Is UConn dying?

[Yardigan]

Just seeing this. Yikes, someone pass Benedict a defibrillator. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue and start posting on the Boneyard.

Never a bad week to switch from glue to weed.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

I blame BCU.

Shameful if it's true they are the only reason we aren't in the ACC right now. If we were in the ACC and it were up to us to accept BC, I would've gladly welcomed another Northeast team .
What a wretched, wretched university.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The NBA seems to really want to develop the G League. It is plausible that in 20 years men's hoops resembles college baseball. AKA, no fan gives a Spartacus and all the best prospects are already professional.

While we're at it, who's thinking about Salma Hayek & Penelope Cruz in 20 years.

 

[Travelman6]

What's the impetus for the football schools to go for this?

In conference punching bag and guranteed win without having to (do the work to) schedule out of conference cupcakes?

that's all I have....

 

[joober jones]

While we're at it, who's thinking about Salma Hayek & Penelope Cruz in 20 years.

Even now they're past their prime.

 

[huskymedic]

But they’re not. The school is taking a substantial note to fund this...they “hope” to raise more money privately but it ain’t happening. And this isn’t a small project. Benedict is kicking the $ can down the road

I'm pretty sure the revenue bonds for the baseball/softball/soccer/performance center facilities are being repaid through the combination of the on-going ticket facility surcharge fees that have been in place since 2016 and specific private donations through the UConn Foundation (which I heard they have over half in hand/pledged already). This is in addition to additional naming/sponsorship rights. If you've seen something to the contrary regarding the funding I'd be interested in reading it.

 

[intlzncster]

But they’re not. The school is taking a substantial note to fund this...they “hope” to raise more money privately but it ain’t happening. And this isn’t a small project. Benedict is kicking the $ can down the road

Must've learned from the best.....CT legislature.

 

[BlueDogs]

>>Athletic Director David Benedict has said UConn’s financial struggles won’t impact the planned construction of new baseball, softball and soccer stadiums, which are being paid for mostly through private donations.<<

Probably the most irresponsible action possible is building these new facilities for sports that mean zero in the scheme of things. The key word is “mostly” paid by private donations, meaning a lot isn’t.

 

[Stainmaster]

Probably the most irresponsible action possible is building these new facilities for sports that mean zero in the scheme of things. The key word is “mostly” paid by private donations, meaning a lot isn’t.

The baseball facility is high-school quality. This should've been done 20-25 years ago.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

Anyone else think that a part of UConn's problem is that the wealthy and powerful in this state do not throw their weight behind our flagship university?

 

[huskymedic]

Probably the most irresponsible action possible is building these new facilities for sports that mean zero in the scheme of things. The key word is “mostly” paid by private donations, meaning a lot isn’t.

Meaning the rest is being paid from the dedicated lock box revenue from the facility improvement surcharge on non-student tickets.

 

[Chief00]

I would cut lots of minor sports. Football drives the bus, invest to get better in that and basketball.

 

[whaler11]

Meaning the rest is being paid from the dedicated lock box revenue from the facility improvement surcharge on non-student tickets.

That’s an accounting trick though. That’s revenue they could have used elsewhere, instead of more capital investment they can’t afford the upkeep on.

 

[mrl2016]

USA TODAY Sports

As a point of reference these are the revenues, costs, and allocations for all NCAA public schools. I think after some inspection, the total revenue in that column is true revenue + allocation.

When you sort by AAC & % allocated, UCF, Houston, Cinci, USF are all around the same ballpark of subsidizing close to the same amount of revenue they bring in. Obviously, 42 > 27 and 15M in cold hard cash means a lot given the states financial situation, but it seems all of the AAC schools are similarly leveraged in hopes of the P5 bid

 

[storrsroars]

Well then, let's cancel sports now. Waste of money. I mean, if you're willing to go back to the Yankee conference days (which is more where the BE is headed in the long run), then go for it. But it won't be a boon to the university. Only the strong (and rich) survive in today's world. Even more the case with where the economy is headed in the longer term.

You're a pretty smart guy. How did you let that joke go over your head?

 

[huskymedic]

That’s an accounting trick though. That’s revenue they could have used elsewhere, instead of more capital investment they can’t afford the upkeep on.

That's true if they just decided to jack up the ticket prices across the board w/o specifically tying it to the baseball/softball/soccer project.

 

[whaler11]

That's true if they just decided to jack up the ticket prices across the board w/o specifically tying it to the baseball/softball/soccer project.

Or sell more tickets without it.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

If you include royalties, licensing, advertising, and sponsorships as part of football, men's basketball, and women's basketball revenues (which I think is fair), the total deficit for those programs becomes $1.7 million.

C'mon, enough of the reasonable common sense. Undeniably, W crew, M&W cross country, M&W track & field, M&W tennis, M&W swimming/diving, women's volleyball, softball, field hockey, and W lacrosse generate the lion's share of UConn athletics' royalty, licensing, advertising, and sponsorship revenues.

 

[Paesano]

Just got back from Italy last week. I discussed college costs and differences in the university systems with my cousins. I have to admit, I think we should look at the costs of college sports across the board in this country. If, as a whole, college sports is a money loser, all schools should drop them and focus on academics. There are other ways to keep sports alive without college sports. Having said that, while college sports is still big and high visibility, you need to compete to stay relevant.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Need new revenue other than from a new TV contract which is years away!

Not shining any enlightening sunshine on the revenues subject, yet some increased winning and resulting revenues in the 2 most important sports matters immensely ST, MT & LT.

 

[Adios]

The baseball facility is high-school quality. This should've been done 20-25 years ago.

High schools have better facilities. I have no idea how we managed to be as successful in baseball as we've been.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

We must have the most over reactive fanbase. I just trust the powers that be in fixing this.

Well @Butch , even the soon-to-be departing lame duck UConn president ... ?

 

[David 76]

You can wait around for Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz to ask you for a threesome while you're at it.

waited for years and it only happened once. Waste of time.

 

[intlzncster]

You're a pretty smart guy. How did you let that joke go over your head?

I was too busy manning my flamethrower.

 

[uconnfan68]

You can wait around for Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz to ask you for a threesome while you're at it.

I wait for that daily.

 

[uconnfan68]

And the next contract is likely to be tighter. People saying the BE is some revenue windfall are silly. We'd still be bleeding money.

In my opinion, it's P5 or death. A long slow death, but a death nonetheless.

You hang out for your only real potential life raft. When that's gone, jump ship.

Don’t worry, the P5 will go belly up too. It will just take a little longer.

 

[frankthetank]

To this day, I don’t understand the arguments that the Big East would be a league that’s going downward. They already make more TV money than any of the Group of 5 conferences and they don’t even play football (meaning they’re getting a MUCH MUCH MUCH higher ROI without those football expenses). The on-the-court product has also ended up being signicantly better than expected - there isn’t any “Requiem for the Big East” talk anymore.

At the same time, anyone in the TV industry knows that trying to compare FS1 ratings to ESPN ratings is ridiculous - there’s an artificial depression on ratings for the exact same event on FS1 compared to ESPN. You can see this clearly in Pac-12 ratings where the same matchup will have 3 or 4 times the viewers on ESPN compared to FS1. (Note that the Big East consistently beats the Pac-12 on FS1 in the ratings, so that’s a much better indicator of the Big East’s leverage.) If the Big East were going to market for a new contract today, it would most certainly get a significant increase with multiple bidders. To be sure, TV rights fees are in flux for the future because of so many unpredictable changes in the industry overall, but that’s a macro issue as opposed to a conference-specific issue.

The point is that the “football is all that matters” mantra is true... for the P5 conferences. The problem is that the G5 conferences are lemmings in trying to chase the P5 in a game that they will never be even in the vicinity of being competitive (much less win). Meanwhile, the Big East found a way to make more TV money with fewer expenses with an identifiable brand and schools that actually want to be there by going in a totally different direction (if only because they were forced to do so). Frankly, considering the circumstances of the split of the Old Big East, the New Big East has actually been the best managed conference that has maximized its assets better on a pound for pound basis than any other conference (including the P5) since conference realignment quieted down. The Big East shouldn’t be criticized for being a league without football - they should be *commended* for figuring out a way to be successful and resurrecting a brand without football while the G5 members swim in debt in the name of football.

If the P5 conferences are Amazon, then the G5 conferences are Sears - a dying retailer that tried to figure out online retail when it was too little and too late while much better competitors swamped them. Meanwhile, the Big East is like Nordstrom - a targeted high value brand retailer whose success is doing what Amazon *doesn’t* do well in terms of a different focus and experience. The irony of all of this is that the P5 actually sees the Big East as a legitimate equal in basketball with this approach to the point where 2 leagues (the Big Ten and Big 12) have challenges with them. Anyone who thinks that the Big East is more in danger of a hypothetical P5 split from the rest of the NCAA than, say, the AAC is kidding themselves.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean UConn should just drop football (or even go independent) and join the Big East. As long as UConn sincerely believes that it has a chance at the P5, it’s essentially forced to stay in the AAC (or whatever successor league in the event that it gets poached). Holding onto that P5 lottery ticket is probably still to important for an athletic department of UConn’s stature to ever unilaterally give it up. It’s just a strange situation since UConn might be the only school in the country where *having* an FBS football program actually *takes away* a potentially higher revenue/more profitable option (basketball in the Big East).

 

[bmayuc]

I think a more interesting question is will UConn Athletics bleed to death before the NCAA cartel system is broken up by some combination of lawsuits and legislation forcing massive changes in the economics of college sports, fair wages for players and those types of issues.

I think its much more likely some massive shakeup like that will happen in the next 3-5 years than some absurd conference realignment dream.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

No, just pointing out how stupid the drop football comments are.

People like you put UConn in its current situation.

 

[AdamaNation]

Go

The fan base is clueless. They're worried about what things will look like in 20 years and think we're just fine sitting here until the next expansion when we'll get selected for a P5. We didn't get selected for a P5 back when we were winning basketball championships and going to the Fiesta bowl. They're sure to take us now that we have the worst football team in America and our basketball team sucks.

Good points. Just realized AD Dave has ALL his eggs on Hurley to fix this, but the thought of geno leaving before that happens could be a very loud death blow to end everything here and fall back to the old yankee conference days. AD is on thin ice as is right now.