Hoop School Statement Coming, Would Be "Upset" If They Stay

[Catsailor]

The Catholic schools will say

 

[noeynox]

Catsailor, thanks for that it made me laugh. Pretty much sums it up especially with the Catholic school angle.

 

[caw]

I have no clue if a B1G invite is out there and unless someone has spoken to Manuel, Delany, Herbst about it, I doubt anyone knows.

That said, I'm OK with the basketball only schools doing what they are doing. They need to look out for themselves. It makes no sense for them to be in a conference where they are travelling across the US when the payout is going to be net-negative.

UConn is pretty screwed ATM, but a lot can change in a short time.

Really, right now there are three ways UConn is screwed long term:

1. Every conference stops expanding and UConn is left with the NBE
2. Every conference stops at 18 and UConn is left out of that expansion
3. This whole thing takes too long to play out and UConn withers while it happens

I think we have heard enough from Delany that the B1G would like to expand past 14, he has said as much. Delany can only pull teams from two places: the NBE or the ACC.

If he raids the NBE, UConn is the team he would take (probable at best).

If he raids the ACC, they will likely be forced to add UConn and Cincy. Who else could they even target that would be better? BC is the huge issue here, if they are still a negative vote and two of UConn's "yes" votes are now in the B1G then UConn could end up in a situation where they are left out. However, I don't think even FSU would care at this point, because they would have to be angling for the SEC or B12.

Let's say the ACC implodes and the other three conferences that can pluck the ACC do so:

1. B1G grabs GT/UVA
2. SEC grabs UNC/Duke
3. B12 grabs FSU/Clemson/VT/NCST/UL/XXX

Maybe it's not exactly like the above, but I assume those are the most likely candidates to be taken by some conference.

That would leave Miami, BC, Cuse, Pitt and Wake Forest left in the ACC (minus that 6th team the B12 takes). Add those to UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Houston, UCF, USF and Temple and that's a solid 11 teams. Add in Navy for football and ND for non-football then you have a decent 12 team league. It is basically the old BE + Conference USA. Pretty solid basketball, slight upgrade in football.

If the B1G, SEC and B12 go to 18, then I imagine UConn has a good shot at the B1G, though it would have to fight off one of BC/Cuse as the Northeast representative. ND is a huge wildcard of course.

If the B1G, SEC and B12 go to 20, I can't imagine UConn not being in one of those leagues.

 

[HuskyHawk]

After a whole lot years of being in the trenches on the unwinding of entities, I can say with certainty that the items you list are fairly common justifications for change. In the end, though, they are always just that, justifications. It is always about the money.

Nobody is changing conferences for a lousy $1M. That is pocket change to all these schools. It isn't material, not remotely.

 

[HuskyHawk]

A more viable idea would be for FB to stick with Boise et al and for BB to go independent. We don't need a tourney to get an NCAA bid, our TV deal would be OK and we'd keep all of our own tourney credits.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

Doesn't work. Field hockey, track, baseball, soccer etc.

 

[CL82]

Nobody is changing conferences for a lousy $1M. That is pocket change to all these schools. It isn't material, not remotely.

...and your point is?

 

[HuskyHawk]

...and your point is?

That this move isn't about the money. It's only about the money when the money is significant. 1, or even 2-4 million a year are not significant to most universities. They have sports teams as a form of marketing the school and attracting students. That's it. In this case, I can easily see how the potential new Catholic league improves greatly on the devalued Big East in that regard.

 

[upstater]

That this move isn't about the money. It's only about the money when the money is significant. 1, or even 2-4 million a year are not significant to most universities. They have sports teams as a form of marketing the school and attracting students. That's it. In this case, I can easily see how the potential new Catholic league improves greatly on the devalued Big East in that regard.

I can't disagree with you more on this.

People look at university budgets and think all that money is fungible. It is not. There are fixed costs associated with running a school, not the least of which is tenured faculty. But then you have endowment commitments, utilities, buildings, you have research grants, you have benefits, etc. All these costs are fixed. You can't dip into things and move money around. When states cut budgets by $10 million, schools go into upheaval. Cut staff. Cancel courses. Why? Because the fungible part of the budget is about $100 million. It really is not so easy for schools to conceive of perpetual 4% budget cuts.

 

[UConnGWFan]

It's amazing how my teams have gotten screwed in this whole realignment process. UConn, my childhood team, gets screwed over harder than anyone in the nation, while potentially destroying one of the best athletic programs in the country. Now, my school that I go to (GWU) is going to be screwed when the BE raids the A10 (Gtown hates us, would never play us, and would never be in the same conference as us). This assuredly destroys GW athletics.

 

[IMind]

I can't disagree with you more on this.

People look at university budgets and think all that money is fungible. It is not. There are fixed costs associated with running a school, not the least of which is tenured faculty. But then you have endowment commitments, utilities, buildings, you have research grants, you have benefits, etc. All these costs are fixed. You can't dip into things and move money around. When states cut budgets by $10 million, schools go into upheaval. Cut staff. Cancel courses. Why? Because the fungible part of the budget is about $100 million. It really is not so easy for schools to conceive of perpetual 4% budget cuts.

Which is why I am a little befuddled by the whole disolving of the Big East. You'd have to think the money in the Big East as it currently stands would be better than the A-10 plus 7. Unless someone really has upped the ante on the A-10 basketball contract with the addition of the 7 former Big East schools.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I can't disagree with you more on this.

People look at university budgets and think all that money is fungible. It is not. There are fixed costs associated with running a school, not the least of which is tenured faculty. But then you have endowment commitments, utilities, buildings, you have research grants, you have benefits, etc. All these costs are fixed. You can't dip into things and move money around. When states cut budgets by $10 million, schools go into upheaval. Cut staff. Cancel courses. Why? Because the fungible part of the budget is about $100 million. It really is not so easy for schools to conceive of perpetual 4% budget cuts.

How does that contradict what I said? Does anyone think that athletics makes money at most schools? Because at the overwhelming majority of schools, even FBS schools, the whole athletic department runs at a loss, often a huge loss. They aren't in this for the money, they are in it for marketing. They want the most marketing value for their money, and athletic incomes, from branding, TV, tickets or otherwise to cover as much of the cost as possible. That's why the Ivy league is brilliant. Great marketing, extremely low travel costs and other costs.

This new Catholic league won't be any worse than the 3rd best hoops league in the country if they add the expected schools. They will be on ESPN a ton. Whatever the name is, it will put a lot of teams in the NCAAs each year and rake in money from that. They won't be sending their vollyball teams to FL, TX, TN or LA. It's obviously the right move for them, even if the conference payout drops.

 

[upstater]

How does that contradict what I said? Does anyone think that athletics makes money at most schools? Because at the overwhelming majority of schools, even FBS schools, the whole athletic department runs at a loss, often a huge loss. They aren't in this for the money, they are in it for marketing. They want the most marketing value for their money, and athletic incomes, from branding, TV, tickets or otherwise to cover as much of the cost as possible. That's why the Ivy league is brilliant. Great marketing, extremely low travel costs and other costs.

This new Catholic league won't be any worse than the 3rd best hoops league in the country if they add the expected schools. They will be on ESPN a ton. Whatever the name is, it will put a lot of teams in the NCAAs each year and rake in money from that. They won't be sending their vollyball teams to FL, TX, TN or LA. It's obviously the right move for them, even if the conference payout drops.

Because losing money is losing money. You said the $4 million losses are negligible. They are not. The marketing/branding thing is a joke too. It's all about boosters and alumni pressure. There are plenty schools out there that have improved academics without sports. In fact, there are more of them out there than the reverse.