Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[uconnyankee]

Yeah if you showed us a chart of what percentage of UConn hoops fans watch the NFL and how many watch UConn football I think the desparity would be stunning.
There are a ton of football fans in CT. But a lot are bandwagon and won’t touch UConn unless we are in a P5 and are winning

Last three words are critical. CT fans don’t have patience to support mediocrity.
This holds true for bb and any other sport.

Winning and being in the national discussion is what sells. If UConn does get to P5, there will be immediate bump in ticket sales. But, if they pull a BC and don’t put that money into the fb program and go 2-10 or 3-9, interest will wane.

On flip side, 8-4 or 9-3 in Big 12 would be crazy and bring us right back to the Fiesta Bowl days like it was yesterday.

 

[noeynox]

It’s referenced all over this thread. Cuse, BC, Wake. “UConn is ahead of Washington State and Oregon State…” and that’s only what is on this last page.

But you are missing my point. Football is what is important. Half of our own fanbase could care less about football. That is a pretty good indicator of how others think of our media brand.

Look, I support football and have season tickets. I will do a happy dance if/when any P5 offer comes. But I think there is a lot of smoke here from the media and possibly Yormark and some very unrealistic takes about our current media value. I hope I am dead wrong. Believe me!

It probably isn't half the fan base. You a very loud twitter contingent, whose whole persona is centered around slick burns toward PC fans.

 

[businesslawyer]

In Mora I trust. Put a quality football team on the field - with consistently attractive/brand name opponents and the other half of the fan base will fill the stadium….eg. Michigan 2013

Great idea. And in the 20 years of the Rent, how many other attractive names at or near MIchigan’s level have we had? Zero. Zero. Other than Michigan we’ve had at home conference games, decent ACC programs and independents and below average programs from other power conferences. And we got Michigan at home because they late in the game wanted a P-6 team (whatever they were calling it then) to open with to dedicate a stadium expansion and we made it work.

My point being that if our strategy is to host more Michigan style games, why would you think that’s possible when we’ve managed to accomplish that one time in two decades?

 

[Bongo Fury]

Hogwash!!!

We drew well when we were in the Big East, we have a strong football fanbase that is largely dormant because of the way we have been devalued but put us in the B12 and I am confident our fanbase will spring back to life quickly. The idea that CT sports fans don't like football is bullspit. Where do people come up with this garbage.

Go back and watch the video of the Michigan game and refresh your memory of what football can be like for UCONN. The stadium was sold out and electric and almost carried an inferior team coached by a stooge to victory.

I believe with success there will be better attendance. There has been apathy at many programs maybe due to it can be more comfortable to watch at home. Hey that’s good news for broadcasting. Personally I will attend every game I can and have enjoyed the experience even when they are awful. I would not miss my kids soccer game to attend.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Adding Cuse, Pitt, Louisville, and BC over state schools like UConn, WVU, and at times Rutgers is the reason moral in the ACC is currently a lit bag of dog s---.

Nothing about Brett Yormark gives me the impression he's looking to embarrass himself the way John Swoffard and the ACC did. Nor is he going to let WVU and Cincinatti pick a new member of the conference. Cincinatti is lucky to even be there. I suspect Yormark views UConn as being far ahead of Houston, and comfortably ahead of Cincinatti and UCF...but he is stuck with them. BYU is a real brand...the other three are not.

Also BC has no market. High school hockey is bigger in Boston than BC football. Everything is bigger than BC basketball.

You do realize that Pitt and Louisville are state schools, right? There is no chance Yormak views UConn as being ahead of the schools the B12 just invited, or we would have been invited. Cinci played in the football playoff two years ago. Houston has recent history of success. UCF brings Florida recruiting visibility. BYU, despite their brand, is the worst of those 4.

You're thinking basketball. Yormark may think it is undervalued and it is, but it's still way below football.

 

[RSTuthill]

Hogwash!!!

We drew well when we were in the Big East, we have a strong football fanbase that is largely dormant because of the way we have been devalued but put us in the B12 and I am confident our fanbase will spring back to life quickly. The idea that CT sports fans don't like football is bullspit. Where do people come up with this garbage.

Agree for the most part, but the fanbase dormancy isn't because UConn has been devalued. Nobody devalued UConn FB but UConn. Active verb, not passive. Win more games, particularly against P5 teams, and the Rent will be rocking again. Once the fanbase is treated to a couple conference championships, it is not interested in buying tickets to see mid level FCS standard FB. So, UConn controls its own destiny here. Let's see if they seize the day and take a step forward.

 

[dayooper]

UConn would be partnered with Colorado IF Colorado jumps. Arizona and Arizona State would be 15 and 16 if they choose to come. That gives the Big 12 four west schools and four east schools. Then you wait out the ACC.

I would not sleep on The Big10 taking ASU. I thought they were a possibility before the were invited into the AAU. Nice market and a fairly close school to SoCal. Adding OU, UDub and ASU gives the Big10 19 (easily scheduled without any divisions).

I always thought 24 was the sweet spot. That leaves 5 spots for ND (if they ever want to join) and 4 ACC members (or G5 schools, like UConn).

 

[GoKU]

I would not sleep on The Big10 taking ASU. I thought they were a possibility before the were invited into the AAU. Nice market and a fairly close school to SoCal. Adding OU, UDub and ASU gives the Big10 19 (easily scheduled without any divisions).

I always thought 24 was the sweet spot. That leaves 5 spots for ND (if they ever want to join) and 4 ACC members (or G5 schools, like UConn).

I really wouldn't care if the B1G took ASU. But I think the chances are zero.

 

[RSTuthill]

Speaking of the 2013 Michigan game, I would like to watch that. Is that out on YouTube or somewhere? I was at the game and could not believe we lost.

 

[Seamus84]

Great idea. And in the 20 years of the Rent, how many other attractive names at or near MIchigan’s level have we had? Zero. Zero. Other than Michigan we’ve had at home conference games, decent ACC programs and independents and below average programs from other power conferences. And we got Michigan at home because they late in the game wanted a P-6 team (whatever they were calling it then) to open with to dedicate a stadium expansion and we made it work.

My point being that if our strategy is to host more Michigan style games, why would you think that’s possible when we’ve managed to accomplish that one time in two decades?

By joining a P3 conference

 

[businesslawyer]

By joining a P3 conference

Well, yes. But that I think implies that the only way we can fill the stadium and be attractive to a P-5 conference is to be invited in to a P-5 conference. Which, you must admit, as the way to solve a problem is somewhat lacking.

 

[Forte]

Eyeballs watching TV...

Most watched 2015-2019...

In Top 25...that are not in the new B1G or SEC

Notre Dame, Clemson, FSU, OK State, Miami, Stanford

......Others of interest:

Oregon...#26
Washington #28
WVU #30
VT #31
Louisville #33
Navy #37
Pitt #44
UNC #45
AZ St. #50
Cuse #51
Colorado #56
AZ #60
BC #69
SDSU #86

.

This tells us everything we need to know about that list.... "TV viewership isn’t always the best way to measure a college football program’s value."

Where is Rutty with their NYC market on this list?

 

[hoopsfan22]

This tells us everything we need to know about that list.... "TV viewership isn’t always the best way to measure a college football program’s value."

Where is Rutty with their NYC market on this list?

lol no one is watching Rutty. But everyone that has cable in the NYC DMA is paying 20 cents a month for Rutty's Big Ten Network

 

[Bezzz]

Speaking of the 2013 Michigan game, I would like to watch that. Is that out on YouTube or somewhere? I was at the game and could not believe we lost.

Uconn Husky Games

 

[billybud]

This tells us everything we need to know about that list.... "TV viewership isn’t always the best way to measure a college football program’s value."

Where is Rutty with their NYC market on this list?

Markets.shmarkets...not cable boxes anymore...it is who brings the viewers....Rutgers? Yikes...a must see program.

I do think that the networks who pay for for additions to conferences do evaluate the TV viewing.

But bundling and carriage fees has been a player...When Comcast and others settled with the Mouse...they brought ACC in-market carriage fees for a huge population...Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York....

 

[NowInStorrs]

I miss when there were key tweets in this topic

 

[CL82]

lol no one is watching Rutty. But everyone that has cable in the NYC DMA is paying 20 cents a month for Rutty's Big Ten Network

I actually think it may be a dollar a month. The addition of Rutty to the Big Ten was a great move financially. For on the field performance, or generating fan interest, not so much.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

IIRC we even drew pretty well for the first few games after Diaco's six-win season, after that it became apparent things weren't a happening..

If we win, fans will show up. If Mora can win some games this season, fans in CT will show up.

We had close to 33k season ticket holders at one time, there is little doubt we can get back to that easily with a decent program in the B12.

We are one of the very few state flagship university left out there, and we bring an entire state. Our football program has tremendous potential. We have the potential to be the #2 program in the East after Penn State.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

@FfldCntyFan do you have any explanation as to why we were not able to recruit the same level of student as our conference peers?
Edsall had a tougher time getting kids in here?

 

[CL82]

Well, yes. But that I think implies that the only way we can fill the stadium and be attractive to a P-5 conference is to be invited in to a P-5 conference. Which, you must admit, as the way to solve a problem is somewhat lacking.

It is so annoying that there is a mindset that teams are presumed as "worthy of being in the P5" because they are in the P5 and teams not in the P5 are presumed as being unworthy of being in the P5. That said, the last decade of ineptitude has not helped our case in the least.

But, I think the point is that Connecticut has shown it can pack our stadium when the team is successful, or win the opponents have a national reputation. There is reason to believe that a P5 invitation world results in an immediate and substantial increase in our gate revenue. The discussion here, and in the Twitter verse, talks about the big 12 broadcast rates revenue, and at a slightly more sophisticated level, that plus a share of the college football playoff money. But what is consistently overlooked is the very significant revenue generated by a renewal of fan interest and turn out at Rentschler Field.

 

[Seamus84]

Well, yes. But that I think implies that the only way we can fill the stadium and be attractive to a P-5 conference is to be invited in to a P-5 conference. Which, you must admit, as the way to solve a problem is somewhat lacking.

The Arlington Renegades will never play to a full stadium with an XFL schedule. But if you put them in the NFL playing the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles, they will immediately sell-out. In this new landscape of fewer, more powerful conferences and required in-conference scheduling, there is no other way to consistently play high-quality/sell-out-worthy opponents unless you're in a P3 conference. Just my opinion.

 

[Husky92]

Anyone see a Key Tweet around here? I must be in the wrong place…

 

[FfldCntyFan]

@FfldCntyFan do you have any explanation as to why we were not able to recruit the same level of student as our conference peers?
Edsall had a tougher time getting kids in here?

Edsall always made this claim, especially during 1.0 and there was some validity to it but from things I've discovered after the fact it wasn't as bad as he made it appear.

There were a couple local players (even after RE left) who went elsewhere because they couldn't get through our academic screening process (Matakevich comes to mind) but there were a couple that may have been able to get through it RE was willing to push a little more (one WR who landed at Rutgers, his name escapes me).

I don't think we will again see a case where a player won't qualify academically here but will at a place like Rutgers.

 

[DGB]

You do realize that Pitt and Louisville are state schools, right? There is no chance Yormak views UConn as being ahead of the schools the B12 just invited, or we would have been invited. Cinci played in the football playoff two years ago. Houston has recent history of success. UCF brings Florida recruiting visibility. BYU, despite their brand, is the worst of those 4.

You're thinking basketball. Yormark may think it is undervalued and it is, but it's still way below football.

Yeah Pitt and Louisville are second fiddle to PSU and UK in their own cities. So while Wikipedia might say they are state schools, for purposes of this conversation they really aren't.

Also, Yormark came to the Big 12 after the additions of Cincinatti, Houston, and UCF...so no UConn would not have been invited then if he viewed UConn to be ahead of them. He wasn't there to invite UConn. Your recruiting point isn't bad...but recent success in football is a shortsighted factor as those schools are not football powers and never will be. They are also rans in their states that can never replace Texas and Oklahoma brands in football. UConn has a better chance of being a big brand program in football because they could dominate recruiting in a state/region (see something like is going on in baseball). Cincinatti, Houston, and UCF will never dominate their regions in football recruiting becasue there are MUCH bigger fish in their ponds.

And no...I'm not thinking just basketball. I'm trying to think like a conference executive who knows Texas and Oklahoma can't be replaced by equal football powers. I'm thinking brand, support, eyeballs. UConn sports in general already beats those programs and the ones I mentioned from the ACC. UConn football has the potential to be far bigger than those programs in a real conference. It was on its way to that before Big East football imploded.

 

[Conquistador]

Anyone see a Key Tweet around here? I must be in the wrong place…

Agreed! At this point, we have a better shot at tidbits on the Non-Key Tweets thread!

 

[Rufus]

After reading numerous posts about UC with misspellings, I thought I should point out the correct spelling of Cincinnati.

 

[businesslawyer]

The Arlington Renegades will never play to a full stadium with an XFL schedule. But if you put them in the NFL playing the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles, they will immediately sell-out. In this new landscape of fewer, more powerful conferences and required in-conference scheduling, there is no other way to consistently play high-quality/sell-out-worthy opponents unless you're in a P3 conference. Just my opinion.

What have I said that makes you think I disagree with that?

 

[huskymedic]

 

[JohnFSilver]

Over the last 20 years, why is Colorado better than UConn Athletics?

I guess we can say Denver market, but outside of that what do they have?

Colorado would die for the success of UConn sports over the last 25 years. In the current “P5”, the bottom 20% of P5 teams are worse gets from UConn. The only thing they do better than UConn is collect a paycheck .

Their facilities, fanbase, market, and athletic success and potential are better than many P5 teams.

It’s getting to be annoying the narrative. UConn isn’t taking a step up in the Big 12 or ACC. It’s kind of who they are where they belong.

 

[JohnFSilver]

UConn has a P5 budget. They feel that is what they need to sustain their athletic competitiveness.

Also, give me a break on the directors cup. Gymnastics, bowling ,fencing and wrestling as well as all swimming and tennis are essentially niche sports.

Should be a metric for team sports that are in nearly every conference.