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

[Point6]

Translation: We in the SEC have agreements (wink wink, informal and via a slow roll) with certain of our competitors (i.e., other P5 conferences) as well as media partners and we are going to work with them to exclude all other competitors so that we fully control the market for big time college football. Barrier of entry is rock solid -- hee hee, by invitation only! Best of luck G5 losers. Cha-ching!$!

 

[Adios]

The market for top tier collegiate athletics is huge. We truly don't know when the game of musical chairs is going to end. We should be next in line for the "P5", at least.

 

[BoatShow]

You are over-simplifying this. Of course 5K empty seats at ONE GAME is not going to have much effect. But 5-10K empty seats at EVERY GAME certainly will. If we can't fill our stadium on a beautiful 70 degree Friday night against a top, nationally recognized opponent in the first game after the wicked witch is dead, then that is cause for concern.

You are right: empty seats isn't the ONLY thing that may or may not get us out of AAC purgatory. But it is the one of very few things that we as fans can control, along with TV ratings, buying merchandise, and donating to the school. 5K empties at a big game like BYU home opener sends a very poor message. If we have 5-10K empties at every home game this year, then that's on us as fans. P5 conferences won't be convinced that they can make money off UCONN when UCONN can't make money off of UCONN.

Not making excuses but Labor Day weekend and the top 10 men's soccer team had a home game.

 

[Ha Who]

Despite it being Labor Day, it was a beautiful long weekend. Perhaps this market is small and we are not suitable for a P5 conference. I'm not talking television market size I am talking the number of people who give a sheet. If we could not get 40,000 on a warm Friday evening, it could be we belong in the AAC. Yes, I am being a Debbie Downer. It pains me to talk like this. Major markets have enough of a base that if 10000 fans are going away Labor Day weekend, there are 10000 fans in reserve thrilled to get a chance to see their team. Throw your we are coming off pp and Hatheway daggers at me. I am just having one of those realism days

 

[clmssun]

The market for top tier collegiate athletics is huge. We truly don't know when the game of musical chairs is going to end. We should be next in line for the "P5", at least.

Given the history of the college football "country club":

College Football Association (1977): 64 schools
Bowl Coalition + Big Ten + Pac-10 (1992) : 67 schools
Bowl Alliance + Big Ten + Pac-10 (1995): 66 schools
Bowl Championship Series (1998) : 65 schools
Bowl Championship Series (2005): 66 schools
College Football Playoff Power 5: 65 schools

Barring legal action, I'd say that future admission to the country club is VERY limited.

 

[itgoeslike]

Attendance figures for some P5 programs on opening week. . .

Vanderbilt 32K; Pitt 40K, Syracuse 41K, Duke 31K, Boise/Missisippi 33K; Northwestern 34K; Purdue 37K; Indiana 38K; Illinois 36K, Rutgers/Washingtonn State 31K, Oregon State 40K. . . (Wake lost on the road). Bunch of schools at 45K.

 

[Fishy]

Chance that Syracuse had 41k against Nova - 0%

 

[itgoeslike]

Chance that Syracuse had 41k against Nova - 0%

I can't imagine a school would resort to inflating attendance figures. . .

I went back to put a disclaimer on the post but couldn't locate the edit button. I'm assuming the site's complex algorithm automatically eliminates the edit button after a high number of perfectly crafted posts. . .

 

[Husky25]

I can't imagine a school would resort to inflating attendance figures. . .

I went back to put a disclaimer on the post but couldn't locate the edit button. I'm assuming the site's complex algorithm automatically eliminates the edit button after a high number of perfectly crafted posts. . .

It looks like it now disappears after a bit of time goes by.

 

[itgoeslike]

It looks like it now disappears after a bit of time goes by.

So much for editing my predictions post ipso facto. . .

 

[UConn Dan]

Attendance figures for some P5 programs on opening week. . . Vanderbilt 32K; Pitt 40K, Syracuse 41K, Duke 31K, Boise/Missisippi 33K; Northwestern 34K; Purdue 37K; Indiana 38K; Illinois 36K, Rutgers/Washingtonn State 31K, Oregon State 40K. . . (Wake lost on the road). Bunch of schools at 45K.

Rutgers attendance seems low given they sold a record 31,000+ season tickets.

 

[itgoeslike]

Rutgers attendance seems low given they sold a record 31,000+ season tickets.

The game was at Washington State.

 

[itgoeslike]

So much for editing my predictions post ipso facto. . .

I actually meant "ex post facto" but I can't edit it after the fact. Irony.

 

[buddy]

Bashing of McMurphy or Mizzou, but not the 5K who couldn't bother to go to the BYU game or the 10K who likely aren't going to go to the Stony Brook game. Our CR chances fall primarily on us as a fanbase now. If we have fans who are going to wait for UCONN to go undefeated to start going to games, then we might as well give up football and park our Hoops programs back in the ol' mid-major Big East conference so we can revive our must-see annual rivalries with Seton Hall, Providence and DePaul (and gleefully accept $5M/yr from our Big East affiliation...which isn't even enough to pay JUST our 2 head coaches). In other words, goodbye football, goodbye Geno and goodbye Ollie. But yeah, it's easier to discredit McMurphy or a friggin' Athletic Director at a P5 school than it is to look in the mirror and ask ourselves "What Can I/We Do to #HuskyUp?"

People are not going to go to the Rent to see UConn play teams that fans cannot relate to (ie AAC opponents). We saw what happened when Michigan came to the Rent. The same would happen with any P5 school I would imagine. Even BYU doesn't do it for CT fans. It is doubtful that Boise will either. If you really think that fans have anything to do with CR, then you are kidding yourself. It is out of our hands. Not many people are going to pay and go through the hassle of getting to the Rent to watch one crummy team play another for nothing. Don't tell me that Rutger's fan base and attendance at their games got them into the B1G. Don't tell me that Syracuse's outstanding attendance at their football games got them in to the ACC. Even Louisville's attendance was not that great until the other night. UConn failed to promote itself when it mattered. That is what matters.

 

[itgoeslike]

Chance that Syracuse had 41k against Nova - 0%

This could explain what you saw.

While the ticket sales numbers are rosier than last year, what the 35,000-plus will look like when seated remains a different question.

Syracuse has included Villanova tickets in promotions like its three-game Florida State package and its season-ticket packages, creating the possibility that fans have purchased seats to the game without any real intention of using them.

What also appears to help their number, all freshmen get free tickets to the home opener. They had 33K at their home opener last year.

http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootb...s_to_friday_nights_football_opener_again.html

 

[Fishy]

Thanks, but I didn't need an explanation to know that there wasn't 41,000 people watching Syracuse play Villanova, even if half the fan bases is dingy enough to think it might be a hoop game.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Given the history of the college football "country club":

College Football Association (1977): 64 schools
Bowl Coalition + Big Ten + Pac-10 (1992) : 67 schools
Bowl Alliance + Big Ten + Pac-10 (1995): 66 schools
Bowl Championship Series (1998) : 65 schools
Bowl Championship Series (2005): 66 schools
College Football Playoff Power 5: 65 schools

Barring legal action, I'd say that future admission to the country club is VERY limited.

considering that uconn, usf, and cincy all had seats at the table during the BCS era, what two schools jumped ahead? Utah and TCU?

 

[Marty Jackson]

People are not going to go to the Rent to see UConn play teams that fans cannot relate to (ie AAC opponents). We saw what happened when Michigan came to the Rent. The same would happen with any P5 school I would imagine. Even BYU doesn't do it for CT fans. It is doubtful that Boise will either. If you really think that fans have anything to do with CR, then you are kidding yourself. It is out of our hands. Not many people are going to pay and go through the hassle of getting to the Rent to watch one crummy team play another for nothing. Don't tell me that Rutger's fan base and attendance at their games got them into the B1G. Don't tell me that Syracuse's outstanding attendance at their football games got them in to the ACC. Even Louisville's attendance was not that great until the other night. UConn failed to promote itself when it mattered. That is what matters.

no... the same wouldn't happen with any other P5 school.
and please don't lump all p5 schools into the same category as if there is some huge gap currently between all p5 schools and the other g5. there isn't. the fact is, there are probably 20 legit programs driving the money and another 45 along for the ride.

suggesting a program like michigan would get the same draw as northwestern, duke, wf, illinois, or indiana is wrong. fans came to see michigan. it was an event.

 

[Ha Who]

People are not going to go to the Rent to see UConn play teams that fans cannot relate to (ie AAC opponents). We saw what happened when Michigan came to the Rent. The same would happen with any P5 school I would imagine. Even BYU doesn't do it for CT fans. It is doubtful that Boise will either. If you really think that fans have anything to do with CR, then you are kidding yourself. It is out of our hands. Not many people are going to pay and go through the hassle of getting to the Rent to watch one crummy team play another for nothing. Don't tell me that Rutger's fan base and attendance at their games got them into the B1G. Don't tell me that Syracuse's outstanding attendance at their football games got them in to the ACC. Even Louisville's attendance was not that great until the other night. UConn failed to promote itself when it mattered. That is what matters.

Just remember Gordon Gecko's words. If the pimps that run our universities see $ signs, everything else (lawsuits, markets, tradition, etc) go away

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Despite it being Labor Day, it was a beautiful long weekend. Perhaps this market is small and we are not suitable for a P5 conference. I'm not talking television market size I am talking the number of people who give a sheet. If we could not get 40,000 on a warm Friday evening, it could be we belong in the AAC. Yes, I am being a Debbie Downer. It pains me to talk like this. Major markets have enough of a base that if 10000 fans are going away Labor Day weekend, there are 10000 fans in reserve thrilled to get a chance to see their team. Throw your we are coming off pp and Hatheway daggers at me. I am just having one of those realism days

I won't throw a dagger, but I will offer a slightly different opinion. For the non-hardcore fan who has other options like going away for the long weekend or watching a soccer match between 2 ranked opponents, it's an easy choice. It is about PP, GDL & Hathaway in that the product was so bad for 3 years that it is not a must see. Why would someone with limited entertainment money want to spend it on UConn football when recent history says they'll lose. It's the same for every sport, when the product is good the fans come (excluding Tampa baseball) and when it isn't they don't. I go because I love my school, but if I wasn't that committed I probably wouldn't. I'll go to a movie where I know I'll get my money's worth. They need to win! #JustWin

 

[whaler11]

That UConn football can lose attendance to college soccer makes me want to poke my eyes out.

 

[noeynox]

People are not going to go to the Rent to see UConn play teams that fans cannot relate to (ie AAC opponents). We saw what happened when Michigan came to the Rent. The same would happen with any P5 school I would imagine. Even BYU doesn't do it for CT fans. It is doubtful that Boise will either. If you really think that fans have anything to do with CR, then you are kidding yourself. It is out of our hands. Not many people are going to pay and go through the hassle of getting to the Rent to watch one crummy team play another for nothing. Don't tell me that Rutger's fan base and attendance at their games got them into the B1G. Don't tell me that Syracuse's outstanding attendance at their football games got them in to the ACC. Even Louisville's attendance was not that great until the other night. UConn failed to promote itself when it mattered. That is what matters.

Ding, ding, ding. This program got off to a strong start with A stadium opening win over a Big Ten team (albeit a bad one). Went to a bowl a game if our first official year in the Big East with an electric atmosphere for the Pitt game. Then the people in charge sort of sat on their hands. Didn't pimp the product at all. Then after some lean years followed by two Big East titles, Hathaway went all P on the program. I cannot state how much I despise the Hathaway era at UConn. Never has someone that was given so much up so bad.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

That UConn football can lose attendance to college soccer makes me want to poke my eyes out.

College student are cheap and lazy for the most part and do not underestimate the impact that so many kids nowadays grew-up playing soccer instead of football (my town’s rec department has 10 teams with 14 kids each playing Grades 2/1 soccer, which is 140 kids, while the rec football team for the same grades has 2 teams with 25 players each or 50 kids).

So if you are a poor, lazy college student who is a lukewarm sports, do you want to spend $25? a pop for a ticket for a team that honestly sucked last year that includes 2 hours on a bus and a 2 ½ hour game or do you spend $10 on a soccer team for a team that made it to the national quarterfinals last year and is only a 15 minute walk or less from most parts of campus that takes only 2 hours allowing for plenty of dorm/bar drinking time afterwards.

Not saying this is right; but, it is a truth.

 

[whaler11]

College student are cheap and lazy for the most part and do not underestimate the impact that so many kids nowadays grew-up playing soccer instead of football (my town’s rec department has 10 teams with 14 kids each playing Grades 2/1 soccer, which is 140 kids, while the rec football team for the same grades has 2 teams with 25 players each or 50 kids).

So if you are a poor, lazy college student who is a lukewarm sports, do you want to spend $25? a pop for a ticket for a team that honestly sucked last year that includes 2 hours on a bus and a 2 ½ hour game or do you spend $10 on a soccer team for a team that made it to the national quarterfinals last year and is only a 15 minute walk or less from most parts of campus that takes only 2 hours allowing for plenty of dorm/bar drinking time afterwards.

Not saying this is right; but, it is a truth.

I wasn't disputing it and I've got no beef with soccer - it's just hard to wrap my head around someone would prefer that over a college football game. I have a feeling that doesn't happen at many other schools.

 

[Kolumbo]

I wasn't disputing it and I've got no beef with soccer - it's just hard to wrap my head around someone would prefer that over a college football game. I have a feeling that doesn't happen at many other schools.

That's OK though. There was a time when UCONN Soccer was head and shoulders above all other sports at UCONN. The stadium was packed with fans and kegs on Sunday afternoons, and the atmosphere was incredible. Unfortunately that tradition has died since the games were moved to nights. UCONN wins championships.

 

[Dooley]

I have no beef with soccer. I enjoy going to games when I can and I too remember being a kid going to games and LOVING it. The beef is with the continued double-booking of events that are of interest to students. The UCONN student Goal Patrol is a great part of soccer games. Meanwhile, students are also needed through 4 quarters at football games to liven the atmosphere. Granted, the football game was originally supposed to be on Thurs night but I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have just swapped game nights. Soccer on Thursday, football on Friday.

 

[HuskyHawk]

That's OK though. There was a time when UCONN Soccer was head and shoulders above all other sports at UCONN. The stadium was packed with fans and kegs on Sunday afternoons, and the atmosphere was incredible. Unfortunately that tradition has died since the games were moved to nights. UCONN wins championships.

Agreed. I looked forward to weekend Soccer games during the day more than any other sporting event for most of my time at UConn. Certainly more than 1-AA football. We went to all the basketball games at the Field House and HCC, and Gampel opened the year after I graduated. But Soccer generated the most interest as an on campus event. Dan Donigan was the man.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Despite it being Labor Day, it was a beautiful long weekend. Perhaps this market is small and we are not suitable for a P5 conference. I'm not talking television market size I am talking the number of people who give a sheet. If we could not get 40,000 on a warm Friday evening, it could be we belong in the AAC. Yes, I am being a Debbie Downer. It pains me to talk like this. Major markets have enough of a base that if 10000 fans are going away Labor Day weekend, there are 10000 fans in reserve thrilled to get a chance to see their team. Throw your we are coming off pp and Hatheway daggers at me. I am just having one of those realism days

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

 

[Exit 4]

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

I have to agree and I'm not happy about it. But, you can't give up, you need to continue to press on and see what happens. I do think attendance would boom with a P5 schedule, but its sad that a less than p5 schedule generates such fickle interest. The root of the challenge is that in the northeast, our population has attended a far more diverse set of colleges, so that built in alumni core is so much smaller.

And FWIW, I can't anyone to make the trek from lower FF County.

 

[upstater]

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

So, reduce the P5 to the 20 teams that fit your criteria? Because the other 40 surely don't.

UConn's market is certainly no worse than WF, GT, Duke, N'western, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota, Kansas, Kansas St, TCU, Baylor, Arizona, Arizona St, Washington St., Stanford, Iowa St, Syracuse, BC, Pitt, Louisville, etc. And schools within the SEC have a lot of interested terrific fans but horribly bad markets, like Mississippi St., South Carolina and Arkansas.