve the highest return possible). Meanwhile, said deal would result in UConn giving up a piece of its already marginal monetary intake while having to potentially sacrifice other aspects. The way I see it, the PE deal would be a short term gain for UConn that would result in a long term loss for it...then how does the school recover, what are the safety guarantees? There's just too much risk. If a conference wants to make a PE deal, at least that Faustian agreement would be shared among conference members (reducing the impact of the soul selling), but again as a single entity, there is no ducking way UConn should ever entertain a PE deal.

 

[CL82]

Utah's private equity deal allows the university to retain a majority ownership of equity and all athletic decisions stay in house.

I think there's a fine balance where UConn could gain some upfront funding without giving away the farm.

My point was that doing nothing isn't a safe option either. I'm concerned will UConn falling further behind.

For the sake of argument, what do you see UConn doing with the influx of capital?

 

[B1GEast]

For the sake of argument, what do you see UConn doing with the influx of capital?

NIL first

Maybe getting a design firm for an on campus stadium. I know that this is an uphill battle, but if you can partner with a firm , it can help

Building out marketing as well

I'd look to see what Utah is doing

 

[CL82]

NIL first

Maybe getting a design firm for an on campus stadium. I know that this is an uphill battle, but if you can partner with a firm , it can help

Building out marketing as well

I'd look to see what Utah is doing

NIL is theoretically third-party money so there wouldn't be a need for us to take out a loan for it. Setting that aside, it's an operating expense in that it's an annual cost. Taking out loans to fund annual expenses is a death spiral.

If it's ever appropriate to build an on campus, Stadium, and that's a debatable point, I doubt we'd have any issues getting the money for the initial design phase from the state. If we couldn't get that money from the state, having designs made up are probably moot anyway.

Do take a look and see what Utah State is using it for. I'm actually curious. I'm not a huge advocate for private equity investment in a public university, athletic department, but the devil's always in the details. If, and I'm just making something up off the top of my head, we were using that money to build the infrastructure for a network (like a mini BTN) in exchange for giving up a X percent stake in the network to the investor and the projections for that showed a positive ROI for us, that's something that could make sense. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for that, I'm just saying if you're going to borrow money, you need to be building a capital asset with it and not paying off ongoing expenses.)

 

[B1GEast]

NIL is theoretically third-party money so there wouldn't be a need for us to take out a loan for it. Setting that aside, it's an operating expense in that it's an annual cost. Taking out loans to fund annual expenses is a death spiral.

If it's ever appropriate to build an on campus, Stadium, and that's a debatable point, I doubt we'd have any issues getting the money for the initial design phase from the state. If we couldn't get that money from the state, having designs made up are probably moot anyway.

Do take a look and see what Utah State is using it for. I'm actually curious. I'm not a huge advocate for private equity investment in a public university, athletic department, but the devil's always in the details. If, and I'm just making something up off the top of my head, we were using that money to build the infrastructure for a network (like a mini BTN) in exchange for giving up a X percent stake in the network to the investor and the projections for that showed a positive ROI for us, that's something that could make sense. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for that, I'm just saying if you're going to borrow money, you need to be building a capital asset with it and not paying off ongoing expenses.)

That makes a ton of sense and I agree with everything you wrote

I'm just thinking that somehow, UConn needs to be proactive as we wait for realignment.

It's more just frustration posting

 

[Kolumbo]

If there is a PE model which would work, use the influx of cash to buy our way into one of the P4 conferences. Once in a P4 conference, our revenue should increase significantly and that is where the PE firm would see a ROI. The PE firm would also need to be able to use the conference affiliation to generate new revenue streams which helps ROI. People can debate all day long whether or not a model would work or if there is an investment company willing to invest in UConn Athletics at whatever ROI it could generate. But it is certainly worth looking into if getting into the P4 is the goal and if the payoff is worth it.

 

[Fishy]

RU is bleeding money the last we heard. What did they spent all the money on when all of their teams suck?

Rutgers' finances are endlessly amusing.

They were awful for a century. Then they got into the Big Ten, lost a half billion dollars and were awful.

Remarkable, really.

 

[Fishy]

Utah's private equity deal allows the university to retain a majority ownership of equity and all athletic decisions stay in house.

I think there's a fine balance where UConn could gain some upfront funding without giving away the farm.

My point was that doing nothing isn't a safe option either. I'm concerned will UConn falling further behind.

There's no scenario where private equity makes any sense for UConn.

You guys realize that PE firms want to be paid back with a profit, right? Right?

Also, PE would have zero interest in us. We're running an awful business. If we were a restaurant chain, they'd come in, sell the real estate and let it all go to hell, but since they can't even do that here, they're not going to be interested.

 

[B1GEast]

There's no scenario where private equity makes any sense for UConn.

You guys realize that PE firms want to be paid back with a profit, right? Right?

Also, PE would have zero interest in us. We're running an awful business. If we were a restaurant chain, they'd come in, sell the real estate and let it all go to hell, but since they can't even do that here, they're not going to be interested.

Shame. I was really thinking that with the national brand we have there would be something.

I guess we'll see what happens when the next wave of realignment happens

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

There's no scenario where private equity makes any sense for UConn.

You guys realize that PE firms want to be paid back with a profit, right? Right?

Also, PE would have zero interest in us. We're running an awful business. If we were a restaurant chain, they'd come in, sell the real estate and let it all go to hell, but since they can't even do that here, they're not going to be interested.

There's multiple ways a strategic private capital partner could help UConn, including (a) gain-sharing the lift they bring in revenue increases due to their expertise in licensing media rights, merchandising, etc. and (b) helping UConn with gaining membership into a power conference (which was rumored to be the angle Red Bird capital was bringing to the Big12 private capital deal). And there's other angles, too... I think many people get hung up on private equity sharks versus private capital strategic partnerships. UConn would engage the latter as opposed to the former.