Houston Chronicle exclusive: Texas, Oklahoma reach out to SEC about joining conference.

[Waquoit]

Agree to strongly disagree.

No worries. If there were repercussion on the Yard for being wrong, Chief would have been gone years ago.

 

[History Geek]

…We can’t take a chance on a transient home like the big 12 leftovers, because once we leave the Big East we’re not getting back in.

This is very true. I would be willing to listen to what a reconstituted Big12AAC mashup has to offer, but in the end it would have to be an opportunity that makes not only financial sense but stability sense. If thats missing we are better off where we are.

 

[CL82]

I think 30 million for our AD is an issue, but you're correct for right forever home that money will be found and the Big 12 leftovers don't seem like the correct forever home. It still feels like the ACC and i do think we add $ value to their ACC network on par with what anyone else could offer outside of ND.

If you think $30 million is an issue for the athletic department, just schedule the year of the move to six years from now and you save $15 million.

Realistically, the only place we are likely to go to is the ACC, and there isn’t going to be movement there until 2036.

 

[Milo65]

Look, FS isn’t totally wrong here. His points are vastly overstated, and his tone is absurd, but he’s not totally wrong. Our position as a member of the NBE and an independent as football does not make it as easy to compete for national championships in basketball every year, or to beat a Notre Dame or South Carolina or Pitt in football, as when we were in the Big East we left. Plus, it does leave us with the very real risk that we are on the outside looking in of a power conference breakaway.

On the other hand, staying in the AAC did not put us in the position to compete for national championships in basketball every year either, or to play football at a level that people seemed to care about. Was the move to the Big East a good thing? Yes, with the single caveat that if it sets football back to where we would no longer be looked at in a power school breakaway, no. But those were are only alternatives. Would I rather be in the Big Ten or ACC? Heck yes. But those were never choices available to us.

However, where FS’s position needs to be taken more seriously would be IF we were invited for all sports to join a league with the remnants of the Big XII combined with the best eastern schools from the AAC. I would not rule that out without really having numbers. If that is worse for hoops but better for football. — if, just making up numbers, it paid $20M a year compared to the $8M we’re getting now, and has us playing WVU, Temple, Navy and Cincy annually — it would have to be looked at. Because as I have said before, I still would not bet my life that the top power schools won’t break away totally in my lifetime. And ultimately, being a power school will require money.

I agree with you 100%, except I don’t see that type of contract coming to the remaining schools. I believe that any remaining program of value would/will be eaten up by other P4 conferences over time, essentially creating American 2.0. The current footprint between the American/B12 has 3 Kansas schools and 5 Texas schools. Besides West Virginia and Kansas, none of these schools are the flagship or carry the TV ratings in their own state. Who’s paying for this?

 

[Stinger92860]

I think 30 million for our AD is an issue, but you're correct for right forever home that money will be found and the Big 12 leftovers don't seem like the correct forever home. It still feels like the ACC and i do think we add $ value to their ACC network on par with what anyone else could offer outside of ND.

If we ever get an offer from the ACC it will be a partial payment. I have to believe we bring value, the question is what is the number.

 

[noeynox]

If you think $30 million is an issue for the athletic department, just schedule the year of the move to six years from now and you save $15 million.

Realistically, the only place we are likely to go to is the ACC, and there isn’t going to be movement there until 2036.

I think the OU/Texas move is the type of thing that gets the plates moving again. The Big Ten will likely look to make a counter move before 2036 and when that happens we will see how it all shakes out. When you think about it, Texas OU were perfect for the Big 10 also pairing them with Nebraska/Iowa, but the SEC beat em to the punch.

 

[uconndogs]

I think there is a very good chance that another shoe drops. There’s a little state out West called California. It’s something like the 10th largest economy in the WORLD. I don’t think USC wants to continue to standby and watch their football brand become more and more irrelevant. And I have to believe the Big would love to be in that market. In fact, with the SEC dominant in the football crazed South an argument could be made that the Big’s only meaningful move is on the West Coast.

If something like that happens then college football could bifurcate to 40 elite outside the NCAA. UCONN is not getting invited to that party. Being on the sideline with football and having two marquee hoops programs might not be a bad place to be if the reshuffling is that dramatic. Pudge could very well be right that the rest are regionally focused.

 

[billybud]

The question is..."How much weight will basketball carry ?"

Gonzaga and Nova have fine BB programs but monetizing them is still out in the future...

We can watch Kansas and see who swoops in and grabs their brand...AAC or B1G...

 

[ConnHuskBask]

An AAC/Big 12 merger certainly would appear to be a better platform for the football program, especially if West Virginia was back on the schedule annually. I'm not so certain that the fanbase would have ever fully embraced the mid major status associated with that league though.

Independence, while for all intents and purposes, resigns us to a mid major status, doesn't have the mid major feel that sharing a league with ECU, Tulsa, Memphis, and Tulane does. Rightly or wrongly, perception plays a large part here.

For hoops, basketball its an absolute no brainer, the Big East is a top 4 league now, and for the foreseeable future, with games against teams we care about.

Playing Kansas once at home every couple of years would be cool, along with reuniting with Cincinnati and West Virginia, but I could not care less about playing any of the other programs.

 

[CL82]

An AAC/Big 12 merger certainly would appear to be a better platform for the football program, especially if West Virginia was back on the schedule annually. I'm not so certain that the fanbase would have ever fully embraced the mid major status associated with that league though.

Independence, while for all intents and purposes, resigns us to a mid major status, doesn't have the mid major feel that sharing a league with ECU, Tulsa, Memphis, and Tulane does. Rightly or wrongly, perception plays a large part here.

For hoops, basketball its an absolute no brainer, the Big East is a top 4 league now, and for the foreseeable future, with games against teams we care about.

Playing Kansas once at home every couple of years would be cool, along with reuniting with Cincinnati and West Virginia, but I could not care less about playing any of the other programs.

I'd football only with the Big 12 leftovers in a heartbeat.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'd football only with the Big 12 leftovers in a heartbeat.

Absolutely. No question there.

 

[Waquoit]

Absolutely. No question there.

Who would lobby for throwing us that bone?

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Still not sure why basketball with Kansas, Houston, Memphis, Cincy, Baylor, Ok State, isn't as appealing as a current Big East schedule.

 

[uchusky32]

Still not sure why basketball with Kansas, Houston, Memphis, Cincy, Baylor, Ok State, isn't as appealing as a current Big East schedule.

Maybe for you but not for our recruits and their families

 

[shizzle787]

Still not sure why basketball with Kansas, Houston, Memphis, Cincy, Baylor, Ok State, isn't as appealing as a current Big East schedule.

If they invited us, Cincy, Memphis, and Houston it might be interesting, but I fear the next raid.

 

[uconnric]

Logic. ESPN will pay out big $$ to add two new SEC teams, while stranding the rest in a weakened conference and negotiating a cheaper GOR in 2024 ( or better yet dangling a slightly higher payout from rock bottom to get a long term cheap deal with the weak Big12. The weak Big12 is set up up for an AAC level deal. This is simple arbitrage. They pay up for 2 and down for 8. By trying to take two historical brand Crown Jewels to the SEC, they crossed a line. The BiG12 just got taken to the cleaners and there is no way they going to allow their conference entity to lose a billion or more had it not been tampered with and ESPN was forced to negotiate with Texas and OU in the Big12. My point is the past CRs are similar. The difference is they went to the top of the food chain this time shuffling super brands which crossed a big line. The only way out is they pay up and make everybody happy or they fight it out in court with the prospect of massive liability.

So this all based on assumption with no proof. Of course ESPN has a stake in the outcome. Proving some sort of tortious conduct is not easy, except on the internet.

 

[UConnJim]

I think BE in basketball and independence in football is more big time than all sports in the AAC where basketball and football are considered mid major. As an independent, UConn has a better chance of being considered a “P5 like” school than in the AAC. The schedule in football should be as good if not better than being in the AAC.

As for joining a Big 12/AAC merger conference? That is a losing proposition. Every school will be looking to leave as soon as possible, UConn would continue to be regional outlier, and the dollars won’t be great as no school is going to commit to the conference and sign a GORs. And basketball would be negatively hit. Conference tournament would go from MSG to Kansas City. Does anyone think the Big East would take UConn back a second time?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Who would lobby for throwing us that bone?

I don't think anyone. Just saying if offered, I would gladly play Big East hoops and Big12/AAC football.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't think anyone. Just saying if offered, I would gladly play Big East hoops and Big12/AAC football.

Maybe they'll get stuck on 15.

 

[metsfan2323]

Maybe they'll get stuck on 15.

If the B12's TV network wanted the UCONN football team to be part of that league we would get an invite. We wouldn't require a huge football only payout. Lobby FOX.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Maybe for you but not for our recruits and their families

We recruited a top 5 class while in the AAC. But ok, we can only recruit well if we play Providence twice a year. I guess playing fresh off the Final Four Baylor wouldn't appeal as much.

When we win we can recruit well in any conference. When we lose, we can't. Just that simple.

 

[Pudge]

We recruited a top 5 class while in the AAC. But ok, we can only recruit well if we play Providence twice a year. I guess playing fresh off the Final Four Baylor wouldn't appeal as much.

When we win we can recruit well in any conference. When we lose, we can't. Just that simple.

Simply not true. Evidence? They are asking the kids who commit ... this very question: repeatedly, it is obvious that Big East matters. Go back to your drumbeat in your head

 

[Adios]

With Connecticut fans being bandwagoners, UConn is better off as an independent that gives us flexibility in scheduling. While a Big 12/AAC mix of some sort may be a decent conference, it won't have the appeal of an independent schedule. It'll still be viewed as a step down from the Big East. UConn gets to schedule teams fans actually want to see an independent.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Simply not true. Evidence? They are asking the kids who commit ... this very question: repeatedly, it is obvious that Big East matters. Go back to your drumbeat in your head

And what answer fo youmexpect them to give to that question? "Gee, I think the Big East sucks..."

 

[Pudge]

And what answer fo youmexpect them to give to that question? "Gee, I think the Big East sucks..."

in the face of repeated evidence from repeated kids ... all directly home in the Big EAST footprint, your answer is nonsense