I want UMass in the league

[ASweet3781]

I don't think UConn should want any school to join the league and benefit from it. Look at all the good inviting Louisville did for us in 2003. They were eventually invited OVER us to a BCS league. Now we are not even in one.

Invite the biggest bunch of scrubs out there. Don't invite anyone near a desired market. Or a state university without a directional location in front of it. I can just see it. UMass goes 6-6 2 years in a row in football and BC and Syracuse push for their inclusion over us.

Keep UMass and any school that could have potential where they belong. In the witness protection program.

 

[Fairfield 1st]

I don't think UConn should want any school to join the league and benefit from it. Look at all the good inviting Louisville did for us in 2003. They were eventually invited OVER us to a BCS league. Now we are not even in one.

Invite the biggest bunch of scrubs out there. Don't invite anyone near a desired market. Or a state university without a directional location in front of it. I can just see it. UMass goes 6-6 2 years in a row in football and BC and Syracuse push for their inclusion over us.

Keep UMass and any school that could have potential where they belong. In the witness protection program.

You have a point there. Why enhance anyone else's profile.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

But UConn-Temple has more of a meaningful football rivalry than UConn-UMass. And Philly is drivable.

I'm more than okay keeping it where it is, and saying Temple is our "rivals" until we get into a real conference.

If Temple is our rival, we sank to a new low!! Lets go back to the CAA and play URI every year!! (we need to get into the B1G, or the SEC, but not the ACC... they'll be begging us, soon!!

 

[MattMang23]

To everyone wanting UMess in the league, why??

I am at the A10 tourney in Brooklyn and VCU has out-traveled UMess 15-1 or so. I consider that embarrassing for them.

 

[Durks07]

If Temple is our rival, we sank to a new low!! Lets go back to the CAA and play URI every year!! (we need to get into the B1G, or the SEC, but not the ACC... they'll be begging us, soon!!

While were at it, we can rekindle our football rivalry with the Waterbury YMCA and Yale. Somewhere Butchy is nodding in agreement.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

To everyone wanting UMess in the league, why??

I am at the A10 tourney in Brooklyn and VCU has out-traveled UMess 15-1 or so. I consider that embarrassing for them.

Explain to me why playing SMU or Tulane or ECU or UCF is better for UConn than playing UMass? We are the remote outlier in what is essentially a southern conference. 10 years from now, our athletic department is dead unless we find some teams that fans care about.

The argument seems to be "we will be in another league soon so who cares?". Really? Where is the invitation to the new league? Why will it come when it hasn't come yet? Is counting on something that hasn't happened and may not happen a good idea?

If Cincinnati left this league before UConn, UConn would be better off taking Temple and joining the MAC.

 

[Vuce]

Explain to me why playing SMU or Tulane or ECU or UCF is better for UConn than playing UMass? We are the remote outlier in what is essentially a southern conference. 10 years from now, our athletic department is dead unless we find some teams that fans care about.

If we are in this league 10 years from now we are dead whether Umass in this clusterfck or not. Having them in this thing won't "save us" from anything.

SMU, UCF, etc are already in. No reason to add Umass too. We can play them every season if we want to out of conference.

 

[UConn Esq]

"I want Umass in the league" - No one ever.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Nelson -

Every time I see this thread towards the top of the first page I want to punch you in the head.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nelson -

Every time I see this thread towards the top of the first page I want to punch you in the head.

It's my fault UConn is in this situation.

 

[HuskyHawk]

"I want Umass in the league" - No one ever.

His point is valid. Navy will probably bail. Who do you want to replace them? Don't say Tulsa, since they are already penciled in for #11. Since every conceivable addition stinks...I would pick the one I could drive to for away games. Hell, if they play the game in Gillette, it would be much, much closer for me than East Hartford. Yell at Nelson all you want...but I haven't heard you guys come up with a better idea. In the absence of "good", I'll take "close".

 

[WestHartHusk]

His point is valid. Navy will probably bail. Who do you want to replace them? Don't say Tulsa, since they are already penciled in for #11. Since every conceivable addition stinks...I would pick the one I could drive to for away games. Hell, if they play the game in Gillette, it would be much, much closer for me than East Hartford. Yell at Nelson all you want...but I haven't heard you guys come up with a better idea. In the absence of "good", I'll take "close".

Cut Tulane, have 10.

 

[Durks07]

Cut Tulane, have 10.

If that isn't a better idea, I don't know what is.

 

[metsfan2323]

I don't think UConn should want any school to join the league and benefit from it. Look at all the good inviting Louisville did for us in 2003. They were eventually invited OVER us to a BCS league. Now we are not even in one.

Invite the biggest bunch of scrubs out there. Don't invite anyone near a desired market. Or a state university without a directional location in front of it. I can just see it. UMass goes 6-6 2 years in a row in football and BC and Syracuse push for their inclusion over us.

Keep UMass and any school that could have potential where they belong. In the witness protection program.

This is the only valid reason for wanting to keep UMASS out of the league (fear that they will turn into Rutgers and eat our lunch). Everyone claiming to hate the UMASS idea because UCONN is too good for them are just ashamed to admit the real reason for wanting to keep our thumb on them. "ASweet" gets credit for being honest about it.

 

[whaler11]

Why can't they stay at 10 exactly?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Why can't they stay at 10 exactly?

1) because it appears ESPN wants a 12 school league.

2) UConn needs a local rival.

3) the travel for the A12 is a death sentence for the Olympic sports, even with UMass.

 

[WestHartHusk]

1) because it appears ESPN wants a 12 school league. There is no way cutting out Tulane and not adding UMass cuts the 'per team' revenue. Even if it, did who cares at this point. What would we lose, $50,000??

2) UConn needs a local rival. That is not, will not be, UMass. I don't understand how your hard-on over this has lasted so long.

3) the travel for the A12 is a death sentence for the Olympic sports, even with UMass. Since its a death sentence either way let's die on our feet and not on our knees.

 

[whaler11]

1) because it appears ESPN wants a 12 school league.

2) UConn needs a local rival.

3) the travel for the A12 is a death sentence for the Olympic sports, even with UMass.

It appears they want a 12 team league why?

Adding UMass doesn't fix number 3. I'm probably ok with UMass but I don't see the connection here.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It appears they want a 12 team league why?

Adding UMass doesn't fix number 3. I'm probably ok with UMass but I don't see the connection here.

Why add Tulsa if ESPN does not want 12? Why add Tulane in the first place?

UConn needs to completely reset the athletic department budget, which I imagine they have already done. There is no revenue, and the travel expenses are skyrocketing. It is like no one on this board even balances their checkbook much less work in the business world. UConn needs to cut costs just to keep the lights on.

Putting a field hockey or a lacrosse team on a plane to Florida, Texas or anywhere in that latitude 4 times a year is cost prohibitive. They need a drivable road game every year. I can GUARANTEE that if it was up to UConn, they would add UMass, keep Navy and add Buffalo.

There is this theme in this thread that fans feel it is beneath their dignity to play UMass. There are plenty of former independent mortgage brokers that were making $200k+ 8 years ago that are bank loan officers today making $50k. Or at least the smart ones are. The stupid ones kept living the $200k+ lifestyle long after the revenue dried up because they were worried about what people would think and drove their life off a cliff.

90% of this board is recommending that UConn athletic program do exactly that.

 

[whaler11]

Why add Tulsa if ESPN does not want 12? Why add Tulane in the first place?

UConn needs to completely reset the athletic department budget, which I imagine they have already done. There is no revenue, and the travel expenses are skyrocketing. It is like no one on this board even balances their checkbook much less work in the business world. UConn needs to cut costs just to keep the lights on.

Putting a field hockey or a lacrosse team on a plane to Florida, Texas or anywhere in that latitude 4 times a year is cost prohibitive. They need a drivable road game every year. I can GUARANTEE that if it was up to UConn, they would add UMass, keep Navy and add Buffalo.

There is this theme in this thread that fans feel it is beneath their dignity to play UMass. There are plenty of former independent mortgage brokers that were making $200k+ 8 years ago that are bank loan officers today making $50k. Or at least the smart ones are. The stupid ones kept living the $200k+ lifestyle long after the revenue dried up because they were worried about what people would think and drove their life off a cliff.

90% of this board is recommending that UConn athletic program do exactly that.

They haven't added Tulsa. Tulane makes no sense if the league is 8, 9, 12, 16 or 30. So trying to make sense of Tulane will only drive you further insane.

 

[storrsroars]

Oh...to answer your question, UConn fans will fill the Rent to watch their team play.

No they won't.

If there's any statement in all this mess that I can guarantee, it's that attendance will be embarrassingly low.

I live in a hotbed of football. I've seen Pitt packed to SRO for Penn State games. I've seen tumbleweeds at Heinz for this year's ridiculously awful BE schedule. There is incredible excitement here over FSU coming to start next year's season, even though it's all but a guaranteed Panthers loss.

Yes, rivalries are built over time. But they can also be regional - and usually there exist regional rivalries long before national ones. And in the mix are "interesting" games vs. interesting opponents. UConn won't even be attracting that. The faster UMass can get their act together the better to create a game UConn can sell.

Funny that we can't ask to develop a NY rival like Stony Brook to a competent D1 opponent - because their AAU status means they'd probably be asked to join the B1G before us.

 

[Husky25]

No they won't.

If there's any statement in all this mess that I can guarantee, it's that attendance will be embarrassingly low.

I live in a hotbed of football. I've seen Pitt packed to SRO for Penn State games. I've seen tumbleweeds at Heinz for this year's ridiculously awful BE schedule. There is incredible excitement here over FSU coming to start next year's season, even though it's all but a guaranteed Panthers loss.

Yes, rivalries are built over time. But they can also be regional - and usually there exist regional rivalries long before national ones. And in the mix are "interesting" games vs. interesting opponents. UConn won't even be attracting that. The faster UMass can get their act together the better to create a game UConn can sell.

Funny that we can't ask to develop a NY rival like Stony Brook to a competent D1 opponent - because their AAU status means they'd probably be asked to join the B1G before us.

Thanks for taking my quote out of context.

PSU and Pitt haven't played each other since 2000 and aren't expected to until 2016. A world of change has taken place since then and probably will before their next meeting. They started playing each other in 1893, a full 10 years before Kitty Hawk and well before air travel was a luxury for the highfalutin, let alone the current norm of chartered air travel for college athletics. All rivalries were regional back in the day.

Regarding attendance: Pittsburgh is a small market town for MLB purposes, but it is still a Major League town and a fairly large city. The Penguins recently won the Stanley Cup and the Steelers are a religion merely because of the NFL. Point is, there is a lot of activity competing for the entertainment dollar. Pitt played largely the same Big East schedule this year as they had since 2004. The reasons you see tumbleweeds at Heinz is: that Pitt is excruciating mediocre and historically under-achieving compared to their expectations and perceived talent, especially since the beginning of the Wandstandt era. In 2012, they not only had a poor showing vs. a 1-AA team, they lost on their way to finishing 6-6 and losing in their bowl game. Also Heinz holds 65,000 people. Any stadium will look empty filled to only 64% capacity.

 

[storrsroars]

The canard about "lots of options competing for the entertainment dollar" is just that. There are tons of museums, outdoor activities, etc. etc. too. For all intents and purposes the Steelers and Panthers football dollars are almost exclusive to each other.

Apologies if you think I took you out of context. Maybe some harder facts will make my point. The best three years of attendance at Heinz were Harris's penultimate year and Wanny's last two.

In Harris's last year (2004) Pitt was in a BCS bowl, yet only drew an average of 41,583 to Heinz. The largest attendance was for WVU (52.6K). In the year prior (2003), Pitt averaged 59,183. That year featured ND (66.4), VT (66.2) and Miami (60.5) - the halcyon days of the BE.

In Wanny's last two seasons, Pitt averaged 52,183 (2010) and 53,414 (2009). 2010 was bolstered by WVU and Miami. 2009 was bolstered by ND and "title game" vs. Cincy for a BCS berth. Each of the specific games mentioned drew > 60K.

To give you an idea just how bad attendance vs BE teams not named WVU was, in 2007, UConn was the biggest draw with just over 40K. In 2005, Youngstown St. outdrew every BE game (luckily they had ND on the sked or the average would've been about 36K/game).

Point being, if you give fans here a game to watch, they'll attend. And that's not much different than anywhere else. And for the last 10 years of BE football, there hasn't been much to watch - no top teams, no rivalries other than WVU. For Pitt, that's changed. For UConn, it's just going to get worse.

 

[Husky25]

The canard about "lots of options competing for the entertainment dollar" is just that. There are tons of museums, outdoor activities, etc. etc. too. For all intents and purposes the Steelers and Panthers football dollars are almost exclusive to each other.

That's not exactly true. Disregarding cost, I know for a fact that my wife would probably be my ex-wife in short order if I were at football related events on both weekend days.

Apologies if you think I took you out of context...

I have no desire to be combative. That was not my intention, as I'm pretty sure it wasn't yours. If a team is winning, they should not have to rely on a visiting opponent or their fans to fill the home stadium (especially when said stadium currently only seats 40,000 as it is), whether the opponent is right up I-91 or 1,500 miles away. Winning is winning. Winning puts butts on the benches. Pitt did not, by and large, meet (albeit some lofty yearly) expectations. I expect UConn to be a winning football program in this new conference and I expect competitive games vs Cinci, USF, and Temple. Ergo, adding another developing program in UMass is unnecessary.

 

[jostar1]

mark blaudschun‏@blauds
UMass big time football change from FCS to FBS level? 800 more people per game http://ajerseyguy.com

 

[UCFBfan]

To give you an idea just how bad attendance vs BE teams not named WVU was, in 2007, UConn was the biggest draw with just over 40K. In 2005, Youngstown St. outdrew every BE game (luckily they had ND on the sked or the average would've been about 36K/game).

How many of those fans were from Youngstown? I'm not saying you're wrong but picking a game where the visiting team is located right across the border isn't a good example. I don't see Pitt doing any better attendance wise with the ACC schedule. So beside FSU, who else is going to draw? This played out at WVU this past season. I don't specific numbers but I remember watching their Primetime game against Oklahoma, at home, and they had almost 2/3 of the upper deck on one side empty. I bet all of their fans were juiced for that game when they prepared to move to the Big-12, like you said Pitt fans are about FSU. I just think it's tough being a college team in a pro city. Northeast college teams face that every day and UConn is no exception. Add into it that there is ZERO history between these schools being shuffled around and fans find it hard to get juiced for games. It is going to be tough to draw fans but I think UConn will do fine as long as they keep winning. Boise plays a bunch of nobodies and they keep drawing and the reason is that they win. If UConn wins, and I don't think it will be a cake walk like others do, they will be fine.

 

[storrsroars]

That's not exactly true. Disregarding cost, I know for a fact that my wife would probably be my ex-wife in short order if I were at football related events on both weekend days.

That was my point. Panthers & Steelers fans/money is almost mutually exclusive (although it's apparently against the law here to not own a Steelers jersey).