How revenue sharing is affecting the schedule | The Boneyard
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How revenue sharing is affecting the schedule

I saw this article and I thought Geno is sending two messages. The first is the reality of the situation and the second was an invitation to a sponsor or wealthy fan to pay for a trip in the future.
 
While the trips may have seemed like an extravagance, they did allow a team to play other highly ranked teams early in the season. In the end, it's fewer games against top opponents. On the other hand, there's always the argument that playing top quality competition gets you ready for the tournament. Even Geno has said, roughly, "If you're good enough, you're good enough." I do find it interesting though, that the cost of running a program has risen so astronomically due to all the money needed to pay athletes that seams are starting to split. College football is in the process of turning itself into a joke with all the coaching and player swapping. Can you be a real supporter of a program when you can;t even follow who your coach is or will be? We're really spoiled.
 
Kat said:
I think it is much better for the program to be seen in large venues in the US instead of playing in some matchbox gym that holds maybe 300 people in the Caymans.
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I agree but it is also better for their education to see the world and it still is college. It's not like they could ever do semester abroad or anything with the demands of basketball.
 
DEpup said:
I agree but it is also better for their education to see the world and it still is college. It's not like they could ever do semester abroad or anything with the demands of basketball.
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Can't UConn get creative with its athletic teams and academic programs? For instance, would an elective summer class or independent study of classical art and/or literature in Europe where the women and the team's student managers have to do assignments and write a paper on their experience and learnings. What a win-win it would be if you can earn a grade while you're also doing a goodwill basketball tour with exhibition games and/or clinics for youngsters. DEpup is correct that our women miss out on many college experiences because of the commitment to basketball. Such a tour could be a substitute for a semester abroad to a certain extent.
 
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The tournament in Florida paid each team a million dollars to participate. It would be at all surprising for UConn to be one of the four teams next year.
 
Glad to finally have an article on finances for the women's basketball team. The men's program (happily) scrapped the Thanksgiving tourney and replaced it with a powerhouse schedule with revenue generating opportunities. From the outside, the women's program put together their weakest schedule in memory.

Apparently they are going for local fundraising opportunities?

It would have been nice (as a fan) to have seen the women also have a powerhouse schedule, but I guess the women (even with UConn's brand name) do not yet have the drawing power to create neutral site opportunities in concert with broadcasters. That is really a shame, as it would definitely help grow interest in the sport and generate revenue for the players.
 
ec33 said:
Glad to finally have an article on finances for the women's basketball team. The men's program (happily) scrapped the Thanksgiving tourney and replaced it with a powerhouse schedule with revenue generating opportunities. From the outside, the women's program put together their weakest schedule in memory.

Apparently they are going for local fundraising opportunities?

It would have been nice (as a fan) to have seen the women also have a powerhouse schedule, but I guess the women (even with UConn's brand name) do not yet have the drawing power to create neutral site opportunities in concert with broadcasters. That is really a shame, as it would definitely help grow interest in the sport and generate revenue for the players.
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Weakest schedule in memory? You must have a short memory because last year they played four non P4 teams (Boston U., FDU, Holy Cross and USF), while this year they only played two (Loyola Chicago and USF). UConn also plays four of the P4 teams we played last year (Lou, ND, Tenn and USC). The current OOC schedule has six teams currently ranked (1 top 10 team), while last year's schedule had seven (3 top 10 teams). So, while this schedule is not as top heavy (No South Carolina), it is also not as bottom heavy either. The latest Massey rankings has UConn's SOS at #4 (through Dec 4th), while the latest NET rankings has UConn's OOC SOS #11 and overall SOS at #19 (through Dec 4th). So, I respectfully must disagree with your assessment of this year's schedule.
 
I didn't understand the article. How does revenue sharing work? Where does the revenue come from and with whom is it shared? And then, how does that affect scheduling? Don't all away games need to be paid for? Thank you for helping me.
 
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One of my college baseball teammates, back in the 50's, was a beneficiary of revenue sharing. When we went south on our spring trip to Virginia and the Carolinas, he was given gas money to drive his car down, with a few other players in the car with him.
 
DEpup said:
I agree but it is also better for their education to see the world and it still is college. It's not like they could ever do semester abroad or anything with the demands of basketball.
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They can still do those “travel tournaments” or European summer trips, someone else other than the school will need to pay for them. Maybe the players parents can pickup the tab. They don’t have to pay for their kids college, so it would be a drop in the bucket.
 
Boreifs said:
The tournament in Florida paid each team a million dollars to participate. It would be at all surprising for UConn to be one of the four teams next year.
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Boreifs, can you provide the source for whatever tournament in Florida you are referring, please and thank you?
 
PJCLaw said:
Weakest schedule in memory? You must have a short memory because last year they played four non P4 teams (Boston U., FDU, Holy Cross and USF), while this year they only played two (Loyola Chicago and USF). UConn also plays four of the P4 teams we played last year (Lou, ND, Tenn and USC). The current OOC schedule has six teams currently ranked (1 top 10 team), while last year's schedule had seven (3 top 10 teams). So, while this schedule is not as top heavy (No South Carolina), it is also not as bottom heavy either. The latest Massey rankings has UConn's SOS at #4 (through Dec 4th), while the latest NET rankings has UConn's OOC SOS #11 and overall SOS at #19 (through Dec 4th). So, I respectfully must disagree with your assessment of this year's schedule.
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This is UConn women's basketball. Nothing outside of the Top 10 should be a challenging game.

There are outside factors like the JuJu injury, South Carolina (correctly) refusing a February matchup, ND falling off the face of the earth, and Tennessee continuing to not perform to their previous standards -- but there is not one marquee matchup on the UConn schedule to draw outside interest this season (Michigan is too new).

The UConn men aren't playing in the million dollar tournaments because they cannot afford the pay cut from the money they make off their one-off games at MSG and the TD Garden or big home-and-home arrangements.

The women need to try to find a way to generate similar income streams (again -- it would help big names like ND or Tennessee would return to a higher level of competitiveness, USC will return to health, South Carolina comes back in an event setting next season) -- but the OOC should be close to nothing but top teams. It should be a gauntlet if they want to generate revenue and interest that is.

The TV ratings on the men's side (in general) are apparently doing better this season than any year in this century. Teams are generating income and interest in their sport by having an increased level of top names playing each other instead of cupcakes.

It likely isn't there yet -- but I want to see the same on the women's side. Instead, I am pretty much bored with the team already as yet another blowout of an overmatched team has grown tiresome after 30 years of being spoiled by their level of play. And I am a fan already, how do they generate new interest under these conditions?
 
ec33 said:
This is UConn women's basketball. Nothing outside of the Top 10 should be a challenging game.

There are outside factors like the JuJu injury, South Carolina (correctly) refusing a February matchup, ND falling off the face of the earth, and Tennessee continuing to not perform to their previous standards -- but there is not one marquee matchup on the UConn schedule to draw outside interest this season (Michigan is too new).

The UConn men aren't playing in the million dollar tournaments because they cannot afford the pay cut from the money they make off their one-off games at MSG and the TD Garden or big home-and-home arrangements.

The women need to try to find a way to generate similar income streams (again -- it would help big names like ND or Tennessee would return to a higher level of competitiveness, USC will return to health, South Carolina comes back in an event setting next season) -- but the OOC should be close to nothing but top teams. It should be a gauntlet if they want to generate revenue and interest that is.

The TV ratings on the men's side (in general) are apparently doing better this season than any year in this century. Teams are generating income and interest in their sport by having an increased level of top names playing each other instead of cupcakes.

It likely isn't there yet -- but I want to see the same on the women's side. Instead, I am pretty much bored with the team already as yet another blowout of an overmatched team has grown tiresome after 30 years of being spoiled by their level of play. And I am a fan already, how do they generate new interest under these conditions?
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Please don't move the goalpost after I undermined your argument. Now, you say it's about anything out of the top 10 not being a challenging game. Have you done any research to support your argument because it seems kind of knee jerk? Tenn beat UConn last season when it was ranked No. 19. Any team in a P4 (at least the top 5-6 teams in each league) is capable of beating anyone. The schedule is the schedule until it's not. What I mean is, at the beginning of the season, the schedule reflects the expectations of the schools, coaches and media, but the reality is that injuries, playing below your talent level, bad chemistry, etc. affects a team's performance, allowing you to make comments about ND, Tenn, etc. falling off. However, at the start of the year, the schedule reflected more top 15 teams (Tenn, ND and Mich) than are currently scheduled (Mich and Iowa). If you put this year's schedule against last years BEFORE the season began, it compares favorably to last year's albeit with less OOC games (11 to 13 last year), but it is certainly not the weakest in memory by a long shot.
 
PJCLaw said:
Please don't move the goalpost after I undermined your argument. Now, you say it's about anything out of the top 10 not being a challenging game. Have you done any research to support your argument because it seems kind of knee jerk? Tenn beat UConn last season when it was ranked No. 19. Any team in a P4 (at least the top 5-6 teams in each league) is capable of beating anyone. The schedule is the schedule until it's not. What I mean is, at the beginning of the season, the schedule reflects the expectations of the schools, coaches and media, but the reality is that injuries, playing below your talent level, bad chemistry, etc. affects a team's performance, allowing you to make comments about ND, Tenn, etc. falling off. However, at the start of the year, the schedule reflected more top 15 teams (Tenn, ND and Mich) than are currently scheduled (Mich and Iowa). If you put this year's schedule against last years BEFORE the season began, it compares favorably to last year's albeit with less OOC games (11 to 13 last year), but it is certainly not the weakest in memory by a long shot.
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I didn't move my goalpost. Marquee matchups and top programs draw attention and money. Little about the UConn women's schedule this year draws any excitement or additional. Louisville in Germany to open the season -- yes, an event. Tennessee and Notre Dame do have "renewal of old (decaying) rivalries" mystique. USC is budding rivalry. That is it.

But you are missing the point because you are focusing on competition in an thread on creating revenue. The UConn schedule was not built to create revenue through the games they play -- but the locations from which they can hold "functions" to cash in on their celebrity.

It would be more interesting to me -- as a fan -- to see them focus on creating revenue through the games they play and (more importantly) I would hope that this would also prove lucrative to the players as well.
 
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Boreifs said:
It was the event that featured Texas, South Carolina, UClA and Duke.
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Roger. FWIW, that tournament was in Las Vegas. Although I do believe their might be a few Chambers of Commerce who would pony up $$$ for something similar in a few select Florida cities.
 
ec33 said:
I didn't move my goalpost. Marquee matchups and top programs draw attention and money. Little about the UConn women's schedule this year draws any excitement or additional. Louisville in Germany to open the season -- yes, an event. Tennessee and Notre Dame do have "renewal of old (decaying) rivalries" mystique. USC is budding rivalry. That is it.

But you are missing the point because you are focusing on competition in an thread on creating revenue. The UConn schedule was not built to create revenue through the games they play -- but the locations from which they can hold "functions" to cash in on their celebrity.

It would be more interesting to me -- as a fan -- to see them focus on creating revenue through the games they play and (more importantly) I would hope that this would also prove lucrative to the players as well.
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Do you go to games? UConn WBB is "the Beatles". You're paying attention, right? I'm driving to Brooklyn for the Iowa game and a few days in NYC around Christmas. That's what we do. You aren't taking into account the popularity of the team.
I think schedule talk is like beating a dead horse. Geno and the schedulers do their best every year regarding the schedule. OOC has more variables. He wants to support colleges in CT and the NE and he is at the mercy of what the other schools can do or want to do.
 
YKCornelius said:
Roger. FWIW, that tournament was in Las Vegas. Although I do believe their might be a few Chambers of Commerce who would pony up $$$ for something similar in a few select Florida cities.
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My mistake. Thx for the correction.
 
PJCLaw said:
Please don't move the goalpost after I undermined your argument. Now, you say it's about anything out of the top 10 not being a challenging game. Have you done any research to support your argument because it seems kind of knee jerk? Tenn beat UConn last season when it was ranked No. 19. Any team in a P4 (at least the top 5-6 teams in each league) is capable of beating anyone. The schedule is the schedule until it's not. What I mean is, at the beginning of the season, the schedule reflects the expectations of the schools, coaches and media, but the reality is that injuries, playing below your talent level, bad chemistry, etc. affects a team's performance, allowing you to make comments about ND, Tenn, etc. falling off. However, at the start of the year, the schedule reflected more top 15 teams (Tenn, ND and Mich) than are currently scheduled (Mich and Iowa). If you put this year's schedule against last years BEFORE the season began, it compares favorably to last year's albeit with less OOC games (11 to 13 last year), but it is certainly not the weakest in memory by a long shot.
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To add to the complexity, OOC games are scheduled at least 1 year in advance. Sometimes 2 years. So, in this era of unrestricted free agency and pay for play, not to mention injuries, who is going to be the top teams 1 or 2 years from now? I don't know, but if someone does, speak up. (OK, most probably the usual suspects with $$$)

I don't think UConn is going to play in ballrooms in the Caribbean, but I think big games could be scheduled in Europe. How about UConn versus Europe? Think there would be any investors?
 
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ec33 said:
I didn't move my goalpost. Marquee matchups and top programs draw attention and money. Little about the UConn women's schedule this year draws any excitement or additional. Louisville in Germany to open the season -- yes, an event. Tennessee and Notre Dame do have "renewal of old (decaying) rivalries" mystique. USC is budding rivalry. That is it.

But you are missing the point because you are focusing on competition in an thread on creating revenue. The UConn schedule was not built to create revenue through the games they play -- but the locations from which they can hold "functions" to cash in on their celebrity.

It would be more interesting to me -- as a fan -- to see them focus on creating revenue through the games they play and (more importantly) I would hope that this would also prove lucrative to the players as well.
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ec33, I think you are drawing erroneous inferences. First, UConn did NOT build their OOC schedule around holding functions in the non-home locations. Revenue generating functions have been set up and pursued AFTER the schedule was built. Additionally, those revenue generating functions (this year) are primarily focused on widening the aperture towards alumni and other donors, since UConn Nation is very far-reaching.

The functions set up in Tampa are examples of UConn reaching out to the large number of alumni and fans that have relocated to the Sunshine State. As Geno said in a recent presser, there will be additional functions ahead - for example, in the Los Angeles area when they go out to play USC.

Similarly, as it pertains to generating revenue, TV contracts have been signed subsequent to the release of the schedule that were part of the schedule negotiations with the various opponents. So in that regard, revenue generation was indeed a major factor in building the schedule - not just with UConn, but with their opponents.

Given the success of the recent event in Las Vegas, and the participating schools signing deals for the event to continue going forward, it wouldn't surprise me if other cities with the ability to entice tourists (i.e., New Orleans, Orlando, San Antonio, Tampa, to name a few) don't move ahead with Chamber of Commerce offers of their own in the near future. Maybe even as early as next year.
 
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CTBballfan243 said:
They can still do those “travel tournaments” or European summer trips, someone else other than the school will need to pay for them. Maybe the players parents can pickup the tab. They don’t have to pay for their kids college, so it would be a drop in the bucket.
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While true the parents aren't paying tuition, assuming they have the funds to cover such a trip isn't fair. For all we know, without the scholarship some of these players may not have been able to afford going to university.
 
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